- Rangemajor sixth
- Notes48, 6 different
- ScaleMajor, no accidentals
- Time2/4
- Length hereabout 19 s
- Source editionB♭ major
About Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
An American children’s song whose words appeared as a poem in the 1860s. The music was first published in 1874 and is generally attributed to James R. Murray, the composer of the “Mueller” tune for Away in a Manger.
It is nearly all repeated notes — four of one pitch, then the next — in a pattern that steps down the scale. Few tunes are easier to pick out by ear.
Play Jolly Old Saint Nicholas on your instrument
25 of the 27 playable instruments here have every note it needs. 25 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
- Ocarina 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, which it does not have in any size or key here.
- Handpan — it would need C4, which it does not have in any size or key here.
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas letter notes
Written in C major, from G4 to E5, 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.
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas — letter notes · tonalics.com
Where these notes come from
American, 19th century; the music was first published in 1874. 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: Douglas D. Anderson, The Hymns and Carols of Christmas (sequence released to the public domain)
- Checked against: Thornton Rose, An Online Christmas Songbook (2001) — the same notes throughout
- Checked against: “The Everyday Song Book” (1927), transcribed by John Chambers — 1 of 48 notes differ, as variants of a traditional tune do
The 1927 Everyday Song Book differs by one note in the eighth bar; the tab follows the two that agree.