Auld Lang Syne kalimba tabs
For a 17-key kalimba tuned to C major. 56 notes on 7 tines, from G4 up to A5.
Play along on the online kalimba Play it on a kalimba in G
newellabs.com/play/kalimba/tabs/auld/
Number tab
The number tab read aloud, group by group. “High” stands for one dot above the number and “very high” for two.
- 5.
- high 1, high 1, high 1, high 3.
- high 2, high 1, high 2, high 3.
- high 1, high 1, high 3, high 5.
- high 6, high 6.
- high 5, high 3, high 3, high 1.
- high 2, high 1, high 2, high 3.
- high 1, 6, 6, 5.
- high 1, high 6.
- high 5, high 3, high 3, high 1.
- high 2, high 1, high 2, high 6.
- high 5, high 3, high 3, high 5.
- high 6, high 6.
- high 5, high 3, high 3, high 1.
- high 2, high 1, high 2, high 3.
- high 1, 6, 6, 5.
- high 1.
Letter notes
Tines you need
The long tine in the middle is 1 (C4). Notes climb outward, alternating left and right, so neighbours on the same side are two steps apart.
How to read this tab
Numbers are steps of the C scale, 1 (C) to 7 (B), and each dot above a number means one octave higher; the tab shows which tine to play, not how long to hold it. Each numbered group is one bar of music, or more than one where a note lasts across a bar line.
About the song
A Scots poem written down by Robert Burns in 1788 and sung to a traditional Scottish tune, most often at New Year. This tab has the verse and the refrain. The melody is in the public domain.
Playing tips
- Groups 2, 4, 6, 10, 12 and 14 stay on the left side, on C5 (1̇), E5 (3̇) and G5 (5̇), three neighbouring tines: the left thumb plays those groups alone.
- The highest note, A5 (6̇), is reached by a jump in group 9, crossing over from C5 (1̇) on the left, and in group 11, from D5 (2̇) up the right side past F5 (4̇), a tine this tune never plays.
- Groups 13 to 16 repeat groups 5 to 8 note for note, and group 10 repeats group 6.
Piano letter notes
On a piano this tab uses 7 of the 9 white keys from G4 to A5 (all but B4 and F5) and no black keys; in the piano letters below, G4 and A4 have no dot and C5 to A5 have a dot above, one octave higher.
The piano letter notes are the letter notes above, with octave dots in place of octave numbers.
On 8 colour bells
Played one octave lower than the tab, this tune uses bells 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of a set of 8, numbered from C up to high C: 1 C red, 2 D orange, 3 E yellow, 5 G light blue and 6 A dark blue (colours differ between sets, so play by the number and the letter). Seven notes, in groups 1, 8 and 16, are lower than low C, so they are played an octave higher, marked ↑.
The bell numbers read aloud, group by group.
- 5 moved up.
- 1, 1, 1, 3.
- 2, 1, 2, 3.
- 1, 1, 3, 5.
- 6, 6.
- 5, 3, 3, 1.
- 2, 1, 2, 3.
- 1, 6 moved up, 6 moved up, 5 moved up.
- 1, 6.
- 5, 3, 3, 1.
- 2, 1, 2, 6.
- 5, 3, 3, 5.
- 6, 6.
- 5, 3, 3, 1.
- 2, 1, 2, 3.
- 1, 6 moved up, 6 moved up, 5 moved up.
- 1.
History of the song
Robert Burns introduced the song in a letter to Mrs Dunlop in 1788: “There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled thro’ my soul”.[1] He later told the publisher George Thomson that he had taken it down from an old man’s singing, but most scholars believe Burns wrote at least two of its verses himself.[1][3] His words were first printed in 1796, the year he died, in James Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum, to a different tune from the one sung today.[2][3] Thomson printed them in 1799 with the tune most often sung today; nearly the same tune is heard in the overture to William Shield’s opera Rosina, first performed at Covent Garden in London on 31 December 1782.[2]
Sources
- M. J. Grant, “Auld Lang Syne: Context and Genesis”, chapter 2 of Auld Lang Syne: A Song and its Culture (Open Book Publishers, 2021).
- M. J. Grant, “Burns’s Song”, chapter 3 of the same book.
- Stephen Winick, “Auld Acquaintance for the New Year: Burns’s Auld Lang Syne”, Folklife Today, Library of Congress, 31 December 2013.
Also in our two kalimba songbooks, with every note’s length marked.