Pat-a-Pan, or Willie Take Your Little Drum

Pat-a-Pan has an engaging rhythm and a beautiful minor melody.

Three versions of "Willie, Take Your Little Drum":

• one difficult, 
• one fairly easy, and 
• one (bottom of the page) for beginners!

Please scroll down the page for the links to the free printable PDFs.

Four verses of Christmas song lyrics translated from the French original lyrics are included with this free Christmas song... 

"Willie Take Your Little Drum" or "Pat-a-Pan" is unfamiliar to a lot of kids, so you may have to run this one by them a couple of times before they will really "hear" it. This lively, free Christmas sheet music certainly has a different flavor than most of the Christmas songs they know... but it is catchy and beautiful.

Hear the Cantamus Training choir singing an arrangement of this lovely Christmas music:

Here is the free Christmas sheet music for the more difficult arrangement of Pat-a-Pan, with a driving left hand rhythm.

It is the rhythm that mainly makes coordinating the hands together difficult. This arrangement is based on an old one by Ruth Heller, but the right hand is simplified a bit so it flows more easily.

I have NOT put fingering in; I do have an unchanging fingering that I prefer, but your students will probably find their own fingering for this song no matter what I put in here.

Experiment with the phrases, trying different fingering; pencil it in, then encourage them to see how that works for them over the course of the week. They are more apt to try fingering if they had a contributing part in choosing it.

This easier version of Pat-a-Pan, below, doesn't have the driving left hand rhythm of the more difficult version above, but it preserves the beautiful harmonies, and includes all the Christmas song lyrics.

Please scroll down the page for the links to the free printable PDFs.

Below is a very simple arrangement, a Middle C version for beginners. It works for a duet Primo, and you can use the left hand chord pattern of Version 1 (the hard version, above) for a Secondo! (Just be sure to take the melody part up an octave or two.)

Please scroll down the page for the links to the free printable PDFs.

I left the rhythm of the notes in this beginner's version the same as above in the elementary and intermediate piano arrangements above.

Sure, there are eighth notes in the fast parts, but don't worry about that. 

Instead of turning this song into a chore by imposing "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &" , not suitable for beginners, you and your students can count it my favorite way for 8th notes:

TAH TAH / TAH TAH TAH TAH / TAH, tee-tee TAH TAH /

TAH-2, TAH-2, / TAH-2, TAH TAH / TAH TAH TAH TAH /

TAH-2, tee-tee-tee-tee / TAH-2, tee-tee-tee-tee / TAH-2, etc.,

with the bold "TAH"s being the first beat of each measure.

Probably most of you do some form of this already!

Kids catch on very quickly that eighth notes move faster.

Mrs. Behnke's flute choir:

The links to the piano music:

Download Pat-a-Pan free Christmas sheet music, intermediate level 

Download Pat-a-Pan with Christmas song lyrics, elementary level piano 

Download Willie Take Your Little Drum for beginning piano 

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

Recent Articles

• 
• 
• 

1. Deep In The Heart of Texas Sheet Music, Lyrics, Chords & Tabs

   

   Deep in the Heart of Texas, sheet music for piano duet partners. EASY primo and accessible secondo with bouncy chords make this a VERY FUN DUET!

   Read More

2. Beginner Piano Songs - Found a Peanut!

   

   Beginner piano songs for young kids are even EASIER when the tune is familiar, and the words are fun or even silly! "Found a Peanut" fits the bill.

   Read More

3. God is Good Lyrics and Sheet Music

   

   God is So Good lyrics and sheet music, now with two new versions. This simple and sweet hymn is perfect for beginning musicians.

   Read More

4. Ants Go Marching Lyrics & Sheet Music

   

   The Ants Go Marching lyrics & sheet music for beginning piano. This lead sheet is EASY to read, with a single melody line and chord symbols. Very fun!

   Read More

5. Chopsticks Music for Piano - Easy Duets and Solos!

   

   Chopsticks music is easy to play by rote - incorrectly! Sharpen up your students' abilities with duet & solo sheets showing chords & accurate melodies.

   Read More

6. Storybook Love - "The Princess Bride" Movie Soundtrack Music

   

   Storybook Love - Mark Knopfler's "The Princess Bride" movie soundtrack music is one of the prettiest movie themes ever. Now in the key of Am/C as well as Bm/D!

   Read More

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

   

   What Do You Do with a GRUMPY (or Drunken) Sailor, now with an EASY lead sheet! Free printable piano music that may be your student's favorite for a long time!

   Read More

8. Raggle Taggle Gypsies

   

   The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies is an exciting song for your singers! Your piano players will like it too. It is an old song, with a catchy melody easy to learn.

   Read More

9. Easy Piano Sheet Music Free for Kids The Snake Charmer with Chords

   

   Easy piano sheet music FREE, The Snake Charmer, now with an easier-to-read arrangement just for young, socially distant students! Mysterious-sounding & FUN.

   Read More

10. Social Distance in the Life of a Music Teacher

    

    A journal of adapting day by day to social distance as a music teacher - how to easily teach piano, voice, guitar by phone or laptop?

    Read More

Queen Esther in the Bible

This beautiful song book for piano & voice "Esther, For Such a Time as This",  available as a digital download, tells the riveting story of the attempted genocide of the Jews in ancient Persia, and the brave young queen who risked her life to change the king's mind and save her people.

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

This book is also available from Amazon as a paperback.

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

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

Carrie,Voice and Piano Teacher:
This site is FABULOUS.

For all the reasons you explain on the site itself--this is exactly what piano teachers need! (I still need to go look at the vocal music). Wow. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

California Student:
Hi, I want to thank you for such a wonderful and educational website. I have found all the information you have posted and your comments immensely helpful, and I am grateful for your posting it.

I am sure you are an awesome teacher and person. I am a beginner piano student, so many thanks and Happy New Year.

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.