Are you looking for a nice Christmas carol to play on the piano, which is not super easy but a little more challenging? In this case, O Holy Night is a great tune to learn and play on the piano. It’s more challenging to play than other typical Christmas songs songs like O Christmas Tree or Jingle Bells. O Holy Night has an interesting history, which we will explore a bit more in this article. But our main focus in this free lesson is on how to play it on the piano. We also provide the lyrics with musical notation for students who can’t read music, as well as the sheet music for advanced musicians in PDF format.
History of O Holy Night
O Holy Night was originally written as a French poem entitled “Minuit, chrétiens” (Midnight, Christians) by poet Placide Cappeau in 1843. Cappeau, a wine merchant and wine commissioner, was asked by a local priest to write a poem to celebrate the renovation of the church organ. Although Cappeau was not particularly religious, he wrote a moving poem inspired by the Gospel of Luke, which recounts the birth of Christ. The poem reflects on the themes of salvation and hope brought by the birth of Jesus.
The music for O Holy Night was composed by French composer Adolphe Adam in 1847. The song quickly gained popularity in France and was soon translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight, an American music critic. Dwight’s version, first published in 1855, resonated with abolitionists in the United States, especially for its verse about breaking chains and freeing the oppressed. Since then, O Holy Night has become one of the most beloved and frequently performed Christmas carols in the English-speaking world.
Piano Letter Notes for O Holy Night
O Holy Night is a great choice for pianists who are looking for more complexed piece to learn and to play. Although you or your students may have some intermediate piano playing skills, it doesn’t mean that you know how to read sheet music. Especially children might find sheet music quite challenging and prefer letter notes. To make this nice Christmas carol a bit accessible to the young ones, we also recommend starting with the key of C major, as it avoids the complexity of black keys. We only need the #F once. Otherwise we stay on the white keys.
Additionally, it’s useful to have the piano notes displayed above the lyrics. But before diving in, beginners should familiarize themselves with the location of each note on the piano keyboard they’ll be playing. Keep in mind that for this song, two different notes of C, D and E are needed. The notation C’, D’ and E’ refer to the higher octave version of the note.
Here are the keys on the keyboard that you have to use for the Christmas carol O Holy Night:
Labeling the piano keys is a helpful way for beginners to learn, allowing them to quickly locate the correct notes and simplifying the early stages of playing. However, as the student gains confidence and begins to play a few songs with ease, it’s important to gradually remove these labels. This encourages them to rely on memory and develop independence. Be sure to check out our Piano Note Reading Guide – it offers easy-to-remember strategies for identifying keys on the keyboard and explains how they correspond to notes in sheet music.
The following chart with the lyrics and the letter notes enables you to learn and play O Holy Night in an easy way:
Have a listen to the recording below to play along or to check if you got it right on the piano!
Each song gives you the option to play with either one or both hands, offering different levels of difficulty. For beginners, especially younger ones, it’s easier to start with one hand and focus on single notes instead of full chords. Learning the melody one note at a time helps build confidence. As students progress, they can gradually begin to use both hands, eventually working up to more complex arrangements of the song.
Piano Sheet Music for O Holy Night
Sheet music is usually the primary tool for learning to play the piano. But for young beginners, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. If you are just starting to read music we recommend you easier carols like O Christmas Tree or Deck the Halls or even easier nursery rhymes such as Brother John or Mary had a Little Lamb. If you’re already familiar with reading music, try playing this carol from sheet music. It’s especially useful for recognizing the two different pitches of the C, D and E notes that appear in the song.
Here are the music notes for O Holy Night:
Free PDF Printables for O Holy Night
You can download our PDF printables of the version with the piano letter notes and sheet music for O Holy Night for free. This allows you to print them out and to use them for your lessons or at home for practicing.
Interested in instruments other than the piano? You can also find a free lesson on how to play O Holy Night on the guitar.
