We Wish You a Merry Christmas sheet music (easy)
Traditional English (West Country carol), Level 3 · Beginner, 0:24
Key facts
- Level
- Level 3 · Beginner. Estimated from the notes (0 of 8 on our difficulty score)
- Time signature
- 3/4
- Key signature
- No sharps or flats
- Length
- 17 bars, 2 pages
- Playing time
- 0:24
- Notes
- 73
- Range
- G2 to G5
Source and licence
Licence of the source: Public domain melody.
Source: Site-owned easy edition. Melody: We Wish You a Merry Christmas (traditional West Country carol), Traditional English (traditional (West Country of England); Arthur Warrell's popular 1935 arrangement is not used), public domain, rights checked against Wikipedia: We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Left hand written for this site.
Source: Wikipedia, from the edition The traditional tune as sung; written out for this site, not taken from any arrangement.
Playback sounds: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0); Upright Piano KW by Gonzalo and Roberto of FreePats (CC0 1.0); Fluid R3 GM by Frank Wen and contributors (CC BY 3.0). Full sound credits.
How to play We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Easy)
The happiest carol of all, in a bouncy three. It starts with a single G4 before the first full bar, so count yourself in.
Where your hands go
Right hand: most of the tune sits between G4 and E5, with one high G5 in bar 14.
Left hand: one note for each chord, mostly held for the whole bar, from G2 up to F3.
It is in C major and 3/4. Bar 0 is the one-beat pickup.
The tricky bars
Your practice plan
- Clap the rhythm of bars 0 to 2 while counting "1, 2, 3".
- Right hand alone, bars 0 to 8.
- Right hand alone, the "Good tidings" part, bars 8 to 16.
- Left hand alone, then hands together slowly.
- Play it with Listen on, then bring the Speed up for a jolly finish.
Watch out for
- Starting the tune on beat 1. It starts with a pickup G4 in bar 0.
- Playing bars 1, 3 and 5 on the same notes. Each starts a step higher.
- Missing the octave drop from G5 to G4 in bar 14.
Power-up: press Loop, tap the first and last of the tricky bars, and they repeat until they feel easy. Hands in Options lets you practise one hand at a time. New to the notation? Start with how to read keyboard staff, then how to practise piano.
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