Home › Music › Christmas Music › The First Noel
Christmas piano sheet music · Intermediate
The First Noel
Free intermediate piano sheet music for Christmas: D major, 24 bars and a pickup. Both hands on the grand staff, with the words under the tune. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.
About this arrangement
The old English carol in D major, two sharps, with verse 1 and the “Noel, Noel” refrain. It is in 3/4 and starts with a two-quaver pickup. The tune is built from one long phrase that rises up the scale from D to the D above and comes gently down again, so the right hand needs a thumb-under: finger 3 on F sharp, then D, E, F sharp with 1, 2, 3 and the thumb tucked under onto G. Many syllables are sung over two notes, shown by a line in the words. The long notes have a third or sixth underneath. The left hand is a waltz bass: a bass note on the first beat and a chord on the second and third, with broken-chord quavers in the third line.
Practice tip: Practise the thumb-under in bar 1 slowly until the run D, E, F sharp, G, A sounds like one smooth sweep with no bump at the G. Shape each phrase like a wave: grow towards the top D, then fall away to the end.
The words
The first Noel, the angel did say, Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay; In fields where they lay keeping their sheep, On a cold winter’s night that was so deep. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel.
A short history
“The First Nowell” is a traditional English carol with roots in Cornwall. It was first printed by two collectors of west-country carols: the Cornish antiquary Davies Gilbert, in 1823, and the lawyer William Sandys, in his Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern of 1833. Nobody knows who made it up.
“Nowell” is an old English word for Christmas, from the French Noël and the Latin natalis, birthday, and it was shouted or sung as a refrain in many medieval carols. The folk-song collector Anne Gilchrist suggested in 1915 that the melody may have begun as a treble part sung above another carol tune, and was later remembered on its own.
The version sung today, words and harmony, was fixed by John Stainer’s arrangement in Christmas Carols New and Old in 1871.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Traditional English (Cornish), printed 1823 and 1833
- Words
- Traditional English, printed by Davies Gilbert, 1823, and William Sandys, 1833
- Level
- Intermediate (full verses, a moving left hand)
- Key
- D major
- Time signature
- 3/4
- Length
- 24 bars and a pickup
- Tempo
- Flowing, crotchet = 104
- Hands
- Both hands on the grand staff: right hand on the treble staff, left hand on the bass staff
- Copyright
- Public domain tune and words; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal, church and classroom use
Questions and answers
What level is this arrangement of The First Noel?
Is The First Noel out of copyright?
What is the hardest part?
Can I print it?
← More intermediate Christmas pieces · All 24 Christmas pieces
🔒 Runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.