"The Grand Old Duke of York" is a traditional Children's Song which has an associated dance. In the dance pairs of children take turns to skip up and down between rows of the other children and then form an arch through which the other children go. Then the turn passes to the next couple. It may be that the song originated as a comment on a particular Duke of York, but its origins are not certain. The melody for the song is well-known although the associated dance may be a local phenomenon. Sheet music, Midi and Mp3 files for this song can be downloaded using the links in the left-hand menu.
In Fife schools the song was often extended with a chorus of "Oh for Dysart, Dysart Oh" or it may have been "Coal for Dysart, Dysart Coal" repeated 4 times which provided sufficient time for the dance to complete if there were lots of children. The music for this extension has not been included here since it is not so well known.
The audio controls below allow you to play the mp3 version of The Grand Old Duke of York for piano or you can download the MP3 file. You can also download the midi version of The Grand Old Duke of York for piano.
The image below is the first page of the sheet music, and here you can download the full sheet music for The Grand Old Duke of York for piano in PDF format.
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