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Number tabs for the steel tongue drum
Kemp's Jig
Free number tabs for Kemp's Jig on the steel tongue drum. 27 notes, C Major scale, Beginner level — play it instantly in the free Tongue Drum Online player.
The tab
6
67
75
57
7•1
8•2
9•3
0•2
9•1
87
76
65
55
5•2
9•3
0•2
9•1
87
76
65
56
67
7•1
8•2
95
55
51–7 scale note• above = higher octave• below = lower octaveabc = key in the app
▶ Play it in Tongue Drum Online
Open the free player on the C Major scale, then tap the petals or press these keyboard keys in order, following the tab above:
567890
Kemp's Jig, attributed to the Elizabethan actor and dancer William Kemp (c.1600), is a lively English Renaissance dance tune that has been performed continuously for over four centuries. On a steel tongue drum its lilting two-beat bounce and simple, repeating structure are both beginner-friendly and genuinely fun, the instrument's resonant warmth giving the old melody a fresh, inviting sound.
How to play Kemp's Jig on a tongue drum
The numbers above are the standard tongue-drum number notation. Each digit is a note of the C Major scale, counting up from the lowest tongue. A dot above a number raises it one octave; a dot below lowers it. The small teal letters show the matching key in the Tongue Drum Online player.
Start slowly, one phrase at a time. Let each note ring out fully before striking the next — the long decay is the whole character of the instrument. This is a beginner arrangement and a simplified, single-instrument version of Kemp's Jig.
About this melody
English Renaissance dance (c.1600), attr. William Kemp.