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SongsHark! The Herald Angels Sing
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4 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the size or key brings some of them into reach.

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Felix Mendelssohn, 1840, adapted to the carol by William H. Cummings in 1855. Public domain.

17 tines · C4–E6 · C major · The standard. Almost every tab you find is written for this.

Tap a tine, or drag across them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the tines are the ones to press — they follow the tines left to right.

KalimbaFree · printable · plays in your browser

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — Kalimba Tabs

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, written out for the kalimba as number tabs with the letter under every note and set up above on the 17-key. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the kalimba waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes76, 9 pitches
  • RangeG4–A5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo112 bpm · about 43 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a kalimba play Hark! The Herald Angels Sing?

2 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.

  • 7-note✕ Cannot play itNeeds G3, A3, B3, which it does not have
  • 8-key✕ Cannot play itNeeds G3, A3, B3, which it does not have
  • 10-key✕ Cannot play itNeeds F5, G5, A5, which it does not have
  • 17-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–A5 · loaded above
  • 21-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–A5 · load it

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: kalimba tabs

The large line is the number stamped on the tine; the small line under it is its letter name. 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

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — kalimba tabs (17-key) · 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.

  • 5G4×3
  • 6A4×1
  • 7B4×4
  • 1•C5×13
  • 2•D5×11
  • 3•E5×15
  • 4•F5×9
  • 5•G5×14
  • 6•A5×6

What to expect on a kalimba

  • It runs from G4 to A5, an octave and a whole step, using 9 different notes. That leaves 7 semitones unused below and 7 above.
  • 72% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is an octave, G4 to G5, at note 31.
  • The left thumb plays 43 notes and the right 33. 10 times one thumb plays two different tines in a row — those are the spots to slow down for.
  • The furthest it reaches from the centre is the 6th tine out.

About the tune

Mendelssohn wrote this melody in 1840 as part of a cantata marking four hundred years of printing, and said he thought it unsuitable for sacred words. In 1855 the English musician William H. Cummings fitted it to Charles Wesley’s carol anyway, and the pairing has been standard ever since.

Felix Mendelssohn, 1840, adapted to the carol by William H. Cummings in 1855. Public domain. The notes follow Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Companie carol book, transcribed by John Chambers, cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Hark! The Herald Angels Sing →

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing on other instruments

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

More songs for the kalimba

All 34 kalimba songs · Christmas songs for kalimba · The online kalimba on its own

Playing it on a real kalimba?

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

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