Frère Jacques – How to Play on Glockenspiel / Xylophone

How-to-Play-Glockenspiel-Frere-Jacques-SOCIAL : Singing Bell

“Frère Jacques” is one of the most famous children’s songs (comptines) and has been established as a sleeping song because of its lyrics.

This French song for kids is about a 17th century monk – an actual person – called Jacques (Jacob – John, in the English translation of the song) who has to wake up and sound the bells for the “matines“ (monastic services), but, obviously, oversleeps, so the song calls him to wake up.

Glockenspiel / Xylophone Tutorial Video

Frère Jacques Glockenspiel / Xylophone Sheet Music and Note Chart
Free Printable PDF with Glockenspiel / Xylophone Music Sheet with Note Chart and Lyrics

Glockenspiel / Xylophone Tutorial Video

Frère Jacques Glockenspiel / Xylophone Sheet Music and Note Chart

The melody of Frère Jacques is rather easy to play on the Xylophone/ Glockenspiel. It consists of 6 natural notes, as you can see on the chart following the notes of the song.

Try to practice every 2 meters. Watch the video a couple of times and study each part at your own pace until you get the hang of it. Remember to use both mallets as much as you can – not only the one that is more convenient for you (e.g. the right one if you’re right-handed) as this an important basic technique.

To save this free glockenspiel sheet music of “Frère Jacques” to your computer, right click (or tap and hold, on mobile devices) and choose “Save Image As…”. Alternatively, you can download the PDF file below.