Sing Yankee Doodle: the opening phrase, its key and note range
The opening phrase of “Yankee Doodle” runs from B3 to E4, 5 semitones, with its tonic on C4 at 112 bpm, and rates easy to sing. Origin: Traditional tune of English/colonial origin, popularized in America during the Revolutionary War, 18th century.
Sing Yankee Doodle with pitch feedback
The opening phrase of “Yankee Doodle” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 112 bpm in 4 beats to the bar. The 13 notes span B3 to E4 — 5 semitones, with 3 leaps of a major third or more — and the span and leaps together rate it easy to sing; a full 4-pass session runs about 0:34.
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
- 0:09 at 112 bpm
- A full session
- 0:34 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a major third or more
- 3
Yankee Doodle lyrics, as transcribed here
- Yankee Doodle went to town,
- riding on a pony
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 18th-century march tune of unknown authorship, in circulation since well before the United States existed.
- Attribution
- Traditional tune of English/colonial origin, popularized in America during the Revolutionary War, 18th century
- 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.