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SongsDeck the Halls
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Welsh traditional air “Nos Galan”, in print by the 1790s. Public domain.

33 notes · E3–C6 written · sounds D3–B♭5 · 33 notes · The clarinet almost everyone plays: band, jazz, school. Sounds a whole step below the part.

Tap a note, or slide along them to slur from note to note in one breath. On a keyboard the letters on the notes are the ones to press — Q is written G3 and they climb a semitone at a time.

ClarinetFree · printable · plays in your browser

Deck the Halls — Clarinet Notes

Deck the Halls, written out for the clarinet as letter notes with the fingering drawn under each one and set up above on the B♭ clarinet. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the clarinet waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes68, 9 pitches
  • RangeB4–C6
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo132 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a clarinet play Deck the Halls?

Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • B♭ clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · loaded above
  • A clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · load it
  • E♭ clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · load it
  • Bass clarinet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · load it

The notes here are written pitch, which is what a clarinet player reads. On the B♭ clarinet this sounds in B♭ major.

Deck the Halls: clarinet notes

The large line is the note, and the drawing is its fingering — a filled hole or key is one that is down. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Deck the Halls — clarinet notes (B♭ clarinet) · tonalics.com

The 9 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 9 and you can play the whole tune.

  • BB4×2
  • CC5×11
  • DD5×16
  • EE5×14
  • FF5×9
  • GG5×7
  • AA5×6
  • BB5×2
  • CC6×1

What to expect on a clarinet

  • It runs from B4 to C6, an octave and a semitone, using 9 different notes. Its top note is the highest this instrument has.
  • 87% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, C5 to A5, at note 60.
  • It sits entirely above the break, with the register key down throughout.

About the tune

The tune is the Welsh winter air “Nos Galan” — New Year’s Eve — a dance melody that was sung with improvised verses and a harp answering each line. It was in print by the 1790s, and the English Christmas words were added in 1862.

Welsh traditional air “Nos Galan”, in print by the 1790s. Public domain. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Deck the Halls →

Deck the Halls on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng or handpan, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the clarinet

All 36 clarinet songs · Christmas songs for clarinet · The online clarinet on its own

Playing it on a real clarinet?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The clarinet tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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