Free easy piano · Christmas
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, easy piano
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing for piano in four free versions, all in F major: an easy arrangement, the melody over a simple bass, the hymnal setting rearranged so it fits two hands, and the hymnal original. Play each one here, slow it down or loop a bar, then print the PDF or download the MIDI.
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Easy to intermediate, plus the original
- 20 bars · 4/4
- Free: play, print, MIDI
Versions of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Each version is a request typed into PlayableNotes. Pick one to hear and print it.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make this hymn easier for a second-year student: keep the melody exactly as written, give the left hand single notes and simple two-note chords with nothing wider than a seventh, and keep the hymn's harmony.”
What changed
The whole melody, note for note, over a left hand of single notes and two-note chords that follow the hymn's harmony.
- Right hand: the melody unchanged in all 20 bars. A second note joins it only at the ends of phrases (bars 2, 4, 10, 12, 16 and 20) and in bars 13, 14, 17 and 18, where it moves in thirds below the tune, as the hymnal's alto does.
- Left hand: one or two notes at a time, in quarter, half and dotted-half notes, never wider than a seventh. The hymnal's tenor-and-bass stretches of a tenth or more (bars 2, 3, 6, 7, 13 and 14) are gone.
- Bars 9 and 11: the hymnal's bare Cs become a low C–G held under the repeated melody notes.
- Bar 3: the left hand holds F–A through beat 2, where the hymnal passes through A minor. Bar 6: B natural–F is held for beats 3 and 4, where the hymnal's bass drops to a low G.
- Bar 15: the left hand starts on C, with B-flat above it, where the hymnal's bass is B-flat; on beat 3 it drops to A, as the hymnal's bass does. Bar 19 keeps the hymnal's E in the bass, then lands on F rather than A.
- Bars 17 and 18 keep the hymnal's high bass: B-flat and A, then G, F-sharp, G, F under a repeated D.
For teachers: For a second-year student who reads two-note chords in the left hand. Learn the left hand alone first, one phrase at a time; then add the melody, which is the hymn exactly as written.
Typed into PlayableNotes“Make a simpler version for a student near the end of the first year: just the melody in the right hand, one bass note at a time in the left hand, mostly long notes, and no sharps or naturals.”
What changed
The melody in the right hand over single, mostly long left-hand notes, with no sharps or naturals to read.
- Right hand: the melody as in the hymnal, one note at a time, with the hymnal's slurs.
- Left hand: one note at a time, mostly half and dotted-half notes, following the hymnal's bass line (F, C, F, C, then A, B-flat, C, F in bars 1 to 4). Quarter notes come only after a dotted half note or where the bass walks, in bars 7, 8, 10, 12 and 14.
- No accidentals: the hymnal's B naturals (bars 6 to 8) and F-sharps (bars 14 and 18) are left out. In bar 6 the left hand plays D, then G, where the hymnal's bass is D, C, B natural, G. In bar 7 it walks A, G, C where the hymnal's bass is A, B natural, C, E.
- Bars 15 and 19: E, then F, where the hymnal's bass is B-flat, B-flat, A, F (bar 15) and E, B-flat, A, F (bar 19).
- Bars 17 and 18: the left hand steps down B-flat, A, G, F, the hymnal's own bass line under the refrain.
For teachers: For a student near the end of the first year who knows the B-flat in F major. The tune spans a ninth, so the right hand changes position every two bars or so; the biggest move is the octave from the middle C in bar 8 up to the C in bar 9. Mark each move in pencil before the first play-through.
Typed into PlayableNotes“This is the four-part hymn from our hymnal. Make it playable on piano for Sunday: keep all four parts and the harmony, but nothing wider than an octave in either hand.”
What changed
Cummings's four-part harmony with every part kept, rearranged so each hand stays within an octave.
- Soprano, alto, tenor and bass: the same notes and rhythms as the hymnal, apart from the bass in bars 9 and 11.
- Bars 2, 3, 6, 7, 13 and 14: tenor notes the left hand can't reach from the bass (a tenth to a twelfth away) are played by the right hand, under the alto.
- Bars 9 and 11: the bass plays C and A an octave lower than written, where the hymnal puts it on middle C with the tenor; the tenor's C moves to the right hand.
- No stretch wider than an octave in either hand. The right hand plays up to three notes at once.
For teachers: For a church pianist or an intermediate student who wants the hymn as the congregation sings it. In bars 3, 7 and 13 the right hand plays three notes spanning an octave: practice them alone and keep the melody on top.
The piece as published: Open Hymnal Project, 2005 revision: William H. Cummings's 1857 setting of Mendelssohn's tune.
Original hymnal setting
What changed
What changed
William H. Cummings's four-part setting as printed in the Open Hymnal edition: soprano and alto on the treble staff, tenor and bass on the bass staff.
- Nothing: this is the source edition, checked bar by bar against its MIDI and PDF.
- It is written for singers. In bars 2, 3, 6, 7, 13 and 14 the tenor and bass are a tenth to a twelfth apart, wider than most hands reach; pianists take the tenor in the right hand there, which is what the playable version does.
For teachers: Use it to hear the full harmony or to check a choir's parts. To play it yourself, start with the version made playable on piano.
Want it different? Just ask.
Open this version in PlayableNotes and ask for a change in words: simpler, another key, shorter, bigger notes. The result is a new version you can play, print and share with your student.
Free account. Changes, playback and printing are free; 50 free credits to read your own sheet music.
Watch how to ask for your own version · 1 min video
Make your own version
A real request in PlayableNotes, on Für Elise from the free library: say who it’s for and what to keep, and the AI writes a new version beside the original. It shows how to ask for a version of your own; its result is not one of the versions on this page.
About Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
The carol joins Charles Wesley's Christmas hymn of 1739 to a tune by Felix Mendelssohn. Wesley's first line was "Hark, how all the welkin rings"; George Whitefield changed the opening to the line sung today. The tune is the second chorus of Mendelssohn's Festgesang, written in 1840 for Leipzig's festival marking four hundred years of Gutenberg's printing. After Mendelssohn's death, the English musician William H. Cummings fitted it to Wesley's words, and his four-part setting from the 1850s is the one most hymnals print.
It is 20 bars in 4/4: five four-bar phrases, the last of them (bars 17 to 20) the refrain. Bars 7 and 8 turn to C major, bars 14 and 18 lean into G minor with an F-sharp, and the melody climbs to its high D in bars 13 and 17. The tune itself is friendly. The hymnal page is not: it is written for four voices, and the left hand holds tenor and bass together, a tenth or more apart in bars 2, 3, 6, 7, 13 and 14.
The easy version keeps every note of the melody over a left hand of single notes and two-note chords that follow the hymn's harmony. The melody-and-bass version is the tune over one bass note at a time, with no sharps or naturals, for a student near the end of the first year. For church pianists the four-part setting is here twice: rearranged so each hand stays within an octave, and as printed.
Practice tips
- In bars 1, 3, 5 and 7 the dotted note on beat 3 is held into beat 4; the short note comes on the "and" of 4, just before the barline. Count "three, four-and" aloud so it doesn't arrive early. Bars 15 and 19 end the same way.
- Bars 15 and 19 climb G, then A–B-flat in two even eighths, to the dotted C. Keep the eighths relaxed and don't rush into the C.
- The right hand's biggest move is from middle C at the end of bar 8 to the C an octave higher in bar 9. Move during the half note, and look at bar 9 before you get there.
- Bars 9 to 12 are the same two bars twice, on repeated Cs. Keep the repeated notes light and even rather than hammering them.
- Learn the refrain first (bars 17 to 20): it is the line everyone knows and it ends every verse. Loop it at about 70, hands separately, then together.
Questions about Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Who wrote the music for Hark! The Herald Angels Sing?
Felix Mendelssohn wrote the tune in 1840 as a chorus in his Festgesang, a cantata for Leipzig's Gutenberg festival, with different words. After his death William H. Cummings fitted it to Charles Wesley's Christmas hymn, and Cummings's four-part setting is the one most hymnals print. The words are Wesley's, from 1739, as altered by George Whitefield and others.
What key is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing in?
The hymnal setting on this page is in F major, with one flat, and every version here stays in F. It is also printed in G in some books.
Is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing hard to play on piano?
The melody isn't: it moves in steps, repeated notes and small leaps, mostly in quarter notes, with a few dotted rhythms, and spans a ninth from middle C to the D in the treble staff. The hymnal page is harder than it looks, because the left hand has to hold tenor and bass together and they are more than an octave apart in six bars. The easy and melody-and-bass versions on this page give the left hand one or two notes it can reach.
How fast should Hark! The Herald Angels Sing be played?
The Open Hymnal edition marks 100 quarter notes per minute, a bright, festive pace for singing. Learn it slower, around 70 to 84, and raise the tempo on this page's player as it settles.
Can I use these versions to accompany singing at church?
Yes. Every version is in F major, the key most hymnals print, so you can play from this page alongside the congregation's books. The version made playable on piano is the four-part hymn as the congregation and choir sing it, with the tenor moved into the right hand where the left hand can't reach it. All four have the melody on top, so singers can follow any of them.
Can I download Hark! The Herald Angels Sing as a PDF or MIDI file?
Yes, free and without an account. Every version has a Letter-size PDF to print and a MIDI file with the right and left hands on separate tracks.
Source and credits
- Composer
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Source edition
- Open Hymnal Project, 2005 revision: William H. Cummings's 1857 setting of Mendelssohn's tune
- License
- Public domain
- Arranger
- PlayableNotes
All 20 bars were checked note by note against the Open Hymnal's own MIDI and PDF of the same file and compared with four other public-domain transcriptions of the Cummings setting; no notes needed correcting. The transcriptions differ in small details (the bass octave in bars 7 and 8, the tenor in bar 14, the bass in bars 17 and 18); the Open Hymnal readings are kept. No words are included.
Arrangements and facts checked
