The Spanish Lady 

The Spanish Lady is a fun, pretty, and fast-moving song from Ireland.  And vigorous! Download the free fiddle music and easy acoustic guitar tabs for it here! Also, a piano arrangement to use with singers.

Now with an easy Middle C shared-hands melody arrangement, and a duet secondo with energetic chords to accompany it!

Sheet music for Spanish Lady, arranged for piano
Middle C piano arrangement of The Spanish Lady, an Irish song

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

A great song for singers

This song was introduced to me by one of my students, who asked if she could sing it. Browsing through her favorite singers on YouTube, she had encountered the group Celtic Woman singing this song.

This free vocal sheet music is very pretty, bouncy, and great fun to sing with a group of other singers. 

Turn Spanish Lady into a piano duet

This easy-to-understand duet secondo goes with the melody shown above:

Piano secondo part for Spanish Lady, an Irish song

As you can see, it is just root position chords, jumping back and forth.  

Despite its simplicity, this is a very effective accompaniment to the Spanish Lady melody, and there are a few small challenges for your students with the timing!

Piano sheet music duet for Spanish Lady, an Irish Song

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

A great piece for fiddle and guitar

Easy guitar tabs for Spanish Lady

No sooner had I begun giving this song to my vocal students, than my guitar players and fiddlers also wanted to play it, so I added guitar tabs to the sheet music. 

Free fiddle music for Spanish lady

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Several of my vocal students have and enjoy the Celtic Woman Songbook, which has not just vocal pieces, but also instrumentals such as "The Butterfly" for violin. However, the book does not have Spanish Lady in it!

The key of G seems to be best

This song is easier both for guitar and violin players in the key of G, I think.

For fiddlers who play it in G, it is very fun and not too hard to execute double stop notes - a drone - at the bottom of page 1, where the melody goes, "First she washed them..."

Just use the open D string as harmony for the notes of the A string, until you reach the melody change again at "Whack fol the too-rah..."

(This may seem terribly obvious to all you fiddlers of many years' experience, but to me, a pianist who first held a real violin in her hands as a music major in college in String Methods I, playing the violin is still a learning adventure!) 

A lead sheet all on one page

Spanish Lady free sheet music

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

I like the way the Celtic Woman version starts with a soloist, then bursts into harmony, so I wrote parts for the middle and end of each verse. The bottom voices are pretty simple, so less-experienced, younger singers can pick them up quickly. 

Harmony for Spanish Lady
Celtic Woman music Spanish Lady

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Don't make the accompaniment heavy

Unless you're real handy with fast-moving piano chords, I wouldn't treat the top staff of this version as a piano part -- playing those parallel sixths on the piano could really slow the piece down!

The single line of version one would be preferable, so that the piano could skip along. (Unless playing fast parallel sixths is easy for you, of course. I still think it would weigh the song down.)

The Spanish Lady has become a fast favorite among my students, and I'm betting it will be with yours, too!



The links to the easy piano melody & duet secondo:



Download the Spanish Lady melody arranged at Middle C



Download the secondo duet part accompaniment for the Middle C melody



The links to the guitar music:



Download free Celtic sheet music and easy acoustic guitar tabs in key of G 



Download free guitar tabs and free fiddle music in key of A



The links to the lead sheets:



Download Spanish Lady lead sheet in the key of A 



Download printable lead sheet in the key of G



The links to the vocal harmonies:



Download Celtic Woman song with vocal harmony in the key of A 



Download Celtic Woman song with vocal harmony in the key of G




Do you need a beautiful but easy solo for a young beginning singer?  Check out a simple song used in Cinderella, "Lavender's Blue"!


More Folk & Traditional Songs

Ae Fond Kiss - not strictly a folk melody, but it is old - and very lovely!


Ash Grove - an elegant melody that sounds more classical than folk, the lyrics are old-fashioned and poignant


Cat Came Back (for early singers) - a fun and silly song that can be pared down to JUST 5 NOTES for kids who have trouble matching pitch, there is much repetition in the melody (good for finding pitches)


Colorado Trail - a genuine cowboy song, just one verse, surprisingly lovely


Down by the Salley Gardens - this pretty song from England is a setting for a poem by William Butler Yeats with a warning for those who wish to hurry love


Erie Canal - a vigorous minor melody that kids like, with lots of repeating phrases


Green Bushes - a fast, light, pretty melody that speaks of false-hearted love, and feels very "English" in both lyrics and chord progressions


Grenadier and the Lady - Number One with me!  So beautiful, somewhat sad. Lots of opportunities for expressive singing


Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier - Lovely.  Important for breath control and learning to mold a phrase


Lavender's Blue, a pretty song that is VERY simple to sing!  Perfect for young girls just starting out.  Many basics of singing can be taught with this easy song!


Loch Lomond, the most famous song of all from Scotland.  Still beautiful


Mari's Wedding - lots of energy in this Scottish tune, which sounds great with guitar and fiddle backup


The Minstrel Boy - though rather difficult with its long phrases & reaches, this Irish song about the love for one's country is very moving and beautiful.  A great song for BOYS.


Molly Bawn - So sad, but so IRRESISTIBLE.  Lovely and evocative, and requiring good air support, it is educational as well as being satisfying to the musical soul


Muss i denn or Abschied (Wooden Heart) - from Germany by way of Elvis, an adorable folk tune!


Once I Had a Sweetheart - another sad, pretty, and image-arousing song, once sung by Joan Baez


Parting Glass - There are many versions of this GREAT Irish melody.  Download mine free, then check out others!


Scarborough Fair - an old favorite from England, still lovely


She Moved Through the Fair - a strange, shifting melody, with almost creepy lyrics that will haunt you


Shenandoah - So pretty, and genuinely American.  Long phrases, good breath control practice


Skye Boat Song - a singable old Scottish song with a great tune about the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the Battle of Culloden


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

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This site is FABULOUS.

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You are awesome. Thank you. I'm a voice and piano teacher and to have so many pieces in one place- for many different levels- is a Godsend. Thank you for the time and effort you have put in to make this so easily available to all of us stressed music teachers!!!

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... I watched your video "Wondrous Love" with your eight gals - Magnificent! So refreshing to see good harmonies sung a capella these days; it seems to be rare!

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Amber:
Thank you! THANK YOU!!! For keeping the beautiful art of Opera alive! I stumbled upon this site and I'm so happy I did!

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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.