- Rangeoctave and a whole step
- Notes67, 9 different
- ScaleNatural minor
- Time4/4
- Length hereabout 33 s
- Source editionG major
About God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
One of the oldest English carols still sung, known from 18th-century broadsides and probably older. The tune used today is the one associated with London; Dickens has a caroller start it at Scrooge’s keyhole in A Christmas Carol.
It is in the natural minor — the scale you get by playing a major scale from its sixth note — so it needs no sharps or flats beyond the key’s own, and a diatonic instrument plays it as it stands.
Play God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen on your instrument
24 of the 27 playable instruments here have every note it needs. 23 play it where the library writes it; the rest move it to another key or octave, and each page says which. Every page has the instrument itself, with the song loaded, above the notes.
- Kalimba tabs
- Piano letter notes
- Mbira tabs
- Oud notes
- Violin notes
- Cello notes
- Erhu notes
- Dulcimer tab
- Xylophone letter notes
- Marimba letter notes
- Glockenspiel letter notes
- Steel Drum letter notes
- Harmonica tabs
- Trumpet notes
- Clarinet notes
- Saxophone notes
- Flute notes
- Recorder notes
- Tuba notes
- Euphonium notes
- Trombone notes
- Accordion letter notes
- Harp letter notes
- Lyre tabs
Instruments that cannot play it
- Guzheng — it would need C♯5, G5, which it does not have in any size or key here.
- Handpan — it would need G3, B3, which it does not have in any size or key here.
- Ocarina — it would need G3, which it does not have in any size or key here.
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen letter notes
Written in A minor, from G4 to A5, with each note’s number in the scale under it — the form that transfers to any instrument. A dash holds a note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and each line is one phrase.
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen — letter notes · tonalics.com
Where these notes come from
Traditional English carol, the “London” tune, in print by the early 19th century. Public domain.
The melody was not written down from memory. It is derived from a published transcription and compared, note for note, with independent ones:
- Followed: Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024)
- Checked against: Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Companie carol book, transcribed by John Chambers — the same notes throughout