What songs can I play on a Little Tykes Piano?

January 16, 2016 5:34 PM

I want to be able to play and sing for my 13 month old. Difficulty level: four key baby piano.

My 13 month old daughter loves music. We sing to her all the time, and for her birthday we got her a Little Tykes Tap-a-Tune piano, which she will carry all over the house and bang away on. I'd love to be able to play her a simple song and sing to her, but I have no musical knowledge. I'm not sure what notes the piano makes, and even if I knew that I would not be able to search up a song based on four playable notes. The common baby songs I've looked at seem to have a minimum of five notes and I don't even know if they are the right notes.

I've recorded this video so you can hear the sounds the piano makes.

posted by Maastrictian to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

Our daughter has the red version of that toy, so I don't know if that'll make a difference. Lord knows I don't have a clue. But my husband has coaxed a recognizable, simplified version of the very first bit of The Blue Danube, from the one our daughter has. Might be worth a try?
posted by Coatlicue at 5:53 PM on January 16, 2016

You're pretty limited by those notes. It's basically, from bottom to top, Do Mi So Do. You can play...the fanfare that comes before "Charge!" at a football game, but just one iteration?
posted by charmedimsure at 5:53 PM on January 16, 2016

Best answer: Beginning of "Today" by Smashing Pumpkins
Oh When The Saints Go Marching In (sort of)
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:55 PM on January 16, 2016

Well, the good news is there’s no odd notes to worry about, anything you play is a song. Make one up. You don’t need any musical knowledge, and everyone’s about to gain some. The thing in the video is a song. Make up a simple phrase like that, add some lyrics about your kid or pets, viola! Everyone’s favorite new song.

I’m surprised it didn’t come with suggested songs though.
posted by bongo_x at 6:06 PM on January 16, 2016

Best answer: Those are the same notes as a bugle can play! Here's a bunch of bugle songs with words. I know they are scored for piano (weird), but you can just play the melody line (the top one): the lowest note on the melody line will be the lowest note on your piano, and go up from there.
posted by ananci at 1:25 AM on January 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: You can play the beginning of Scales and Arpeggios from the Aristocats!

Or a version of Pease Porridge Hot (So Mi Mi So, So Mi Mi So, So Mi Mi So So Mi, So Mi Do (low)).
Do (low) is the bottom note, Mi is the second one, So is the third, and this song doesn't use the top Do!
posted by lovedbymarylane at 1:46 AM on January 17, 2016

Response by poster: Amazing, thanks all!
posted by Maastrictian at 4:55 PM on January 17, 2016

Best answer: You may be able to do Mary Had A Little Lamb, sort of, depending on what the notes actually are. This should really be Do Re Mi So, not Do Mi So Do, so it might not sound quite right.

If your notes from left to right are 1-2-3-4, Mary is this:

3-2-1-2-3-3-3
2-2-2
3-3-*
3-2-1-2-3-3-3
3-2-2-3-2-1

The note with the asterisk could be another 3 for the easy version, or try the 4 and see if it's close to the right tone. It might be too high and you might prefer to use the same tone 3.
posted by CathyG at 5:02 PM on January 17, 2016

And hey, if you are wanting to make up songs, try playing with rhythm and get your daughter to repeat what you do. So, you play 1-1-1-1 really fast, then play 3-3-3-3 really slow and ask her which one she likes better. Make a game of it. See if she can play really fast or really slow. Count when you do it and that will help introduce numbers.

Or make up songs using her name and repeat the same tune each time she plays with the piano. She'll start to learn it and look forward to it.
posted by CathyG at 8:02 PM on January 18, 2016