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SongsSilent Night
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  1. 5
  2. 6
  3. 5
  4. 3
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 5
  8. 3
  9. 2'
  10. 2'
  11. 7
  12. 1'
  13. 1'
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 6
  17. 1'
  18. 7
  19. 6
  20. 5
  21. 6
  22. 5
  23. 3
  24. 6
  25. 6
  26. 1'
  27. 7
  28. 6
  29. 5
  30. 6
  31. 5
  32. 3
  33. 2'
  34. 2'
  35. 4'
  36. 2'
  37. 7
  38. 1'
  39. 3'
  40. 1'
  41. 5
  42. 3
  43. 5
  44. 4
  45. 2
  46. 1

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain.

61 bars · C2–C7, 61 bars · The concert and solo marimba — the full five octaves, down to the low C a cello plays.

Tap a bar, or drag across them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the bars are the ones to press — they run up the bars from middle C.

MarimbaFree · printable · plays in your browser

Silent Night — Marimba Letter Notes

Silent Night, written out for the marimba as letter notes, phrase by phrase and set up above on the 5 octaves. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the marimba waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes46, 11 pitches
  • RangeC4–F5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a marimba play Silent 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–F5 · loaded above
  • 4.3 octaves✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–F5 · load it

Silent 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

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

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.

  • C1×1
  • D2×1
  • E3×5
  • F4×1
  • G5×11
  • A6×10
  • B7×4
  • C1×6
  • D2×5
  • E3×1
  • F4×1

What to expect on a marimba

  • It runs from C4 to F5, an octave and a fourth, using 11 different notes. That leaves 24 semitones unused below and 19 above.
  • 53% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor seventh, E4 to D5, at note 9.
  • It uses only the front row — no sharps or flats in this key.

About the tune

Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher and organist, wrote the melody on Christmas Eve 1818 for a poem by the young priest Joseph Mohr, and the two sang it that night in the church of St Nicholas in Oberndorf with Mohr accompanying on guitar. It spread through travelling Tyrolean singers and has since been translated into several hundred languages.

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain. The notes follow Wikipedia, “Silent Night” (engraved score), cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Silent Night →

Silent Night 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 marimba

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

Playing it on a real marimba?

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

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