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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.

16 strings · G3–A5 · C major · The common size, and what most lyre tabs assume. Two full octaves and a bit.

Tap a string, or sweep across them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the strings are the ones to press — they follow the strings left to right.

LyreFree · printable · plays in your browser

The First Noel — Lyre Tabs

The First Noel, written out for the lyre as number tabs with the letter under every note and set up above on the 16-string. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the lyre 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 lyre play The First Noel?

2 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 C5, which it does not have
  • 10-string✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–C5 · load it
  • 16-string✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–C5 · loaded above

The First Noel: 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.

▶ Play it above

The First Noel — lyre tabs (16-string) · 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.

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

What to expect on a lyre

  • It runs from C4 to C5, an octave, using 8 different notes. That leaves 5 semitones unused below and 9 above.
  • 93% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fourth, C5 to G4, at note 23.
  • It is played on strings 4 to 11 of 16, 8 strings in all.

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 lyre

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

Playing it on a real lyre?

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

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