Ever since the piano became popular, there has arisen a popular culture of folk piano tunes that have been passed along person-to-person. Folk music isn’t just for singers!
This blog series introduces an irresistible piano folk tune played only on the black keys, all about washing a shirt. It’s perfect in two different piano lesson scenarios:
- First, it’s perfect for piano beginners to learn in their first month or two of piano lessons.
- Second, it’s perfect for piano students of all ages, along with the challenge for them to teach it to a friend.
In the true spirit of folk music, it’s best to teach this music by rote (showing which keys to play rather than by reading).
With Spring Break on the horizon, now is the perfect time to start a studio challenge with your piano students to learn this music with the plan to invite a friend over and teach it to them over the break.
And with Saint Patrick’s Day coming up, it’s an extra bonus that Oh Can You Wash Your Father’s Shirt has deep Irish origins!
1. The Rote version I learned
In the early 2000s, I learned a charming black key rote piece from a student, which she’d learned from her mother. Maybe you, too, know of a version. It sounded familiar and I’m sure I’d heard it as a child, played on spare ‘old clunker’ pianos at my school and church by boys who liked to show off.
The words went:
My mommy washed my daddy’s shirt,
She washed it mighty clean.
My mommy washed my daddy’s shirt
And sent it to the Queen.
Ever since, I’ve taught it to most of my students in their first month or two of piano lessons.
2. The true value to piano students
The reasons I love to teach this piano folk rote gem are numerous.
- It’s all on the black keys and easy to learn by rote.
- I love beginner music that can be played with just one finger per hand. This connects the arms directly to the fingertips and helps encourage good technique. Students may use their 2nd fingers, but 3rd fingers work just as well.
- It’s very tuneful, satisfying to play and fun. Students always remember to practice it.
- In the first month or two of piano lessons, most beginner music is designed to be safe, orderly, is planned out to be very easy and is…just a little bit boring. In this piece, students get to cross one hand over the other, which ramps up the challenge and the sense of accomplishment. I’ve never had a student who couldn’t meet this challenge.
- A piece that motivates students to practice, love music, love piano lessons, feel accomplished and that helps develop good technique has great value.
3. Updated lyrics kids love
One day about five years ago, I was in the middle of a piano lesson with a little girl and I was about to teach her the Daddy’s Shirt piece by rote.
She was tiny, maybe only five years old. Her parents had just split up and I didn’t have the heart to teach her a piece called “My Mommy Washed My Daddy’s Shirt.”
So, in the middle of the lesson, I pivoted and created new lyrics on the spot:
My doggie washed my kitty’s shirt,
He washed it mighty clean!
My doggie washed my kitty’s shirt
And sent it to the Queen.
This turned out to be a brilliant stroke, because there’s a variant tune in which the left hand plays a different repeated black key, and for that one I was able to switch the lyrics around:
My kitty washed my doggy’s shirt,
She washed it mighty clean!
My kitty washed my doggy’s shirt
And sent it to the King.
Children love dogs and cats AND the nonsensical idea that dogs and cats can wash each other’s shirts and send them to the heads of state.
From that lesson day, I’ve continued to teach my alternative lyrics. And kids love them!
4. Versions I’ve found online
Whenever I share folk piano music, I like to do a little digging on its origins. This tune likely stretches back more than 150 years and goes by many different titles. Evidence points to an origin in Ireland.
Many of the titles are about washing a father’s shirt.
- Oh Can You Wash Your Father’s Shirt (or just Can You Wash Your Father’s Shirt)
- Oh Can You Wash a Sailor’s Shirt
- Did You Wash Your Father’s Shirt
The original is an Irish reel with a different tune than the black key version. However, it is similar enough that it seems the one on black keys is a derivative or folk simplification of the fiddle tune, adapted to the piano’s black keys.
Here is a lively version of the reel played on mandolin.
Here’s a jaunty version on tin whistles.
Watch for more!
This blog post introduces a series on this charming folk piano tune. I’ll be releasing tutorials with printable sheets as well as a post on melody writing and phrases. Watch for more soon!
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I appreciate shares, comments and likes. Happy teaching! <3
Video of the Week
Head in the Clouds (Levels: US, Early Elementary. Primer Level.). Like clouds, this music is high up and seems to ‘billow,’ and it sounds like daydreaming. Rote black-key patterns, with non-legato travelling fingers (one finger per hand), to help develop the arm-to-fingertip connection and good balance on the keys.
Check out the Head in the Clouds eSheet!
It’s also available in the print and eBook First Impressions:
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