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 We wish you a merry Christmas
It’s always nice to learn about the history and background of a song before we learn how to play it on an instrument. 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 We Wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas is not just a festive carol but it’s also a great choice for beginner pianists. When young children first start learning piano, it’s common for them to have little to no grasp of music theory, which can make sheet music seem overwhelming. To make learning this nice Christmas carol more accessible to the young ones, we recommend starting with the key of C major, as it avoids the complexity of black keys completely.
Additionally, it’s useful to have the piano notes displayed above the lyrics. But before diving in, children 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 G is needed. The notation G’ refers to the higher octave version of the G note.
Here are the keys on the keyboard that you have to use for the Christmas carol We wish you a merry Christmas
Labeling piano keys can be a great aid for beginners, helping them to quickly locate the right keys and making the learning process smoother. However, once the student has gained confidence and can play a few songs on their own, it’s important to gradually remove the labels to encourage independence. Don’t forget to explore our guide on reading piano notes, where we break down simple techniques for remembering and finding keys on the keyboard and show how they align with the notes in sheet music.
The following chart with the lyrics and the letter notes enables you to learn and play We wish you a merry Christmas 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 offers the flexibility to be played with either one or both hands. Starting with just one hand is easier, especially if you focus on individual notes rather than chords. For young beginners, it’s best to start by playing the melody note by note with one hand. As they progress, they can slowly incorporate both hands and eventually tackle more complicated versions of the song.
Piano Sheet Music for We wish you a merry Christmas
When playing the piano, sheet music is usually our guide. But for young beginners, learning sheet music can be quite discouraging. But did you know that simple and short carols are an excellent starting point for learning to read music? And We wish you a merry Christmas is an excellent example for that! If you’re already familiar with reading music, try playing We wish you a merry Christmas from the sheet music. Since the song has two variations of the notes G, sheet music makes it easier to distinguish between these different pitches.
Here are the music notes for We wish you a merry Christmas:
Free PDF Printables for We wish you a merry Christmas
You can download our PDF printables of the easy version with the piano letter notes and sheet music for We wish you a merry Christmas 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 We wish you a merry Christmas on the guitar.
