Happy Birthday
Free Sheet Music for All Instruments

People all around the world know the tune for Happy Birthday:

The piano arrangement I have here uses a simple, bouncy left-hand chord accompaniment in the "Oom-pah,pah" style. My piano teacher (Mrs. Catherine Hahn, God rest her soul) began her students with this "bass note, chord, chord" approach, using all root-position chords instead of inversions. This made understanding basic chords and even the 7th chords very easy.

Here is the melody of Happy Birthday for voice and piano:



Download Happy Birthday in the key of D

Download free sheet music in the key of Eb

Download free birthday song in the key of F

Download vocal and piano song in the key of G

Below is the melody of Happy Birthday as a lead sheet, for any instrument. Verse two uses words I heard in Sunday School as a child, but did not understand until I was an adult! "Happy Birthday to you -- Only one (just having ONE birthday) will not do! "Born again" ("Ye must be born again", John Chapter 3 in the New Testament portion of the Bible) means Salvation; How many (how many "birth - days" -- how many times have you been BORN) have you?



Download Birthday song lead sheet in the key of A

Download Birthday song lead sheet in the key of Bb

Download Birthday song lead sheet in the key of C

Download Birthday song lead sheet in the key of D

Download Birthday song lead sheet in the key of Eb

Download Birthday song lead sheet in the key of F

Download Birthday song lead sheet in the key of G

Below is a version for brave beginners who want to be able to play all of Happy Birthday themselves, even to the octave stretch and the chords. It is pretty easy, but kids need a bit of background in chord-playing first, such as Mary Had a Little Lamb.



Download simple version of the Birthday song in the key of F

Download simple version of Happy Birthday in the key of G

With these small chords, I like to tell my students "This is a D "pinch" chord. This is a "little" C chord."

The version in G may be easier for your students to play, because with the F version, each hand has to deal with a Bb note. In the G version, only the right hand has a black note. However, the G arrangement uses several bass clef ledger line notes! You will have to decide. I think the G version is easier.

Now here is the Middle-C version for beginner piano students, the easiest version of all:



Download Middle C version of the Birthday song

Here is the same music, but with chord symbols:



Download Birthday song with chord symbols

If you want to turn it into a 2-student duet (the melody or Primo part will have to be played UP an octave), here are the chords spelled out in this Secondo part:



Download Middle C duet version for your students

This song has become traditional -- according to Wikipedia, Happy Birthday is the most-recognized song in the English language. However, the writers are known to history -- two sisters named Mildred and Patty Hill, who wrote the song in 1893. Originally the words weren't Happy Birthday at all, but "Good morning to you, good morning to you. Good morning, dear children, good morning to you!"

In 1912, the slightly-altered melody and lyrics in "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print, with no credits or copyright notices. But the Summy Company registered for copyright in 1935, and in 1990, Warner Chappell purchased the company. "Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claims that the United States copyright will not expire until 2030 and that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to it," says the Wikipedia article.

Whoa! Therefore, I will be taking down these particular music files and replacing them with versions that match "Good Morning to You."

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