Silent Night is one of the most popular Christmas carols, not only in English-speaking countries, but the melody is also known in many other parts of the world. It’s originally an Austrian Christmas carol that has been popular all over the world for a long time. It’s also a nice carol to learn on the piano. Let’s learn a little more about the background of Silent Night and how to play it on the piano in this free piano lesson. We also provide a version with simple piano letter notes as well as the sheet music, which you can download as a PDF at the end of the article.
History of Silent Night
Silent Night, originally titled “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht” in German, is a world-famous Christmas carol that originated in Austria in 1818. The lyrics were written by Joseph Mohr, a young priest, and the melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, a local teacher and organist. The song was first performed on Christmas Eve at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, accompanied by guitar, as the church organ was broken. From there, travelling families of folk singers played the song in their shows and made it popular outside Austria. Silent Night quickly gained popularity and was translated into around 300 languages, becoming a cherished part of Christmas celebrations worldwide.
Piano Letter Notes for Silent Night
Silent Night is not only a nice Christmas carol but also a great tune for beginners on the piano. However, young children often lack a deep understanding of music theory when they begin to learn how to play piano, which is absolutely normal. Typically, piano songs are played from sheet music, which can be overwhelming for young students. For an easier introduction of the song Silent Night, we suggest playing it in C major since its the only key signature that doesn’t require playing the black keys.
In addition to that, it’s helpful to have the piano notes written over the lyrics. However, children should at first learn the location of each note on the piano that they are using for the song. Please note, that we need two different C, D, E and F notes for this song. C’, D’, E’ and F is referring to the lower version of the note.
Here are the keys on the keyboard that you have to use for the Christmas carol Silent Night
Labeling the keys of piano can help beginners to identify the correct keys and make the learning process more accessible. However, in order to reduce the student’s dependence on the piano key labels, you should remove them after the child can confidently play a few songs. And be sure to check out our article on how to read piano notes, where we explain how to easily remember and find the piano keys on the keyboard, and how they correspond to the notes on the sheet music.
The following chart with the lyrics and the letter notes enables you to learn and play Silent Night in an easy way:
Have a listen to the recording of the piano playing below to play along or to check if you got it right on the piano!
Each song can be played using either one or two hands. Playing with one hand is simpler than using both hands simultaneously, and playing single notes with one hand is easier than playing chords. Young beginners should start by playing the melody one note at a time with one hand. As they advance, they can gradually begin to combine both the right and left hands to play more complex versions.
Piano Sheet Music for Silent Night
When we play a song on the piano, we usually use sheet music. But for young beginners, reading music can be quite a challenge. However, short and simple Christmas carols are a good introduction to music notation. And if you already know how to read music, try using it to play Silent Night. Since we are using two different C, D, E and F notes in this song, it’s also much easier to identify the different pitches in sheet music.
Here are the music notes for Silent Night:
Free PDF Printables for Silent Night
You can download our PDF printables of the easy version with the piano letter notes and sheet music for Silent 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 Silent Night on the guitar and ukulele.
