Songs · Beginner
Jingle Bells
James Lord Pierpont · “The One Horse Open Sleigh” (1857): the chorus as it is sung today
C major4/4 time16 barsboth hands
Arranged: Teddy Rook Book: the chorus in C position, with a simple left hand. The notes here are not exactly the ones the composer wrote.
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About this piece
Pierpont published this song in 1857 as “The One Horse Open Sleigh.” The chorus everyone sings today is a later, simpler tune, and nobody knows who changed it. Keep your right hand still in C position and let the repeated E’s bounce lightly.
What it practices
- hands together
- C position
- dotted quarter and eighth
- repeated notes
Where the notes come from
Chorus checked note by note against an ABC tune file from a University of Calgary computer science course (pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca), moved down an octave. History from Wikipedia: the original 1857 chorus was different, and today’s chorus was recorded by 1898. The left hand is our own.
How to practice with it
- Listen first. Press Play and follow the moving line with your eyes. The lit notes and keys show what sounds right now: blue is the right hand, orange the left.
- Slow it down. Use − and + to set the tempo. 60% is a good place to start.
- One hand at a time. Choose Right or Left, learn that hand, then put them together.
- Wait for me. Turn it on and press Start. The lit keys show what to play, and the music waits until you play them, on the screen, on your computer keyboard or on a MIDI keyboard.
- Loop the hard part. Turn on Loop, pick the bars, and play them a few times in a row.
Click a bar in the music to start from there. Space plays and pauses. The computer keys A S D F G H J K play C D E F G A B C (press ⌨ Computer keys under the music to see them on the piano).