Der Kuckuck und der Esel (The Cuckoo and the Donkey)

Carl Friedrich Zelter · Level 2 (Beginner) · traditional · Piano

A German children’s song: words by Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1835), tune by Carl Friedrich Zelter (1810). The cuckoo and the donkey argue about who sings best. An easy arrangement in C major: the right hand plays the tune, the left hand alternates a bass note and a two-note chord (“oom-pah”).

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Learn the tune alone by singing it, then the left hand alone: spot the chord changes before putting hands together in Wait mode, then at a reduced tempo.

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après la mélodie de C. F. Zelter (1810) · Public Domain