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0 ¢ · L1 = 261.6 Hz

Mbira have no standard pitch — slide this until it matches the one in your hands.

SongsJolly Old Saint Nicholas
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3 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the tuning brings some of them into reach.

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American, 19th century; the music was first published in 1874. Public domain.

22 keys · C3–B5 as notated · Approximates Ionian, the plain major scale. The seventh is the note that separates it from Nyamaropa.

Tap a key, or drag along a manual to run through it. On a keyboard the letters on the keys are the ones to press — they run left to right across the board. The manuals are lettered on the keys — L for the upper left manual, B for the bass manual, R for the right manual — and each is numbered outward from the middle of the board, which is how mbira players and every mbira score name them.

MbiraFree · printable · plays in your browser

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas — Mbira Tabs

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, written out for the mbira as the key to press for every note and set up above on the Dambatsoko. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the mbira waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes48, 6 pitches
  • RangeG4–E5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo100 bpm · about 19 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a mbira play Jolly Old Saint Nicholas?

1 of the 4 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.

  • Nyamaropa✕ Cannot play itNeeds B4, which it does not have
  • Dambatsoko✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–E5 · loaded above
  • Katsanzaira✕ Cannot play itNeeds B4, E5, which it does not have
  • Mavembe✕ Cannot play itNeeds A4, B4, D5, E5, which it does not have

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas: mbira tabs

The large line is the key to press, by manual and position; the small line under it is the scale degree it sounds. 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

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas — mbira tabs (Dambatsoko) · tonalics.com

The 6 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 6 and you can play the whole tune.

  • L25×4
  • L46×8
  • L57×1
  • L61×13
  • L72×10
  • R43×12

What to expect on a mbira

  • It runs from G4 to E5, a major sixth, using 6 different notes. That leaves 19 semitones unused below and 7 above.
  • 85% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, E5 to A4, at note 13.
  • It uses 6 keys across 2 manuals (R and L).

About the tune

An American children’s song whose words appeared as a poem in the 1860s. The music was first published in 1874 and is generally attributed to James R. Murray, the composer of the “Mueller” tune for Away in a Manger.

American, 19th century; the music was first published in 1874. Public domain. The notes follow Douglas D. Anderson, The Hymns and Carols of Christmas (sequence released to the public domain), cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Jolly Old Saint Nicholas →

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas 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 mbira

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