TonalicsJOURNALOpen Tuner
‹ Trumpet songs
123
Cwritten C4 · sounds B♭3open · 2nd partial
SongsO Holy Night
Play a different song (36)
Play along
  1. 3
  2. 3
  3. 3
  4. 5
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 6
  8. 4
  9. 6
  10. 1'
  11. 5
  12. 5
  13. 3
  14. 2
  15. 1
  16. 3
  17. 4
  18. 5
  19. 4
  20. 2
  21. 1
  22. 3
  23. 3
  24. 3
  25. 5
  26. 5
  27. 6
  28. 6
  29. 4
  30. 6
  31. 1'
  32. 5
  33. 5
  34. #4
  35. 3
  36. 7
  37. 5
  38. 6
  39. 7
  40. 1'
  41. 7
  42. 3
  43. 5
  44. 5
  45. 6
  46. 2
  47. 5
  48. 6
  49. 5
  50. 1'
  51. 3
  52. 6
  53. 5
  54. 5
  55. 5
  56. 6
  57. 2
  58. 5
  59. 6
  60. 5
  61. 1'
  62. 3
  63. 5
  64. 1'
  65. 7
  66. 6
  67. 7
  68. 7
  69. 2'
  70. 6
  71. 6
  72. 6
  73. 1'
  74. 1'
  75. 3'
  76. 2'
  77. 5
  78. 1'
  79. 7
  80. 6
  81. 5
  82. 5
  83. 6
  84. 5
  85. 5
  86. 1'
  87. 2'
  88. 5
  89. 3'
  90. 2'
  91. 1'
  92. 7
  93. 1'
  94. 2'
  95. 1'

Adolphe Adam, “Cantique de Noël”, 1847. Public domain.

31 notes · F♯3–C6 written · sounds E3–B♭5 · 31 notes · A B♭ trumpet: a mostly cylindrical bore, the bright one.

Tap a note, or slide along them to slur from note to note in one breath. On a keyboard the letters on the notes are the ones to press — Q is middle C, the open low C, and they climb a semitone at a time to the high C.

TrumpetFree · printable · plays in your browser

O Holy Night — Trumpet Notes

O Holy Night, written out for the trumpet as written notes with the valves for each one and set up above on the Trumpet. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the trumpet waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes95, 11 pitches
  • RangeC4–E5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 2 min
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a trumpet play O Holy Night?

Yes — every one 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.

  • Trumpet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · loaded above
  • Cornet✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it
  • Flugelhorn✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–E5 · load it

The notes here are written pitch, which is what a trumpet player reads. On the Trumpet this sounds in B♭ major.

O Holy Night: trumpet notes

The large line is the written note; the small line under it is the valves to press — 0 is none. 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 — trumpet notes (Trumpet) · 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.

  • C0×2
  • D1-3×4
  • E1-2×12
  • F1×4
  • F♯2×1
  • G0×26
  • A1-2×18
  • B2×8
  • C0×13
  • D1×5
  • E0×2

What to expect on a trumpet

  • It runs from C4 to E5, an octave and a major third, using 11 different notes. That leaves 6 semitones unused below and 8 above.
  • 60% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, G4 to E5, at note 89.
  • It uses 5 valve combinations (1-2, open, 1, 1-3 and 2), and 43 of its 95 notes are played open.
  • The lips move across 4 partials of the harmonic series (2, 3, 4, 5).

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 trumpet

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

Playing it on a real trumpet?

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

🎙 Open the Trumpet Tuner