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SongsO Holy Night
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Adolphe Adam, “Cantique de Noël”, 1847. 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

O Holy Night — Steel Drum Letter Notes

O Holy Night, 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.

  • Notes95, 11 pitches
  • RangeF4–A5
  • Key hereF major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 2 min
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a steel drum play O Holy Night?

✓ Plays as written Every note of it is on the steel drum, in F major from F4 to A5. The check is made note by note against what the instrument can actually sound.

O Holy Night: 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

O Holy Night — steel drum letter notes · 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.

  • F1×2
  • G2×4
  • A3×12
  • B♭4×4
  • B♯4×1
  • C5×26
  • D6×18
  • E7×8
  • F1×13
  • G2×5
  • A3×2

What to expect on a steel drum

  • It runs from F4 to A5, an octave and a major third, using 11 different notes. That leaves 5 semitones unused below and 7 above.
  • 60% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, C5 to A5, at note 89.
  • 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

Adolphe Adam, the composer of the ballet Giselle, wrote it in 1847 as “Cantique de Noël” for a poem by Placide Cappeau, a wine merchant in the southern French town of Roquemaure. It is a solo song rather than a congregational carol, and it is written like an aria.

Adolphe Adam, “Cantique de Noël”, 1847. Public domain. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 1 other transcription. More about O Holy Night →

O Holy Night on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the kalimba, mbira, guzheng, handpan, harp or lyre, 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