Home › Tools › Piano Sheet Music for Kids › Good Christian Men, Rejoice
Piano sheet music for kids · Carol · Level 3: Notes below middle C
Good Christian Men, Rejoice
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 6/8, 17 bars and a pickup. 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
John Mason Neale’s 1853 words to the medieval German tune In dulci jubilo, in 6/8 with a pickup, “Good”. The hand sits in C position with the thumb on middle C, and the tune is built from a few shapes that keep coming back. New things: “re-joice” and “voice” are each sung over three notes, G, A, G, joined by a curved line; “News! News!” is two long notes on middle C; and near the end the thumb reaches down to A and B below middle C. At 17 bars it runs longer than most. The left hand plays a bass note and a chord, or two chords, in each bar.
Practice tip: Look for the shapes that repeat: “Chris-tian men, re-joice” comes twice, and “Je-sus Christ is born to-day” and “He is in the man-ger now” are the same notes. Count the two long “News” notes fully: each is a whole big beat.
The words
Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul and voice; give ye heed to what we say: News! News! Jesus Christ is born today; ox and ass before Him bow, and He is in the manger now. Christ is born today! Christ is born today!
A short history
The tune is German and very old. It first appears in a manuscript of about 1400 now in Leipzig, with words that mix German and Latin, “In dulci jubilo” (“In sweet rejoicing”), traditionally credited to the mystic Heinrich Seuse around 1328. A Swedish and Latin version was printed in Piae Cantiones in 1582, the same Finnish school songbook that gave us Good King Wenceslas.
In 1853 John Mason Neale wrote new English words for it in Carols for Christmas-tide, using the tune as his friend Thomas Helmore had copied it from Piae Cantiones. Helmore misread the old notation, and his mistake produced the two long repeated notes for “News! News!”, which are not in the German tune. Musicians have grumbled ever since, but it is the part everyone remembers.
Many modern hymnals change the first line to “Good Christian friends”; Neale’s own words are used here.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Tune: In dulci jubilo, German, c. 1400
- Words
- John Mason Neale, 1853
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 6/8
- Length
- 17 bars and a pickup
- Tempo
- Joyfully, dotted crotchet = 66
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 91 of 201)
- Type
- Carol
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
Questions and answers
What key is Good Christian Men, Rejoice in?
How long is it?
Is Good Christian Men, Rejoice out of copyright?
What is the hardest part?
Can I print it?
← More christmas carols · All 201 pieces: piano sheet music for kids
🔒 Runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded and no account is needed. Once loaded, the page and the piano keep working offline.