How do you play Greensleeves on the piano?

Greensleeves piano notes

Greensleeves starts A C D E F E D B, on the A above middle C. It is in A minor and uses two black keys, G# and F#, near the ends of the lines. The tune climbs to the high F, comes back down, and ends on A.

Play it on the virtual piano

The notes, line by line

Each line shows the letters to play, then each key with its octave: C4 is middle C. The box under a key is the computer key that plays it on the virtual piano.

Alas, my love, you do me wrong, to cast me off discourteously
A C D E F E D B G A B C A A G# A B G# E
A4YC5ID5OE5PF5[E5PD5OB4UG4TA4YB4UC5IA4YA4YG#46A4YB4UG#46E4E
For I have loved you well and long, delighting in your company
A C D E F E D B G A B C B A G# F# G# A
A4YC5ID5OE5PF5[E5PD5OB4UG4TA4YB4UC5IB4UA4YG#46F#45G#46A4Y

How to play it

Put your right thumb on the A above middle C. Fingers 2 to 5 then rest on B C D E.
Play A C D E F E D B. For the F, stretch your little finger one key past E.
The black keys come near the end of each line: G# is just left of A, and F# is just left of G.
Keep the slow, swaying rhythm: long, short, long, short. Press Listen in the virtual piano to hear it first.

Fingers have numbers: 1 is the thumb, 2 the index finger, 3 the middle finger, 4 the ring finger and 5 the little finger. In the virtual piano, press Listen to hear the rhythm first, and pick a slower speed while you learn.

關鍵事實

層級	中等
Notes in the melody	37
Keys	10: E4 F#4 G4 G#4 A4 B4 C5 D5 E5 F5
Black keys	F#4 G#4
Lowest and highest note	E4 – F5
First note	A4
Melody by	Traditional

The notes in do re mi

In fixed do, C is always Do, as in Spanish, French and Italian.

La Do Re Mi Fa Mi Re Si Sol La Si Do La La Sol# La Si Sol# Mi
La Do Re Mi Fa Mi Re Si Sol La Si Do Si La Sol# Fa# Sol# La

About the song

Greensleeves is an English folk song. A ballad called "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered in London in September 1580, and Shakespeare names the tune twice in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Many people say that King Henry VIII wrote it, but that is a myth: the song follows an Italian style that reached England after his death. The carol What Child Is This?, written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865, is sung to the same tune.

常見問題

Did Henry VIII write Greensleeves?

Almost surely not. The song follows an Italian style of music that reached England only after Henry VIII died, in 1547.

Is Greensleeves the same tune as What Child Is This?

Yes. William Chatterton Dix wrote the words of the carol in 1865, and it is sung to the tune of Greensleeves.