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SongsThe First Noel
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Traditional Cornish carol, first printed in 1823 and with this tune in 1833. Public domain.

30 bars · written G3–C6, sounds G5–C8 · The orchestra’s glockenspiel: thirty thick steel bars, struck with hard mallets, ringing for seconds.

Tap a bar, or drag across them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the bars are the ones to press — they run up the bars from the lowest note.

GlockenspielFree · printable · plays in your browser

The First Noel — Glockenspiel Letter Notes

The First Noel, written out for the glockenspiel as letter notes, phrase by phrase and set up above on the Orchestral · 2½ octaves. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the glockenspiel waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes72, 8 pitches
  • RangeC4–C5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo104 bpm · about 42 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a glockenspiel play The First Noel?

Yes — every size 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.

  • Orchestral · 2½ octaves✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–C5 · loaded above
  • Bell kit · 32 bars✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–C5 · load it

The First Noel: glockenspiel letter notes

The large line is the note printed on the bar; the small line under it is its number in the scale. 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

The First Noel — glockenspiel letter notes (Orchestral · 2½ octaves) · tonalics.com

The 8 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 8 and you can play the whole tune.

  • C1×3
  • D2×6
  • E3×9
  • F4×6
  • G5×12
  • A6×14
  • B7×13
  • C1×9

What to expect on a glockenspiel

  • It runs from C4 to C5, an octave, using 8 different notes. That leaves 5 semitones unused below and 12 above.
  • 93% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fourth, C5 to G4, at note 23.
  • It uses only the front row — no sharps or flats in this key.

About the tune

A Cornish carol, first printed in 1823 and given with this tune in William Sandys’s collection of 1833. It is unusual among carols in that its verse and its refrain are nearly the same phrase, sung three times over — some scholars think the tune is a descant that outlived the melody it was written against.

Traditional Cornish carol, first printed in 1823 and with this tune in 1833. Public domain. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 1 other transcription. More about The First Noel →

The First Noel 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 glockenspiel

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

Playing it on a real glockenspiel?

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

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