Songs Based on the Pentatonic Scale
The pentatonic scale, a 5-note scale, is the basis for countless folk songs around the world.
- A la claire fontaine
- A Mince Pie or a Pudding
- Above the Plain
- Acadian Lullaby
- Ai Hai Yo
- Al Citron
- All Around the Buttercup
- Alabama Gal
- Amasee
- Amazing Grace
- Ame Ame
- Arirang
- Bá luóbo
- Ba-Be-Bi-Bo-Bu
- Barnacle Bill
- Bickle Bockle
- Big Corral
- Black Sheep Black Sheep
- Bluebells
- Bought Me a Cat
- Buckeye Jim
- Built My Lady a Fine Brick House
- Buttercup
- Button You Must Wander
- California
- Cape Cod Chantey
- Cedar Swamp
- Charlie Over the Ocean
- Chattanooga Choo Choo
- Chicken on the Fence Post
- Cindy
- Come and Go with Me to that Land
- Cotton Eyed Joe
- Crawdad Song
- Cumberland Gap
- Cut the Cake
- Derby Ram
- Ding Dong Diggidiggidong
- Doctor Foster
- Dog and Cat
- Ducks on the Millpond
- Eagle Dance Song
- Early to Bed
- El florón
- Emma Lou My Darling
- Everybody’s Welcome
- Ezekiel Saw the Wheel
- Fàngxué
- Farewell to Tarwathie
- Fishpole Song
- Five Big Dump Trucks
- Free At Last
- Frosty Weather
- Fukien Boat Song
- Git on Board
- Go Round
- Goin’ Down to Cairo
- Goin’ Up On the Mountain
- Goodbye Old Paint
- Great Big House in New Orleans
- Great Mornin’
- Ha’Sukkah Mah Yafah
- Hambone
- Hato Popo
- Heaven, Heaven
- Here Comes a Blue Bird
- High Green Mountain
- Highland Fairy Lullaby
- Hill and Gully Rider
- Hogs in the Cornfield
- Hoi Yuk (Hēi yō)
- Hold My Mule
- Hoosen Johnny
- Hop Up and Jump Up
- How Can I Keep From Singing
- Hwi Ne Ya He
- I daden
- I Fed My Horse
- I Lost the Farmer’s Dairy Key
- I’m Going to Georgia
- Ida Red
- Irish Trot
- Jenny Jenkins
- Jolly Miller
- Jubilee
- Juguemos en el bosque
- Kangding Love Song
- Knock the Cymbals
- La piedra
- Lead Through That Sugar and Tea
- Let Me Fly
- Li’l Liza Jane
- Lullaby
- Mama Don’t ‘Low
- Mary Come A-Running
- Mister Rabbit
- Mo Li Hua
- Một con vịt
- My Big Black Dog
- Ngam Sang Duan
- Now Let Me Fly
- Oh I’m Goin’ to Sing
- Oh Won’t You Sit Down
- Old Brass Wagon
- Old Doc Jones
- Old Gray Goose
- Old King Glory
- Old Ship of Zion
- Old Woman and the Pig
- Peace Like a River
- Peep Squirrel
- Perry Merry Dictum Dominee
- Peter Hammers
- Phoebe in Her Petticoat
- Pomme de reinette
- Pumpkin Pumpkin
- Rabbit Ain’t Got No Tail
- Raindrops Song (adapted melody)
- Rattlin’ Bog
- Ridin’ of a Goat, Leadin’ of a Sheep
- Riding in the Buggy
- Rocky Island
- Roll the Old Chariot
- Rolly Trudum
- Rose Rose and Up She Rises
- Rosie Darling Rosie
- Scotland’s Burning
- Sea Shell
- See-Saw Sacradown (different melody)
- Shake Them ‘Simmons Down
- Silver Moon Boat
- Sing-a-Ling-a-Ling
- Sing a Song of Sixpence (adapted melody)
- Sleepy Time
- Snake Baked a Hoecake
- Song of the Dragon
- Song to the Sun
- Sourwood Mountain
- Sun Don’t Set in the Mornin’
- Swannanoa Town
- Sweetheart Out A-Hunting
- Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
- Tàihú Chuán
- Teddy Bear
- Ten in the Bed
- Tennessee
- There Was a Man and He was Mad
- There’s a Hole in the Bucket
- This Old Hammer
- This Train is Bound for Glory
- Tideo
- Trot Old Joe
- Tsuki
- Two in the Middle
- Village Watchman
- Wake Me
- Wallflowers
- We’re Going Round the Mountain
- Weevily Wheat
- What Makes the Wild Cat Wild
- Who’s That Tapping at the Window
- Xtoles
- Yangtze Boatmen’s Chant
- Yonder She Comes
- Young Man Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn
- Zi Zhu Diao
- Zousan
Visuals
(See downloads at bottom of page.)
Other Visuals / Worksheets / Assessments
(Available on song page. Click the image to access.)
See also
or purchase here (printables only)
- Printable & Digital Visuals, Worksheet / Assessment
19 thoughts on “Pentatonic Songs”
Thanks for putting so much thought into organizing your songs! I am putting together some resources for a student teacher…coming here was SO much easier than pulling from a million different books! Thanks!!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that!
Beth, I’m currently working in Mumbai, India without many of my resources. This is helping me model pentatonic songs. A million thanks to you for putting this together! Love your blog!
Hi, I’m working with some kids in Ethiopia. The pentatonic scale is used in all their folk songs. This is a lovely collection! Thank you for your hard work!
Oh my gosh, I just had so much fun going through these pieces of music! I’ve honestly never been that keen on recorders or orff… but some of these are so much fun, and have such great, applicable material to our school system’s incredibly intense curriculum, I just love it!
Thanks for the great song resources – I am studying Music Therapy and these will be so helpful
I was looking for a new so,la, mi song and stumbled across your web page. Thank you so much! I now have the so, la , mi song I need as well as some different pentatonic songs with my target rhythm elements in them.
Awesome! Great to hear that!
Are all of these songs on the website public domain? Can I use them for concert performances for example?
Yes, all of these songs are in the public domain.
Beth this is really great- for cansurvivors making music is part of healing, and I have a thumb piano tuned to a pentatonic scale- it would be wonderful for us on http://www.cansurviving.com if you could register and post your link on the Mind and Spirit section? Wth a little sentence maybe about the deep importance of these old folk tunes? We’d love to have you on thesite- your link was passed on to me by a musical friend- we both used to use Nordoff Robbins songs in classrooms…hope to see you on our international group built site…
Thanks! I’ll look into it!
Right!
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Thank you so much for this fantastic collection of songs ! Perfect to use with my pentatonic harp. Manymanymanymany thanks this was exactly what I needed !
You are welcome! I am glad you find this list helpful! 🙂
This is a brilliant resource for me. I play a chalumeau (like a recorder but with a clarinet mouthpiece) which has a range from C4 to D5 … an octave plus a note. These pentatonic tunes suit the range perfectly. I’m really grateful to you for putting this list together.
Do you have any pentatonic songs which do not have ‘do’ as the home note eg Skye Boat song – so home note. I’m looking for re mi and la home note songs.
Many thanks, Jane
Jane, you could look through the minor / modal songs on this page: https://www.bethsnotesplus.com/2012/12/minor-modal-songs.html
Good luck!