Songs Based on the Pentatonic Scale (d r m s l)
- A Mince Pie or a Pudding
- Acadian Lullaby
- Ai Hai Yo
- Akutaq
- Alabama Gal
- All ‘Round the Brickyard
- Alligator
- Amasee
- Amazing Grace
- Ame Ame
- Arirang
- Auld Lang Syne
- Australia’s on the Wallaby
- Baby Born Today
- Baby Bumblebee
- Baby Dear
- Barnacle Bill
- Bebe Moke
- Big Corral
- Big Fat Biscuit
- Billy Billy
- Black Sheep Black Sheep
- Black Snake
- Bluebells
- Bohunkus
- Bought Me a Cat
- Bow Wow Wow
- Bright Morning Star
- Buckeye Jim
- Built My Lady a Fine Brick House
- Button You Must Wander
- California
- Cape Cod Chantey
- Cedar Swamp
- Charlie Over the Ocean
- Chattanooga Choo Choo
- Chatter with the Angels
- Cháu Yêu Bà
- Cherry Tree Carol
- Chicken on the Fence Post
- Child of God
- Churippu
- Cindy
- Circle Round the Zero
- Come and Go with Me to that Land
- Coral
- Cotton Eyed Joe
- Cowboys’ Gettin’-Up Holler
- Cradle Spell of Dunvegan
- Crawdad Song
- Cublak-Cublak Suweng
- Cumberland Gap
- Cut the Cake
- Dà xiàng
- Derby Ram
- Did You Go to the Barney?
- Ding Dong Diggidiggidong
- Diru diru nina
- Diu Diu Deng
- Diū shǒu juàn
- Do Do Pity My Case
- Doctor Foster
- Dog and Cat
- Dog Tick
- Doney Gal
- Ducks on the Millpond
- Eagle Dance Song
- Early to Bed
- El florón
- Emma Lou My Darling
- Every Time I Feel the Spirit
- Everybody’s Welcome
- Fàngxué
- Farewell to Tarwathie
- Farmer in the Dell
- Feng Yang (Flower Drum Song)
- Fishpole Song
- Five Big Dump Trucks
- Frog in the Bog
- Frog Went A-Courtin’
- Frosty Weather
- Fukien Boat Song
- Funga Alafia
- Gāo shān qīng
- Git on Board
- Goin’ Down to Cairo
- Goin’ Up On the Mountain
- Goodbye Old Paint
- Great Big House in New Orleans
- Great Day
- Great Mornin’
- Hambone
- Happy Song
- Hashewie
- Hato Popo
- Henehene Kou’Aka
- Here Comes a Blue Bird
- Hey Concentration
- Hill and Gully Rider
- Hoist Your Window Way Yonder
- Hogs in the Cornfield
- Hold My Mule
- Hoosen Johnny
- Hop Up and Jump Up
- Hop Up My Ladies
- Hop-tu-naa My Mother’s Gone Away
- How Can I Keep From Singing
- How Many Miles to Bethlehem
- How Old Are You?
- Howdy
- Hunting for a Home
- Hush-a-Ba Birdie
- Hwi Ne Ya He
- I daden
- I Fed My Horse
- I Have a Car
- I Lost the Farmer’s Dairy Key
- I Want to Be Ready
- I Want to Rise in the Early Morn
- I’m a Nut
- I’ve Been to Harlem
- I’m Going to Georgia
- Ida Red
- Irish Trot
- Jan Ken Pon Yo
- Jenny Jenkins
- Jeremiah Blow the Fire
- Jesus Loves Me
- Jolly Miller
- Jolly Old St. Nicholas
- Jubilee
- Juguemos en el bosque
- Just From the Kitchen
- Kaa Fo
- Kangding Love Song
- Killy Kranky
- Knock the Cymbals
- Koinobori
- La piedra
- La poulette grise
- Lead Through That Sugar and Tea
- Leavin’ Old Texas
- Let Me Fly
- Levee Moan
- Li’l Liza Jane
- Little Black Train
- Little David Play on Your Harp
- Little Pig
- Little Sally Walker (sitting on a saucer)
- Loy Krathong
- Lynchburg Town
- Ma’Rencong Rencong
- Mama Buy Me a Chiney Doll (version 1)
- Mama Don’t ‘Low
- Mami Wata
- Mary Come A-Running
- Mary Had a Baby
- Mary Wore Her Red Dress
- Mayo Nafwa
- Medaka no gakkō wa
- Mister Rabbit
- Mo Li Hua
- Moj Maro Moj Marine
- Mongolian Shepherd’s Song
- Morning Song (Yokut Tachi)
- My Big Black Dog
- My Foot’s in My Stirrup
- My Good Old Man
- My Horses Ain’t Hungry
- Newborn Baby
- Ngam Sang Duan
- Night-Herding Song
- No Hiding Place
- Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen
- Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
- Oh Freedom
- Oh Oh the Sunshine
- Oh Watch the Stars
- Oh Won’t You Sit Down
- Old Brass Wagon
- Old Doc Jones
- Old Gray Goose
- Old Hen Cackled (and the Rooster Laid the Egg)
- Old King Glory
- Old Man Moses
- Old McDonald
- Old Settler’s Song
- Old Ship of Zion
- Old Woman and the Pig
- Old Zion’s Children
- Omochio tsukimasho
- On Mules You’ll Find
- One Two Three O’Leary
- Open the Window Noah
- Page’s Train
- Pallet on the Floor
- Peace Like a River
- Peep Squirrel
- Phelng chang
- Phoebe in Her Petticoat
- Poor Dog Bright
- Post-Rail Song
- Pumpkin Pumpkin
- Purple Stew
- Rabbit Ain’t Got No Tail
- Railroad Corral
- Rain Come Wet Me
- Rain or Shine
- Raindrops Song
- Rattlin’ Bog
- Riddle
- Ridin’ of a Goat, Leadin’ of a Sheep
- Riding in the Buggy
- Rocky Island
- Rocky Mountain
- Rolly Trudum
- Round and Round
- Roy’s Horse Enjoys a Gallop
- Sailing on the Ocean
- Sally Go Round the Sun
- Scraping Up Sand in the Bottom of the Sea
- Seesaw Sacradown
- Semira Semira
- Señor San José (Carpintero fino)
- Shake Them ‘Simmons Down
- Sing a Song of Sixpence
- Sing-a-Ling-a-Ling
- Sing Hallelu
- Singin’ Johnny
- Singing in the Land
- Sit Down Brother
- Skye Boat Song
- Sleepy Time
- Snake Baked a Hoecake
- Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door
- Song of the Deer Dancing
- Song of the Dragon
- Song to the Sun
- Sourwood Mountain
- Steal Away to Jesus
- Stooping on the Window
- Sun Don’t Set in the Mornin’
- Swannanoa Town
- Swapping Song
- Sweetheart Out A-Hunting
- Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
- Taba Naba
- Tàihú Chuán
- Tambores (O ba ba)
- Tanabata-sama
- Tankō Bushi
- Te Uru
- Tennessee
- Texas Cowboy
- There Was a Man and He was Mad
- There’s a Little Wheel
- There’s a Hole in the Bucket
- This Old Hammer
- This Train is Bound for Glory
- Tick-Tock
- Tideo
- Tongo
- Toodala
- Trail to Mexico
- Train is a-Comin’
- Tree Toad
- Trot Old Joe
- Tsiothwatase:tha
- Tsuki
- Tue Tue
- Turkey Struttin’ Down the Lane
- ‘Twas a Wonder in Heaven
- Two in the Middle
- Uncle Jessie
- Village Watchman
- Wake Me
- Walk and Stop
- Wallflowers
- Wáng lǎo xiān sheng yǒu kuài de
- We n’ de ya ho
- Weevily Wheat
- What Makes the Wild Cat Wild
- What’ll We Do with the Baby-O?
- Wolves A-Howling
- Xtoles
- Ya Ya We
- Yonder Comes Sister Mary
- Yonder She Comes
- You Turn for Sugar and Tea
- Zi Zhu Diao
- Zō san
Visuals
(See downloads at bottom of page.)
Other Visuals / Worksheets / Assessments
(Available on song page. Click the image to access.)
See also
YouTube
or purchase here (printables only)
- Printable & Digital Visuals, Worksheet / Assessment
18 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!
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!