Sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm: the opening phrase, its key and note range
The opening phrase of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” runs from G3 to C4, 5 semitones, with its tonic on C4 at 108 bpm, and rates easy to sing. Origin: Traditional (American/British nursery song; documented variants predate 1917).
Sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm with pitch feedback
The opening phrase of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 108 bpm in 4 beats to the bar. The 7 notes span G3 to C4 — 5 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 0:18.
5 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
- 0:04 at 108 bpm
- A full session
- 0:18 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a major third or more
- 1
Old MacDonald Had a Farm lyrics, as transcribed here
- Old MacDonald had a farm,
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 nursery song of unknown authorship, documented under earlier titles (“Ohio”, “The Farmyard Song”) since before 1917.
- Attribution
- Traditional (American/British nursery song; documented variants predate 1917)
- 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.