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4All songs / Sarie Marais
Number tabs for the steel tongue drum
Sarie Marais
Free number tabs for Sarie Marais on the steel tongue drum. 28 notes, C Major Pentatonic scale, Beginner level — play it instantly in the free Tongue Drum Online player.
The tab
5
45
43
35
45
46
56
56
55
46
55
45
46
55
43
31
12
22
23
32
25
45
46
55
43
31
11
11–7 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 Pentatonic scale, then tap the petals or press these keyboard keys in order, following the tab above:
43512
Sarie Marais is the most cherished Afrikaans folk song of South Africa, a nostalgic ballad recounting longing for home and a sweetheart by the Mooi River. Rendered on a handpan-style steel tongue drum, its simple stepwise melody glows with warmth and a hint of the open veld. The unhurried quarter-note pulse and narrow range make it one of the friendliest songs a beginner can learn.
How to play Sarie Marais on a tongue drum
The numbers above are the standard tongue-drum number notation. Each digit is a note of the C Major Pentatonic 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 Sarie Marais.
About this melody
South African Afrikaans folk.