Hark! The Herald Angels Sing on Lyre — Tabs, Letter Notes & Play Online

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

Can a lyre play Hark! The Herald Angels Sing?

1 of the 3 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-string✕ Cannot play itNeeds G3, A3, B3, which it does not have
10-string✕ Cannot play itNeeds G3, which it does not have
16-string✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–A5 · loaded above

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: lyre tabs

The large line is the note’s number in the scale; the small line under it is the string to pluck. 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.

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Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — lyre tabs (16-string) · tonalics.com

5str. 81•str. 111•str. 117str. 101•str. 113•str. 133•str. 132•str. 125•str. 155•str. 155•str. 154•str. 143•str. 132•str. 123•str. 13–

5str. 81•str. 111•str. 117str. 101•str. 113•str. 133•str. 132•str. 125•str. 152•str. 122•str. 127str. 107str. 106str. 95str. 8–

5•str. 155•str. 155•str. 151•str. 114•str. 143•str. 133•str. 132•str. 125•str. 155•str. 155•str. 151•str. 114•str. 143•str. 133•str. 132•str. 12

6•str. 166•str. 166•str. 165•str. 154•str. 143•str. 134•str. 14–

2•str. 123•str. 134•str. 145•str. 151•str. 111•str. 112•str. 123•str. 13–

6•str. 166•str. 166•str. 165•str. 154•str. 143•str. 134•str. 14–

2•str. 123•str. 134•str. 145•str. 151•str. 111•str. 112•str. 121•str. 11–

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.

5str. 8×3
6str. 9×1
7str. 10×4
1•str. 11×13
2•str. 12×11
3•str. 13×15
4•str. 14×9
5•str. 15×14
6•str. 16×6

What to expect on a lyre

It runs from G4 to A5, an octave and a whole step, using 9 different notes. Its top note is the highest this instrument has.
72% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is an octave, G4 to G5, at note 31.
It is played on strings 8 to 16 of 16, 9 strings in all.

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 lyre

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