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6All songs / What Child Is This (Greensleeves)
Number tabs for the steel tongue drum
What Child Is This (Greensleeves)
Free number tabs for What Child Is This (Greensleeves) on the steel tongue drum. 40 notes, C Major scale, Intermediate level — play it instantly in the free Tongue Drum Online player.
The tab
1
12
23
34
43
32
21
16
66
67
71
12
23
34
45
55
53
34
45
56
65
54
43
31
11
12
23
34
43
32
21
16
66
67
71
12
23
34
46
61–7 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:
6123475
What Child Is This borrows the haunting 16th-century Greensleeves melody, one of the most recognisable tunes in the English folk tradition, pairing it with words of Christmas wonder. On a steel tongue drum the minor waltz unfolds with a bittersweet, meditative beauty, the sustained tones blending into one another like a soft mist. The syncopated phrasing and wider leaps give intermediate players a satisfying melodic workout.
How to play What Child Is This (Greensleeves) 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 intermediate arrangement and a simplified, single-instrument version of What Child Is This (Greensleeves).
About this melody
Traditional English, 16th century (public domain).