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Z = C4 · Q = C5
SongsGood King Wenceslas
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The spring carol “Tempus adest floridum”, from Piae Cantiones, 1582. Public domain.

61 keys · C2–C7, five octaves · The usual home keyboard — five octaves, enough for nearly everything written for two hands.

Tap a key, or slide along them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the keys are the ones to press — Z to M are the white keys from middle C with S, D, G, H and J the black ones between them, and Q to P are the octave above; the arrow keys move both rows an octave, and Space is the sustain pedal.

PianoFree · printable · plays in your browser

Good King Wenceslas — Piano Letter Notes

Good King Wenceslas, written out for the piano as easy letter notes for the right hand, with do-re-mi under every note and set up above on the 61 keys. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the piano waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes53, 8 pitches
  • RangeG4–G5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo120 bpm · about 34 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a piano play Good King Wenceslas?

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.

  • 49 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it
  • 61 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · loaded above
  • 88 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G4–G5 · load it

Good King Wenceslas: piano letter notes

The large line is the key’s letter; a dot over it is the octave above middle C’s, a dot under it the octave below; the small line under it is the same note in do-re-mi. 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

Good King Wenceslas — piano letter notes (61 keys) · tonalics.com

Good King Wenceslas letter notes as text

The same notes as plain text, one phrase to a line, to copy into a message or a document. A letter on its own is in the octave that starts on the C above middle C (C5). A letter with a number is in that numbered octave: B4 is the B just below the C above middle C. A comma marks a long note.

C C C D C C G4, A4 G4 A4 B4 C, C
C C C D C C G4, A4 G4 A4 B4 C, C
G F E D E D C, A4 G4 A4 B4 C, C
G4 G4 A4 B4 C C D, G F E D C, F
C

Is there a both-hands version?

Not of Good King Wenceslas, on this page. The left hand here is made by rule — three chords, one hand position — and it is only offered where that rule can be checked against a published harmonisation and agrees with it on most bars. For this tune it matched the chords printed in Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024) on 13 of 19 bars and half bars: its harmony moves through more chords than three, and a left hand that ignored that would sound wrong under it. The right hand above is the whole tune.

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.

  • GSol×7
  • ALa×7
  • BSi×4
  • C•Do×21
  • D•Re×6
  • E•Mi×3
  • F•Fa×3
  • G•Sol×2

What to expect on a piano

  • It runs from G4 to G5, an octave, using 8 different notes. That leaves 31 semitones unused below and 17 above.
  • 85% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, C5 to G5, at note 27.
  • It is played on the white keys only.
  • It covers 8 white keys, more than the five a hand rests on, so the right hand has to move or stretch — by a key or two.

About the tune

The tune is a 13th-century spring carol, “Tempus adest floridum”, printed in the Finnish songbook Piae Cantiones in 1582. In 1853 the English hymn writer John Mason Neale wrote new words for it about the Bohemian duke Wenceslas, and a song about flowers became a song about snow.

The spring carol “Tempus adest floridum”, from Piae Cantiones, 1582. 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 Good King Wenceslas →

Good King Wenceslas 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 piano

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

Playing it on a real piano?

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

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