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SongsSilent Night
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The melody on its own — the easy version.
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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 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

Silent Night — Piano Letter Notes

Silent Night, 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.

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

Can a piano 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.

  • 49 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–F5 · load it
  • 61 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–F5 · loaded above
  • 88 keys✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–F5 · load it

Silent Night: 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

Silent Night — piano letter notes (61 keys) · tonalics.com

Silent Night 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 middle C (C4). A letter with a number is in that numbered octave: C5 is the C above middle C. A comma marks a long note.

G A G E, G A G E, D5, D5 B, C5, C5 G
A, A C5 B A G A G E, A, A C5 B A G A G E
D5, D5 F5 D5 B C5, E5, C5 G E G F D C

Silent Night with both hands

The right hand plays the melody exactly as above. The left hand adds three chords underneath it, each held while the tune moves over it, and it plays them without moving: the hand stays in one place an octave below middle C and at most one finger shifts by a key between chords. RH is the right hand, LH the left, and a bar line separates the bars.

RH  G A G E | G A G E | D5 D5 B
LH  C       | C       | G7

RH  C5 C5 G | A A C5 B A | G A G E
LH  C       | F          | C

RH  A A C5 B A | G A G E
LH  F          | C

RH  D5 D5 F5 D5 B | C5 E5
LH  G7            | C

RH  C5 G E G F D | C
LH  C G7         | C
  • CC3 – E3 – G3
  • G7B2 – F3 – G3
  • FC3 – F3 – A3
▶ Load both hands in the piano above

This left hand is an arrangement, not part of the tune: it is made by rule from the melody, giving each bar whichever of the three chords of the key holds most of its notes. Compared with the chord symbols printed in Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), it puts the same chord on 13 of the 13 bars and half bars the two share. A fuller arrangement would use more chords than three.

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.

  • CDo×1
  • DRe×1
  • EMi×5
  • FFa×1
  • GSol×11
  • ALa×10
  • BSi×4
  • C•Do×6
  • D•Re×5
  • E•Mi×1
  • F•Fa×1

What to expect on a piano

  • 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 is played on the white keys only.
  • It covers 11 white keys, more than the five a hand rests on, so the right hand has to move or stretch — more than once.

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 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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