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New Englanders take their history seriously, and once they have their minds set on a specific historical tale, you had best not try to convince them they are wrong. Case in point: “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” officially credited to writer and activist Sarah Josepha Hale – who is also known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving” because she was instrumental in getting the holiday recognized nationally.
Hale published the poem in 1830, and according to her biography, the poem was based on an experience she had as a teacher. A girl named Mary brought a lamb to school. It was distracting. The end.
However, in 1876, a woman named Mary Tyler claimed she was actually the inspiration for the poem. As a young girl in the early 1800s, she brought a lamb to school. It was distracting. The end. You might think she was the girl from Hale’s class, but no, Mary Tyler claimed a young man (John Roulstone, the nephew of a nearby minister) witnessed the whole thing, wrote the poem, and gave it to her.
A physical copy of the supposed original poem was never produced, and no other part of the story has been confirmed. Hale’s copyright over the original poem is not officially contested. Despite all of that, many in the area will still recount Mary Tyler’s version of the story as fact. They even made a statue to commemorate it. The Hale v. Tyler beef is real.
“Mary Had a Little Lamb” Playing Tips
Many kids will have already learned this on another instrument. It tends to be one of the first things taught on piano or the recorder because the main melody consists of only the first four notes of the C major scale. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
To mix things up, I used some two-string chords during the back half of the song (technically just harmonies or “dyads” as most definitions of a chord require three notes). They don’t require any extra work for the left hand. All of these chords just add an open string to the note already being played for the melody.
Learning to control your right hand to clearly strike multiple strings (but not all of them in a strum) is an essential skill. Focus on keeping the movement of your right hand quick (you don’t want it to sound like two individual notes) but also accurate (only hit the two strings of the chord, not three or four).
You can do this with a pick or your thumb, or if you’re practicing your fingerstyle, you can pluck the two strings simultaneously, the top with your thumb in a downward direction and the bottom with your index finger in a upward direction, effectively pinching the two strings.
Click the link or the ‘Download’ button below to see the sheet music if your browser doesn’t display the embedded PDF. Happy picking!
“Mary Had a Little Lamb” Ukulele Sheet Music Download
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