Heigh Ho, Nobody Home 
Round for Singing

Heigh Ho, Nobody Home (also known as Hey Ho, Nobody's Home) is easy, vigorous, and beautiful.

It is a good introduction to harmony by way of singing rounds for beginning singers. Here is free vocal sheet music and guitar tabs for the round in several keys. 

Heigh, Ho Round sheet music

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

This is usually the first vocal round I give beginning voice students.

It has an engaging minor tune, and a natural rhythm that suits the words and makes it easy to memorize. 

This piece is also usually my beginning voice students' first introduction to struggling for breath. I make them breathe it like this:

"Heigh, ho, nobody home" (breath)

"Meat, nor drink, nor money have I none" (BIG BREATH)

"Yet, I will be merry, very merry, Heigh, ho" (ANOTHER BIG BREATH)

"nobody home..." (breath)

Now here is the guitar tab version for Heigh Ho, also in 3 keys: 

Round Heigh Ho free sheet music with guitar tabs

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

This is a fun song for guitar because it uses only two chords, back and forth and back and forth, like a practice routine, but with a great melody and rhythm.

Back to the discussion about breathing:

The reason for such a long third phrase is because of the fast notes at the end of the sentence "ve-ry mer-ry".

For some reason, that is JUST the spot where students want to gasp for air!  I don't want any gasps, or late entrances on the return to the beginning with "Heigh, ho."

In this simple little singing round there is also an introduction to good articulation.

I ask my students to OVER-emphasize the final consonants of "meat" and "drink," separating out the words a bit, but without taking a breath. Doing this gives a little "punch" to the rhythm, as well.

I pronounce "heigh" like the word "hi."

Personal preference, probably because that's how I learned it as a child. Some people say "hay, ho." That's fine. And I have seen the round spelled other ways: "Hi, ho," and "Hey, ho."

But I make sure my singers understand that "hi" is a dipthong - and that they are REALLY singing "Hah-(ee)"!

The tune is almost identical to "Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, when will I see thee wed."



The links for the vocal round:


Download Heigh Ho for vocalists in Am


Download Hey Ho for singers in Dm


Printable sheet music Hey Ho for singers in Em

Free singing round in Fm

Download Singing Round in Gm



The links for the guitar tabs for Heigh Ho:



Download Hey Ho for guitar in Am


Download Hey Ho with guitar tabs in Dm 


Download Heigh Ho for guitar in Em 


Interested in songs from the Bible for your students or church?  Check out my other website, SingTheBibleStory.com!

SingTheBibleStory.com clickable logo link

Recent Articles

  1. Sweet Hour of Prayer Hymn Sheet Music for Late Elementary Piano

    Swe
    Sweet Hour of Prayer hymn music has been around a long time, and is greatly loved still. Check out 3 arrangements for beginning to elementary piano!

    Read More

  2. Vivaldi "Spring" Piano Sheet Music for Elementary Piano

    The Four Seasons Spring Vivaldi
    Vivaldi Spring piano sheet music in two versions for early students, with and without note names. A nice introductory piece to the classical repertoire!

    Read More

  3. 12 Major Scales Free Download for Piano: Chords, Arpeggios & Scales

    Key of C chords & scales
    12 major scales & chords: free, printable downloads. One & two-octave scales, I, IV & V chords & inversions & arpeggios, & a new PART 2!

    Read More

  4. Printable Piano Music What Do You Do With a Drunken or GRUMPY Sailor

    Sea chanty song
    Printable piano music What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor, late elementary & first-year sheets! This may be your student's favorite for a long time.

    Read More

  5. The Wellerman Sheet Music: Easy Piano & Lead Sheets!

    wellerrman-piano-am-page-1.jpg
    The Wellerman: sheet music & lyrics for piano & other instruments. Such a fun, high-energy song to sing & play - learn it fast with letters in the notes!

    Read More

Songs Old & Songs New

All the first-year material I give my beginner students. 

Piano keyboard sheets, scales, chords, note-reading exercises, and over 256 pages of music!

The Story of Esther - a Bible opera!

Queen Esther in the Bible

This beautiful song book for piano & voice "Esther, For Such a Time as This",  available as a digital downloadtells the riveting story of the time when  Jews in ancient Persia faced a foe named Haman, and how a  brave young queen risked her life to save her people.

A good choice for a singing story-teller, an operatic group, a short theater production, or a class of children!

This book is also available from Amazon as a paperback.


Just the Black Keys, a piano song book for young beginners.

Just the Black Keys

This book is available as a digital download  from this site.  Visit this page to see some free examples from the book.

It is also available from Amazon as a paperback!

This is the perfect easy start for little pianists.

And when they start reading white-key notes on the staff, this is a fun easy resource to say each week, "Choose a new black-key song at home this week and figure it out to show me next lesson!"  They will be spending more time at the piano.

The Adventures of Tonsta, Volume 1, is a book about a young boy travelling over mountains and fjords from village to village, encountering trolls and helping folk in distress.

The Adventures of Tonsta

A perfect read aloud storybook
for little boys or girls. 

The Adventures of Tonsta highlight the travels of a very young boy with a good heart, who goes about helping folk in trouble.  

With a red cap on his head and a sack of tools slung over his shoulder, Tonsta seems to meet people in distress wherever he goes.

Lots of trolls in this book - including one who gives him a Christmas gift!

Available at Amazon

Sign up for "Take Note!" to see what's new every month.

Comments

Do you have a funny story about this music, or does it remind you of something you'd like to share with other readers? Do you have a question? I'd love to hear it!

Please note that all comments are moderated, and will not appear until I have approved them. Also, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR MUSIC THAT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOUR REQUEST WILL BE IGNORED. That's pretty much any music written in the last 75 years...

What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

A Great Link to Renaissance Faire Songs 
I dance professionally for a Historical Dance Company. We have sung this song (Heigh Ho) in a round. This is a very old song from the Renaissance period, …

Astoria OR. High school Choir  
My teacher in high school / middle school had us sing this along with a few others played on the piano, of course. These usually went: Heigh Ho, …

Click here to write your own.


About the Author

Dana Thynes

Hi, I'm Dana!  (Say that like "Anna".)  I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.

Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.

You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.