Sing London Bridge Is Falling Down: the opening phrase, its key and note range
The opening phrase of “London Bridge Is Falling Down” runs from D4 to A4, 7 semitones, with its tonic on C4 at 104 bpm, and rates easy to sing. Origin: Traditional (English nursery rhyme; words printed from the 1740s, this tune first printed in 1879).
Sing London Bridge Is Falling Down with pitch feedback
The opening phrase of “London Bridge Is Falling Down” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 104 bpm in 4 beats to the bar. The 13 notes span D4 to A4 — 7 semitones, with 1 leap of a major third or more — and the span and leaps together rate it easy to sing; a full 4-pass session runs about 0:32.
7 semitones as transcribed. Once you have taken the range test, the practice room opens it fitted to your range, and you can shift it by semitones from there. Without a saved range it opens at this written pitch and is scored in either octave, so a lower voice can sing it an octave down and a higher voice an octave up.
- One time through
- 0:08 at 104 bpm
- A full session
- 0:32 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a major third or more
- 1
London Bridge Is Falling Down lyrics, as transcribed here
- London Bridge is falling down,
- falling down, falling down
The songbook transcribes the opening phrase rather than the whole song, because 4 tight repetitions of a phrase you can hear yourself improve on beats one distracted run at the full thing.
Origin and copyright status
Traditional English nursery rhyme. The words have been printed since the 1740s and the tune transcribed here since 1879; both are long out of copyright.
- Attribution
- Traditional (English nursery rhyme; words printed from the 1740s, this tune first printed in 1879)
- Language
- English
Every melody in the songbook is public domain, which is why the whole thing can be sung in a browser without a licence. A specific recording or arrangement of the same tune can still be under copyright — this is our own transcription of the melody.
Genre, era and what it drills
Genre and era say where the melody comes from; “narrow range” is what it asks of a voice.