Piano songs · Beginner
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear on piano
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear sways gently in 6/8, with a long, singing tune. Here's the hymn as it's sung in American churches, with the notes in letters.
this song
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear sheet music
The same notes as the player above, as a piano score: B♭ major, 6/8 time. Press Play and the notes light up as they sound. Free to print or save as a PDF.
How to read the rhythms · how to read the notes
About the piece
Edmund Sears, a minister in Massachusetts, wrote the words in 1849. Richard Storrs Willis composed the tune, called "Carol", in 1850, and it's the one sung in the United States; in Britain the words usually go to a different tune, by Arthur Sullivan.
The notes
The letters above are the tune, played by your right hand: F D A C B♭ G F; G F F G A B♭ B♭ C D C; C F D A C B♭ G F; G F F G G A G F B♭; B♭ D D D D E G♭ G G A B♭; D C B♭ A G A G F; F F D A C B♭ G F; G F F G G A G F B♭; B♭. Longer boxes are longer notes. Press Play and follow along, slow it down with the speed slider, or turn on Wait for me and play each note yourself.
How to learn it
- The lilt: it's in 6/8, two big beats a bar, each split in three. Long-short, long-short.
- Two flats: B♭ major, so every B and E is flat.
- The pickup: it starts on F before the first beat, then leaps up to D.
- Breathe: each line ends on a long note; hold it for its full length.
Learning It Came Upon the Midnight Clear on a real piano? Ivory listens to you play and tells you what's off: a note that's missing, a hand that lands late, a rhythm that runs away. Then it shows you how it should go.
Questions people ask
Who wrote It Came Upon the Midnight Clear?
Edmund Sears wrote the words in 1849; Richard Storrs Willis wrote the tune sung in the United States, in 1850.
Is It Came Upon the Midnight Clear easy on piano?
The melody is gentle and stays in one key; the hymn setting has two notes in each hand.
More songs to play
Notes checked against the public-domain Mutopia Project edition (mutopiaproject.org). Piano sound: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm, CC BY 3.0.