Joy to the World sheet music for easy piano

The Joy to the World sheet music above is in C major and 2/4 time, with the letter name printed under every note; the Letter notes tab lists the same carol as plain letters. The whole tune, one verse from the famous falling scale to the final line, uses only white keys between middle C and the C an octave above. Listen plays the carol and highlights each note in the sheet, and Practice lights one key at a time and waits for you. It is an easy piece that also teaches a real piano skill: the first line is a C major scale, played downward.

About Joy to the World

The words are by Isaac Watts, an English minister and hymn writer, who published them in 1719 as a paraphrase of Psalm 98 in a collection of psalms rewritten in Christian terms. He called the hymn The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom, and its picture of heaven and earth welcoming a king has made it a Christmas favorite.

The tune came more than a century later. Lowell Mason, an American composer who led Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, published it in 1836 under the name Antioch, marked "From Handel", and printed a version very close to today's in 1839. The form sung now follows his edition of 1848. The first four notes are the same as the start of a chorus in Handel's Messiah, but whether Handel's music really inspired the tune is doubtful, and a similar tune had appeared in 1832. Since the 20th century Joy to the World has been the most-published Christmas carol in North American hymnals.

Hymnals usually print it in D major. This page moves it down a step to C major, so the opening scale is the one most students learn first.

How to play Joy to the World

• The falling scale. Put finger 5 on the C above middle C. Play C B A G F with fingers 5 4 3 2 1, then cross finger 3 over your thumb onto E and finish D and C with fingers 2 and 1. This is the right-hand C major scale in reverse, and the C major scale lesson explains the crossing.
• The climb. The second line rises from G to the top C in pairs of notes, A A, B B, C C. Move your thumb to G and the pairs sit under fingers 2, 3 and 4.
• The two descents. The next line starts twice from the top C and steps down to G, then to F and E. Keep your little finger on C and your thumb on F, and let the thumb reach down to E at the end of each half.
• The repeated notes. A string of quick Es rises to F and G, then four Ds rise to E and F. Put your thumb on D so D, E, F and G are fingers 1 to 4.
• The last line. Play middle C with your thumb, then jump your hand up an octave so finger 5 lands on the top C. The tune walks back down to middle C, with finger 3 crossing over the thumb just as in the opening.

Counting the rhythm

Joy to the World is in 2/4, two beats to a bar, so count "1-and 2-and". The carol uses three rhythm shapes. The very first bar has a quarter note on C, then a dotted eighth and a quick sixteenth on B and A. Most bars of the second line pair a dotted quarter, a beat and a half, with a short eighth. And the repeated-note lines use even eighth notes with two sixteenths at the end of the bar, a little flourish that leads into the next long note.

Practice tips

• Practice the scale on its own first. Play C down to C slowly with the fingers above until the crossing feels smooth; then the opening line is already learned.
• Keep the sixteenths light. They are ornaments, not accents, so let them lead into the note that follows.
• Count the repeated notes. Runs of Es and Ds are easy to miscount, so say "1-and 2-and" as you play them.
• Use Practice for the leap. The jump from middle C to high C near the end is the biggest move in the carol; Practice waits while you find it.

For another carol in the same bright spirit, try Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

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.