Hark the Herald Angels Sing sheet music for easy piano

The Hark the Herald Angels Sing sheet music above is in F major and 4/4 time, with the letter name under every note, and the Letter notes tab shows the same carol as plain letters. It covers one full verse, the familiar tune from the opening call to the final chorus, arranged for the right hand. Listen plays it and highlights each note in the sheet; Practice lights the next key and waits for you. The carol moves mostly in quarter notes and stays within a little more than an octave, from middle C to D, so it is an easy piece once you know where B-flat is.

About Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

The words are by Charles Wesley, one of the early leaders of the Methodist movement, who published them in 1739 as a "Hymn for Christmas-Day". His first line was different: the opening most people know was written by the preacher George Whitefield, who revised the hymn in 1753.

The music has a surprising source. Felix Mendelssohn composed it in 1840 as part of his Festgesang, a choral work for a festival marking the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing. It was not church music at all. In 1855 William H. Cummings, an English organist, adapted Mendelssohn's melody to Wesley's words, and the pairing has been standard ever since. Many hymnals print it in F major, the key used here.

How to play Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

The carol has five lines of four bars, and two hand positions cover almost all of it.

• The opening. The first note is middle C. Play it with your thumb, then move so your thumb is on F: G, A, B-flat and C now sit under fingers 2, 3, 4 and 5. The first line, C F F E, F A A G, uses the thumb for F and a quick reach down to E.
• The high Cs. Near the end of the first line the tune repeats the C above middle C three times, finger 5, then steps down through B-flat, finger 4, to A and G.
• The second line. It starts like the first, then comes down: C, G, G, E, and finally E D C back to middle C. Let your hand slide down for these last notes.
• The third line. Two identical halves, each three high Cs, a drop to F, then B-flat A A G. In the F position this is fingers 5 5 5 1, 4 3 3 2.
• The last two lines. They climb to D, the highest note, repeated three times. Move your thumb to G so D is finger 5, C is 4 and B-flat is 3. In both lines a quick A and B-flat pair leads up to a long C, and the melody then settles through F and G, ending on A the first time and on F the second.

Counting the rhythm

Count four beats in each bar. Most notes are quarter notes, one beat each, which gives the carol its steady, marching feel. A few beats are stretched: a dotted quarter note lasts a beat and a half and is followed by a short eighth note, as on the F and E in the first bar. In the last two lines, one beat is split into two eighth notes, A and B-flat, just before the long C. Four of the five lines end on a half note, two beats long.

Practice tips

• Find B-flat before you start. Put a finger on it a few times so your hand knows where it lives; it comes in four of the five lines.
• Learn line three first. Its two halves are identical and use only the F position, so it is the quickest win.
• Keep repeated notes even. The three high Cs and the three high Ds should sound like three separate, equal steps, so let each key rise between presses.
• Sing the opening. Humming the first line while you play helps you feel where the dotted rhythm falls.

After this carol, Joy to the World is another bright Christmas melody that stays on the white keys.

Printable sheet music

Here is the same arrangement on a single page, with the letter name under every note. Open the image to print it or save it; the Print sheet music button above the keyboard prints it too.