Book Description

We call this series “I don’t read music” since we are targeting beginners of all ages: children, teens, parents, grandparents. Folk music traditionally is not learned from sheet music or notes. Instead, it is learned by repetition and from being passed from generation to generation. We believe in this method of teaching, which is easier and more enjoyable. All 70 songs in this book have been written without using the classic music score system, because it is for absolute beginner who can not read sheet music. This book is aimed for those who want to add popular melodies to their experimentation. We use circles with numbers because most modern tongue drums have numbers engraved or painted on their keys. We do not show the note duration. You can experiment with a duration on your own. We recommend finding each of these songs on YouTube and listening to the rhythm before beginning to play. Our sheet music is only a guide. The most important thing is to listen and repeat the recordings. All songs from this book are possible to play in one octave. These songs are suitable for a diatonic 8-note tongue drum, which should have numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 1 of the next octave. Please note: if you have a model of the tongue drum with 5 tongues, or if some keys from the octave are missing, you will not be able to play all of the songs in this book. The songbook includes very simple, popular children’s and folk songs, but even well-known children's songs played on the tong drum will create an unusual magical sound. Table of contents PART 1 A Hunting We Will Go Acka Backa Bell Horses Bobby Shafto Doggie Doggie Frog in the Meadow Hot Cross Buns London Bridge Long-legged Sailor Mary Had a Little Lamb Miss Mary Mack Ninety-Nine Bottles Old Bald Eagle One, Two, Three, Four Rain, Rain, Go Away Ring Around the Rosie Rub-a-Dub-Dub See-Saw Margery Daw Ten in the Bed The Wheels on the Bus PART 2 Alphabet Song A Sailor Went to Sea Are You Sleeping Baa Baa Black Sheep Baby Bumble Bee Cobbler, Mend My Shoe Cotton Eyed Joe Ding Dong DiggiDiggiDong Do You Know the Muffin Man? Doctor Foster Five Little Ducks Five Little Monkeys Happy Birthday Humpty Dumpty I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas I Love Little Kitty It's Raining Jack and Jill Jingle Bells La Cucaracha Lavender’s Blue Little Jack Horner Michael, Row the Boat Ashore My Hat Oh We Can Play on the Big Bass Drum Old Blue Old McDonald Old Mother Hubbard Row Row Your Boat The Backer The Beep and the Pup The Mulberry Bush This Old Man Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star We Wish You a Merry Christmas PART 3 Bim Bum Biddy Brahms Lullaby Chumbara Cock-a-Doodle Doo Fiddle-De-Dee Itsy Bitsy Spider Jolly Old Saint Nicholas Kookaburra Li’l Liza Jane Ode to Joy Oh Susannah Peace Like a River The Big Sheep Tinga Layo To Market, to Market