Silent Night: Mastering Christmas Carols on the Piano and Keyboard

November 27, 2006

Check out our complete series on mastering Christmas Carols on Piano and Keyboard.

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Silent Night: An Introduction

Silent Night is written and played in the key of C Major, and has a 3/4 (waltz) time signature (as does Away in a Manger).

Silent Night: Main Melody

Several short phrases in each verse are repeated.

The first phrase, to which the words “Silent Night” are sung, is repeated twice. The third and fourth lines have the same 4-bar melody.

Here’s the complete melody written out:

Those notes are: G A G : E : G A G : E : D D : B : C C : G : A A : C B A : G A G : E : A A : C B A : G A G : E : D D : F D B : C : E : C G E : G F D : C

And here’s what it sounds like:

Listen

Note that there are a number of places with a similar rhythm, formed by a dotted crotchet (quarter note) followed by a quaver (eighth note) and a crochet (quarter note). These take up one bar’s worth of time. Imagine that the bar is split into 6 half-beats. The first note (dotted crochet/quarter-note) takes 3 of these; the second note (quaver/eighth note) takes just 1 of these; the final crochet (quarter note) takes the remaining 2 half-beats.

Fingering

Here are some suggestions:

Start on the 4th finger and play naturally.
On the D in the fifth bar, start on your 5th (little) finger and run naturally
Play the A of the 9th bar with your 3rd (middle) finger, the notes should then run naturally. This phrase repeats.
Play the D of the 17th bar with your 3rd (middle) finger.
You have time to move your whole hand between bar 20 and 21, to play the C with your 5th (little) finger.

Silent Night: Single Note Bass Line

Below is a simple bass line for the carol using just one note. It’s written so that you only have to play one note per bar, and in fact there are only three different notes used: C, F and G.

And here’s what it sounds like:

Listen

Silent Night: Adding Harmony And Fullness With Chords

In the third version of Silent Night, I’ve added two-note chords to the right hand, always with the melody note as the highest note. The bass line remains the same.

And here’s what is sounds like:

Listen

Silent Night: Alternative Versions

The final two versions of Silent Night use some alternative left-hand chord structures to give the piece a different feel. They may prove off-putting if you are accompanying singers (depending on the situation) but if you are playing the carol on its own for enjoyment or performance, you may find one or both are interesting alternatives. See how you like them!