HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

Beginner - Level 1
Probably Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill, 1893
See historic link at bottom of page.
Accordion Notation  (for beginners who know the tune)
Although you may be a "beginner" on the button accordion, you already know lots of tunes, one of which is likely to be "Happy-Birthday".   Thus, chances are, you already know how long to hold each note and where to put the emphasis.  You just need to get use to it on the button accordion.

The first two things you need to know in order to create each accordion note:
     -   Which treble (right-hand) button to press for each note 
     -   Whether to push (compress) or pull (expand) the bellows to sound each note.

In my accordion notation,
    -   Treble Buttons are numbered from 1 to 10 (or 11), with number 1 at the top (nearest to chin)
    -   An asterisk (*) after the button number represents a pull;  Otherwise (no asterisk) it's a push.

​             5     5       5*     5     6      6*
           Hap-py   birth-day   to   you,

              5    5      5*     5     7*     6
           Hap-py   birth-day  to   you,

              5    5        8      7       6     6        6*     5*
           Hap-py    birth-day   hap-py    birth-day

               8*  8*       7      6      7*      6
            Hap-py    birth-day   to     you.

​
Getting Started:​
To accompany the first line (lyrics) of "Hap-py  birth-day to  you", press: 
     Button 5  on the push of the bellows,
     Button 5  again on the push
     Button 5* on the pull of the bellows,
     Button 5  on the push
     Button 6  on the push, and finally,
     Button 6* on the pull.

​Accordion Notation  (for beginners who are less familiar with tune)

If you are not familiar with the tune, you may not know the duration of each note, that is, how long to hold each note as you play it.

​One fairly simple way of showing each note's duration is to attach one or more dots to each button number.  For example, 
     -  If we let a single dot  (such as  .5) represent a short duration (for this button 5 note), then 
     -  Two dots  (such as  :5) would indicate a longer note duration (twice as long), and
     -  Four dots  (such as  ::5) would indicate an even longer note duration (four-times as long),
          and so on ....
​
​           .5   .5        :5*    :5     :6     ::6*
         Hap-py     birth-day   to     you,

            .5   .5     :5*    :5    :7*    ::6
         Hap-py   birth-day   to    you,

           .5   .5        :8     :7      .6   .6       :6*    :5*
         Hap-py    birth-day   hap-py    birth-day

            .8*  .8*      :7     :6    :7*     ::6
          Hap-py    birth-day   to     you.
​For the first line (lyrics) of "Hap-py  birth-day to  you", hold:
     Button 5  on push for one "dot" of time.
     Button 5  on push for one "dot" of time.
     Button 5* on pull for two "dots" of time.
     Button 5  on the push for two "dots" of time.
     Button 6  on the push for two "dots" of time.
     Button 6* on the pull for four"dots" of time.
When you first start to play this song as a "beginner",
     - one "dot" of time might be as much as one or two second or more.   
     - two and four dots would be proportionately longer.
With time and practice, these values can be reduced significantly so that the tune as played matches the song as it is commonly sung at birthday parties.
​

Embedded youTUBE  VIDEOS

These six are included mainly for the benefit of anyone not familiar with the tune.

As recorded here, the videos are somewhat fast for beginners to play along with, although you can select three slower playback speeds ( 75%, 50% and even 25% ) from youTube's "Settings" menu.
In this video, the birthday song is performed in the key of E.

This doesn't match the common G-C, A-D or C-F button accordions. 

​There are some E-A-D triple-row accordions around, but they are not common.

​
In this video, the birthday song is played in the key of C.

This matches the inside row of a G-C button accordion and the outside row of a C-F one.
​
Players:  ? & ?

Posted by Yuri Charyguine 2013-09-24

Interesting Castelfidardo advertising. 
Built by Giancarlo Francenella.
In this video, the birthday song is played (on a triple row accordion) in the key of G

This matches the outside row on a G-C accordion and the insider row on a D-G one.

Player:  ?

Posted by:  Senor Parrandas

Cross-playing on a Hohner Corona II.
In this video, the birthday song is played (on a android smart phone using a digital accordion "app") in the key of C.

This matches the inside row of a G-C button accordion and the outside row of a C-F one.

Player:  ?

Posted by:  videowensblog
In this video, the birthday song is played (mostly cross-playing on a triple-row accordion) in the key of G

This matches the outside row on a G-C accordion and the insider row on a D-G one.

Player:  ? Oscar Cedano ?

Posted by:  Oscar Cedano
In this video, the birthday song is performed in the key of ​E.

This doesn't match the common G-C,
​A-D or C-F button accordions. 

​There are some E-A-D triple-row accordions around, but they are not common.

Group:  The Minions

​Posted by:  Hetari Plus
Background:
Click HERE for Wikipedia background information on Happy Birthday to You.  This will open in a new window, so you can easily move back and forth between the two sites.
Copyright Info:
​My note in July 2015:  Strange as it may sound, this birthday song may still have copyright protection (to be decided soon by a case in the United States.)

September 2015:  An American Federal Court decided that, for this song, the existing "copyright registration applied only to a specific piano arrangement of this song, and not to its lyrics and melody."