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SongsJingle Bells
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24 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the scale brings some of them into reach.

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James Lord Pierpont, published 1857 as “One Horse Open Sleigh”. Public domain. The chorus.

8 fields · D3 ding · A3–A4 · The complete D natural minor scale, nothing left out — the most common handpan scale by a wide margin.

Tap a field, or drag around the shell to roll across them. On a keyboard the letters on the fields are the ones to press — they run up the scale, so they zigzag across the shell exactly as your hands do.

HandpanFree · printable · plays in your browser

Jingle Bells — Handpan Tabs

Jingle Bells (the chorus), written out for the handpan as the tone field to strike for every note and set up above on the D Kurd. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the handpan waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes51, 5 pitches
  • RangeC4–G4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo132 bpm · about 28 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a handpan play Jingle Bells?

3 of the 5 here do. 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.

  • D Kurd✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · loaded above
  • D Celtic Minor✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it
  • D Hijaz✕ Cannot play itNeeds B♭4, C5, which it does not have
  • E Amara✓ Plays as writtenIn D major, D4–A4 · load it
  • E Equinox✕ Cannot play itNeeds F4, which it does not have

Jingle Bells: handpan tabs

The large line is the tone field, numbered from the lowest; 0 is the ding; the small line under it is its 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

Jingle Bells — handpan tabs (D Kurd) · tonalics.com

The 5 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 5 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 3C4×3
  • 4D4×6
  • 5E4×26
  • 6F4×11
  • 7G4×5

What to expect on a handpan

  • It runs from C4 to G4, a fifth, using 5 different notes. That leaves 10 semitones unused below and 2 above.
  • 84% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, G4 to C4, at note 9.
  • It uses 5 tone fields of this scale’s 8: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
  • 34 notes fall to the left hand and 17 to the right.

About the tune

James Lord Pierpont published it in Boston in 1857 under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh”; it was reissued two years later with the name everyone knows. It is a sleighing song and does not mention Christmas at all, but it has belonged to the season for well over a century.

James Lord Pierpont, published 1857 as “One Horse Open Sleigh”. Public domain. The chorus. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 1 other transcription. More about Jingle Bells →

Jingle Bells on other instruments

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

More songs for the handpan

All 14 handpan songs · The online handpan on its own

Playing it on a real handpan?

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

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