O Holy Night on Marimba — Letter Notes & Play Online

Notes95, 11 pitches
RangeC4–E5
Key hereC major
Tempo150 bpm · about 2 min
LevelIntermediate

Can a marimba play O Holy Night?

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.

5 octaves✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · loaded above
4.3 octaves✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it

O Holy Night: marimba 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

O Holy Night — marimba letter notes (5 octaves) · tonalics.com

E3––E3–E3G5–×5G5A6–

A6F4–A6C1–×6G5–G5E3–

D2C1––E3–F4G5––F4–

D2C1–×12E3––E3–E3G5–×5

G5A6–A6F4–A6C1–×6

G5–G5F♯♯4–E3B7––G5–

A6B7––C1–B7E3–×11G5G5––A6––D2––G5––

A6–G5C1–E3A6––G5–

G5G5––A6––D2––G5––A6–

G5C1–E3G5–×6C1–×9B7–

A6B7–×9B7––D2–×8A6A6–

A6C1–×11C1E3–×6D2–×5G5C1–×9

B7–A6G5–×8G5A6–G5G5–×9

C1––D2–×9G5––E3–×9D2––C1–×6B7––C1–D2C1–×12

The 11 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 11 and you can play the whole tune.

C1×2
D2×4
E3×12
F4×4
F♯♯4×1
G5×26
A6×18
B7×8
C1×13
D2×5
E3×2

What to expect on a marimba

It runs from C4 to E5, an octave and a major third, using 11 different notes. That leaves 24 semitones unused below and 20 above.
60% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, G4 to E5, at note 89.
It uses 1 back-row bar: F♯.

About the tune

Adolphe Adam, the composer of the ballet Giselle, wrote it in 1847 as “Cantique de Noël” for a poem by Placide Cappeau, a wine merchant in the southern French town of Roquemaure. It is a solo song rather than a congregational carol, and it is written like an aria.

Adolphe Adam, “Cantique de Noël”, 1847. Public domain. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 1 other transcription. More about O Holy Night →

O Holy Night on other instruments

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

More songs for the marimba

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