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SongsHark! The Herald Angels Sing
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Felix Mendelssohn, 1840, adapted to the carol by William H. Cummings in 1855. Public domain.

29 notes · C4–E6 · 29 notes in three rings · The lead pan of a steel band, in the fourths-and-fifths layout almost every tenor is built in today.

Tap a note, or drag across them to roll from note to note. On a keyboard the letters on the notes are the ones to press — they climb the pan a semitone at a time from the low C.

Steel DrumFree · printable · plays in your browser

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — Steel Drum Letter Notes

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, written out for the steel drum as letter notes, phrase by phrase. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the steel drum waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes76, 9 pitches
  • RangeC5–D6
  • Key hereF major
  • Tempo112 bpm · about 43 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a steel drum play Hark! The Herald Angels Sing?

✓ Plays as written Every note of it is on the steel drum, in F major from C5 to D6. The check is made note by note against what the instrument can actually sound.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: steel drum letter notes

The large line is the note stamped on the pan; 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

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — steel drum letter notes · tonalics.com

The 9 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 9 and you can play the whole tune.

  • C5×3
  • D6×1
  • E7×4
  • F1×13
  • G2×11
  • A3×15
  • B♭4×9
  • C5×14
  • D6×6

What to expect on a steel drum

  • It runs from C5 to D6, an octave and a whole step, using 9 different notes. That leaves 12 semitones unused below and 2 above.
  • 72% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is an octave, C5 to C6, at note 31.
  • Its notes sit in 2 of the pan’s three rings, so the stick moves in and out as well as around.

About the tune

Mendelssohn wrote this melody in 1840 as part of a cantata marking four hundred years of printing, and said he thought it unsuitable for sacred words. In 1855 the English musician William H. Cummings fitted it to Charles Wesley’s carol anyway, and the pairing has been standard ever since.

Felix Mendelssohn, 1840, adapted to the carol by William H. Cummings in 1855. Public domain. The notes follow Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Companie carol book, transcribed by John Chambers, cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Hark! The Herald Angels Sing →

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 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 steel drum

All 36 steel drum songs · Christmas songs for steel drum · The online steel drum on its own

Playing it on a real steel drum?

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

🎙 Open the Handpan Tuner