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How To Play Sally Gardens On Fiddle

Down by the Salley Gardens

Down by the Salley Gardens is a pretty English song with poetic words by William Butler Yeats.

On this page you'll find the piece in seven different keys as lead sheets, and a few different keys for piano as well.

Down by the Salley Gardens for instrumental & vocal musicians


Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Here is a beautiful violin rendition of this piece by Retaw Boyce of Australia:

This song has many slurred notes for the singer: view these as learning opportunities!

Students need to be able to interpret notes and musical symbols, and it is surprising (to me) how often young singers will be baffled by the slurs in a vocal line.

I like them to be intelligent music "map readers" against that future day when they will become part of a choir; I want them to be an asset, not a drag on the group!

You never know just how particular students will react to a new song, especially a song as old-fashioned as this one.

But I actually had a young singer once beg me for "Down by the Salley Gardens" after she had been introduced to it at a summer Fine Arts Camp.

It just goes to show you that good music is going to be loved, if given a chance.

Fortunately, I found an arrangement in this Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland, & Wales. There are about 100 songs in this book, including a few I have on this site, often with different melodies or lyrics.

Is Down by the Sally Gardens a folk song?  Perhaps the tune is, but the words by Yeats are less than 150 years old... however, it FEELS like a folk song!

Steven from Ireland is pretty sure this is NOT an English song, but an Irish tune:

Perhaps I might be wrong here, but the song "The Sally Gardens" is an Irish song, not an English song. It was written in 1889, before Ireland became independent from the United Kingdom.

It could technically be described as a British song, because at the time, Ireland was being governed from London.

This would, however, completely ignore the social and cultural background of the country at the time.

Yeats was among those at the forefront of an Irish cultural revival which was taking place at the time. This was a response to 200 years or more of repression of Irish language, music, sport, poetry etc.

There may be many versions of the song recorded by English musicians. This tends to happen with most folk songs.

Irish, Scottish, American, English folk musicians borrow songs and instrumental pieces from each other. But the origins of a piece should not be lost.

Here is my own piano accompaniment for this lovely song:

Piano accompaniment and lyrics for Down by the Salley Gardens


Vocal & piano arrangement in D of Down by the Sally Gardens


Please scroll down the page for the download links.

If I have time, I'll make more keys available for this piano accompaniment.

Meantime, here is another lovely rendition of Salley Gardens, this time a vocal version, by Laura Wright:

What is a "salley garden"? A garden full of willows.


The links for the lead sheets:

Download lead sheet Down by the Salley Gardens in the key of A

Download Down by the Salley Gardens in the key of Bb

Download Salley Gardens in the key of C

Download song in the key of D

Download Down by the Sally Gardens in Eb

Download English song in the key of F

Download lead sheet Down by the Sally Gardens in G

The link for the piano accompaniment:

Download piano accompaniment for Salley Gardens in D



More Folk Songs to Sing:

All the Pretty Little Horses - a soft and repetitious lullaby, quite pretty

Colorado Trail Song - an American tune written by a real cowboy

Come By the Hills - another popular Irish melody

Down By the Salley Gardens - a famous and pretty song, very sweet

Green Bushes - a brisk little song that is pretty while being good for breath control training

Grenadier and the Lady - my favorite folk song of all.  Find out why

Johnny Has Gone For a Soldier - very beautiful, very moving, and a chance for your young singer to learn how to let her voice soar

Keegan's Waltz - this is a traditional Gaelic tune, but the lyrics are very new, supplied by a visitor to this site!

Lavender's Blue - this simple song is not only satisfying for beginning pianists, but also young singers who need to focus on basics.  With a lovely piano accompaniment.

Loch Lomond - the famous and sad song about never meeting again

Mari's Wedding - a singable tune with bouncy chords that is fun to play or sing

Minstrel Boy - a lovely and patriotic song about a warrior-poet

Molly Bawn - a sad story of a young hunter who thought he was shooting at a swan

Once I Had a Sweetheart - "but now I have none!" Very pretty, and little-known.

Parting Glass - a well-known Irish tune which my singers always love

Scarborough Fair - an old and famous tune of lost love

She Moved Through the Fair - this sounds happy, but it is actually a bit of a love story, and a bit of a ghost story!

Shenandoah - a famous and lovely American tune with ambiguous lyrics

Skye Boat Song - a pretty song from Scotland about the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea

Spanish Ladies - a minor key sea chanty that swings energetically along - BOYS like singing it too!

The Spanish Lady - Upbeat and energetic, this Irish song is fun to perform with a group

Star of the County Down - LOTS of fun to sing and play!  An excellent ensemble piece

Waltzing Matilda - an unusually pretty melody from Australia; you know this one!  Very popular with kids

The Water is Wide - a very pretty song about disappointed love.  You might have sung this one in high school!

White, Orange and Green - though not widely known, this charming melody about fighting for the right to carry the flag of Ireland has stirring lyrics and soaring phrases. A favorite of my vocal & guitar students

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

SingTheBibleStory.com clickable logo link

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 download, tells 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

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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.

How To Play Sally Gardens On Fiddle

Source: https://www.music-for-music-teachers.com/down-by-the-salley-gardens.html

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