Mastering Christmas Carols on the Piano and Keyboard: We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Click on any of the music scores to view/print higher resolution versions

View a range of Christmas Carols Music Books at Amazon.

Moving along on our series on mastering Christmas Carols on Piano and Keyboard, we come to “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. Purists might say this isn’t a carol, but we won’t worry too much about that at the moment.

Introduction

Like Silent Night, We Wish You A Merry Christmas is in 3/4 (waltz time).

The version presented here is played in G Major. This is a fairly easy key to play in (one sharp – F# – though there are some occasional accidentals along the way) and, importantly, to sing in.

Main Melody

You’ll notice that the main “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” line is repeated three times, rising in pitch but with the same basic melodic shape.

For each phrase, the first and second notes are a perfect fourth apart (find out more about songs to help you learn note intervals).

The run of notes are fairly easy to play, but it’s worth noting that, in this key, the third phrase begins on the black note of F#.

Here’s the complete melody written out:

Those notes are:

D : G G A G F# : E C E : A A B A G :

F# D F# : B B C B A : G E D D : E A F# :

G D : G G G : F# F# : G F# E : D A :

B A A G G : D(high) D D D : E A F# : G

And here’s what it sounds like:

Single Note Bass Line

Below is a simple bass line for the carol using just one note. Most of the time, you only need to play one note (a dotted minim (half note)) per bar, except in four bars that have a minim (half note) followed by a crotchet (quarter note).

And here’s what it sounds like:

Adding harmony and fullness with additional notes

In the third version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas,, I’ve created some depth by adding some extra notes for the right hand to play, always with the melody note as the highest note. The bass line remains the same, and you never have to play more than three notes in total — one or two with the right hand and one with the bass — at any one time.

And here’s what is sounds like:

Alternative version: walking bass

This final version of We Wish You A Merry Christmas uses a walking bass style for the left hand, adding a little more movement.

Here’s how it sounds:

Chord Sheet

Finally, here’s a chord sheet and lyrics for those who prefer it.

That’s it for now. Happy playing!

View a range of Christmas Carols Music Books at Amazon.

Series Index: Mastering Christmas Carols on the Piano and Keyboard

Popularity: 12% [?]

Mastering Christmas Carols on the Piano and Keyboard: Silent Night

Update: This page has finally been updated with higher quality images (click on any piece of music to get the full size, print quality version in A4 size) as well as audio files so you can hear how the music should sound.

View a range of Christmas Carols Music Books at Amazon.

The third carol I’ll look at in our series on mastering Christmas Carols on Piano and Keyboard is “Silent Night”:

Introduction

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

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:

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.

[Read more]

Popularity: 100% [?]

Mastering Christmas Carols on the Piano and Keyboard: An Introduction

Updated 11th November 2009 with We Wish You A Merry Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, you may find that as a pianist / keyboard player your talents will be called upon to accompany the singing of Christmas carols.

This thought could fill you with dread, or it could excite you though you don’t really know where to start. In this mini series, I’ll take a look at some of the more popular carols, and show you ways of learning and playing them quickly and simply no matter what your proficiency (having said that, if you are already a virtuoso on the piano, you may be better off buying the sheet music and practising the full arrangements yourself)

Carols often seem complicated, and because they’re only called for during a short period of time in the year, they’re not always polished.

Many carols are really hymns, and if you’ve tried to play fully embellished versions of hymns you’ll know they often involve many chord changes and ’special’ chords that add colour.

Though that’s very nice, often the song can be vastly simplified and still sound good – certainly good enough for a sing-song around the piano or taking out to the local hospital with an amateur choir. Often it’s enough to be able to pitch the tune or play a basic bass and accompaniment to keep singers in tune.

So, if carols fill you with trepidation but you’d really like to have a go, even if you only get to play one or two in a way that pleases you, stay tuned! You may be surprised how simple carols can really be!

• Mastering Christmas Carols #1: O Little Town of Bethlehem
• Mastering Christmas Carols #2: O Little Town of Bethlehem (Second Attempt)
• Mastering Christmas Carols #3: O Come All Ye Faithful
• Mastering Christmas Carols #4: Silent Night
• Mastering Christmas Carols #5: We Wish You A Merry Christmas NEW!

Popularity: 6% [?]