O Holy Night on Dulcimer — Tab, Notes & Play Online

Notes95, 11 pitches
RangeD4–F♯5
Key hereD major
Tempo150 bpm · about 2 min
LevelIntermediate

Can a dulcimer play O Holy Night?

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.

DAD✓ Plays as writtenIn D major, D4–F♯5 · loaded above
DAA✓ Plays as writtenIn D major, D4–F♯5 · load it

O Holy Night: dulcimer tab

The large line is the fret, on the melody string unless a string is named; the small line under it is the note. 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

O Holy Night — dulcimer tab (DAD) · tonalics.com

2F♯4––2F♯4–2F♯44A4–×54A45B4–

5B43G4–5B47D5–×64A4–4A42F♯4–

1E40D4––2F♯4–3G44A4––3G4–

1E40D4–×122F♯4––2F♯4–2F♯44A4–×5

4A45B4–5B43G4–5B47D5–×6

4A4–4A4A6½G♯4–2F♯46½C♯5––4A4–

5B46½C♯5––7D5–6½C♯52F♯4–×114A44A4––5B4––1E4––4A4––

5B4–4A47D5–2F♯45B4––4A4–

4A44A4––5B4––1E4––4A4––5B4–

4A47D5–2F♯44A4–×67D5–×96½C♯5–

5B46½C♯5–×96½C♯5––8E5–×85B45B4–

5B47D5–×117D59F♯5–×68E5–×54A47D5–×9

6½C♯5–5B44A4–×84A45B4–4A44A4–×9

7D5––8E5–×94A4––9F♯5–×98E5––7D5–×66½C♯5––7D5–8E57D5–×12

The 11 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 11 and you can play the whole tune.

0D4×2
1E4×4
2F♯4×12
3G4×4
A6½G♯4×1
4A4×26
5B4×18
6½C♯5×8
7D5×13
8E5×5
9F♯5×2

What to expect on a dulcimer

It runs from D4 to F♯5, an octave and a major third, using 11 different notes. That leaves 12 semitones unused below and 8 above.
60% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, A4 to F♯5, at note 89.
It uses 10 fret positions: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6½, 7, 8, 9.
1 note falls on another string, so it cannot be played with a noter alone.
It needs the 6½ fret, which dulcimers built before about 1980 often lack.

About the tune

Adolphe Adam, the composer of the ballet Giselle, wrote it in 1847 as “Cantique de Noël” for a poem by Placide Cappeau, a wine merchant in the southern French town of Roquemaure. It is a solo song rather than a congregational carol, and it is written like an aria.

Adolphe Adam, “Cantique de Noël”, 1847. Public domain. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 1 other transcription. More about O Holy Night →

O Holy Night on other instruments

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

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