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B♭B♭1 · concert pitchopen · 2nd partial
SongsWe Wish You a Merry Christmas
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Traditional English carol from the West Country. Public domain. Verse and refrain.

42 notes · C1–F4 · the pedal B♭0 on the ladder · 42 notes · The band tuba: 18 feet of tube in B♭, and a fourth valve that fills the gap above the pedal.

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 the low F on the BB♭ (the G on the CC) and they climb a semitone at a time.

TubaFree · printable · plays in your browser

We Wish You a Merry Christmas — Tuba Notes

We Wish You a Merry Christmas, written out for the tuba as written notes with the valves for each one and set up above on the BB♭ · 4 valves. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the tuba waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes52, 8 pitches
  • RangeF2–F3
  • Key hereB♭ major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 19 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a tuba play We Wish You a Merry Christmas?

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.

  • BB♭ · 4 valves✓ Plays as writtenIn B♭ major, F2–F3 · loaded above
  • BB♭ · 3 valves✓ Plays as writtenIn B♭ major, F2–F3 · load it
  • CC · 4 valves✓ Plays as writtenIn B♭ major, F2–F3 · load it

We Wish You a Merry Christmas: tuba 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

We Wish You a Merry Christmas — tuba notes (BB♭ · 4 valves) · tonalics.com

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.

  • F0×10
  • G1-2×7
  • A2×7
  • B♭0×12
  • C1×9
  • D0×5
  • E♭1×1
  • F0×1

What to expect on a tuba

  • It runs from F2 to F3, an octave, using 8 different notes. That leaves 17 semitones unused below and 12 above.
  • 73% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is an octave, F3 to F2, at note 46.
  • It uses 4 valve combinations (open, 1, 2 and 1-2), and 28 of its 52 notes are played open.
  • The lips move across 4 partials of the harmonic series (3, 4, 5, 6).

About the tune

An English carol from the West Country, sung by wassailers going door to door at Christmas and asking for something in return. Nobody knows who wrote it or when; it reached most of the world through a 1935 choral arrangement by the Bristol conductor Arthur Warrell, but the tune itself is traditional.

Traditional English carol from the West Country. Public domain. Verse and refrain. The notes follow Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Companie carol book, transcribed by John Chambers, cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about We Wish You a Merry Christmas →

We Wish You a Merry Christmas 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 tuba

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

Playing it on a real tuba?

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

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