Long, Long Ago: the 1830s song every Suzuki student knows
· 5 min read · Play With Keyboard
Thomas Haynes Bayly wrote Long, Long Ago in 1833. Today it's a rite of passage in Suzuki Violin Book 1. Here's the story, a Suzuki-style practice plan and the keys to play it.
Long, Long Ago is a parlor song by the English writer Thomas Haynes Bayly, dated to 1833. If you've been near a Suzuki violin class, you know it: it's one of the pieces in Suzuki Violin School, Volume 1. Here it is on our violin, with only six keys, 1 to 6.
The man who wrote it
Thomas Haynes Bayly was born in Bath, England, on 13 October 1797 and died on 22 April 1839, at 41. He was a poet, songwriter and playwright, very popular in his day, and he wrote both the words and the music of many of his songs.
Long, Long Ago, first called "The Long Ago," is usually dated to 1833. It reached most people after Bayly's death. It was printed in Philadelphia, where the editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold seems to have given it its final title, and by 1844 it was one of the most popular songs in the United States. The first popular recording came much later, in 1913, sung by the opera star Geraldine Farrar for the Victor Talking Machine Company.
The tune has been in the public domain for well over a century. We don't print the words here, but the title tells you the mood: looking back, gently.
Why Suzuki students play it
Shinichi Suzuki built his method around listening first and playing by ear, the way children learn to speak. His Violin School, Volume 1 is a sequence of short pieces, each adding one new skill. Long, Long Ago is the seventh piece in the book, after Twinkle Twinkle Little Star variations and five folk songs.
It's easy to see why it's there:
It's slow and singing. After the bouncy early pieces, it asks for long, smooth notes.
It moves step by step. Look at the keys below: nearly every move is to the next note up or down.
The phrases repeat. The opening phrase comes back three times, so you learn a lot of music from very little.
We won't reproduce Suzuki's own edition here. His arrangement and books are copyrighted, and our version is an independent transcription of Bayly's tune. But you can practice it the way Suzuki students do.
The keys
These are the exact keys from our Long, Long Ago song page. Keys 1 to 6 are C D E F G A, starting on middle C.
Phrase | Keys |
|---|---|
A | 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 5 3 |
B | 5 4 3 2 4 3 2 1 |
A | 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 5 3 |
C | 5 4 3 2 3 2 1 |
D | 5 4 3 2 5 5 4 3 2 1 |
D | 5 4 3 2 5 5 4 3 2 1 |
A | 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 5 3 |
C | 5 4 3 2 3 2 1 |
Only four different phrases. Phrase A appears three times, and D is the same line played twice.
Practice it like a Suzuki student
Suzuki teachers say "listen first" so often it's almost a slogan. Here's a 15-minute plan in that spirit.
Listen three times. On the song page, press Listen and just listen. Hum along the third time. Don't touch the keys yet.
Phrase A in guide mode. Turn on guide mode. The next key lights up and waits for you. Play phrase A until you can do it without looking at the lights.
Loop 1, slow. Play the whole song in guide mode, slowly. Make the long notes long: the last note of every phrase (the 3 in phrase A, the 1 at the end of B and C) should ring.
Loop 2, slow again. Same thing, but now try to look away from the screen for phrase A.
Loop 3, normal speed. Start the metronome (96 BPM) and play along. Then try Play for score: a one-bar count-in, then hit each key on its beat. You get a score out of 100.
Listen once more. End by listening again. You'll hear details you missed at the start.
Three loops, slow to normal, with listening at both ends. Do it on two or three days in a row and the tune will stay with you.
If the number keys are new to you, our guide to playing with keys 1–0 explains the layout. And if you'd rather practice on real keys, any class-compliant MIDI keyboard works in the same player.
Violin, or something else?
We put it on the violin because that's where most people meet it. But the same keys work on every instrument. On the flute it sounds like a folk tune. On the kalimba it turns into a lullaby.
Next piece: Minuet in G
In Suzuki Violin Book 1, a few pieces after Long, Long Ago, come three minuets. The best known is Minuet 3, the Minuet in G major that almost everyone has heard. For a long time it was printed as "Bach, Minuet in G."
It isn't by Bach. The minuet appears in the notebook Johann Sebastian Bach started for his wife, Anna Magdalena, in 1725. That's where the attribution came from. In the late 1970s, the Bach scholar Hans-Joachim Schulze traced it to a harpsichord suite by Christian Petzold, an organist in Dresden who died in 1733. A journal article from the Suzuki Association of the Americas names Petzold as the composer of Minuet 3, too.
On our site, the Minuet in G uses the full keyboard, since it needs an F sharp. Turn on guide mode and follow the lights.
Questions
Who wrote Long, Long Ago?
Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839), an English poet and songwriter. The song is usually dated to 1833.
Which Suzuki book has Long, Long Ago?
Suzuki Violin School, Volume 1. It's the seventh piece in the book, after the Twinkle variations and five short folk songs.
Is Long, Long Ago in the public domain?
Yes. Bayly died in 1839, and the tune is long out of copyright. Modern arrangements and editions, including Suzuki's, can still be under copyright.
Is the Minuet in G by Bach?
No. It was copied into Anna Magdalena Bach's 1725 notebook, but it's now credited to Christian Petzold.
Can I play Long, Long Ago with number keys only?
Yes. It uses keys 1 to 6 and nothing else.
Sources
About the composers
- Christian Petzold (1677–1733)
Christian Petzold (1677–1733) was an organist and composer who worked in Dresden.
- Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839)
Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839) was a poet and songwriter from Bath.