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Christmas piano sheet music · Absolute beginner
O Come, Little Children (Ihr Kinderlein, kommet)
Free Christmas piano music for absolute beginners: 8 bars and a pickup, right hand only. Put your thumb on middle C and one finger on each key; the number above each note is the finger, the letter under it is the key. Press Play to hear how it goes, press Slower to follow along, and print it for the music stand.
Where your hand goes
Find middle C: the white key just to the left of the two black keys nearest the middle of the piano. Put your right thumb on it and rest one finger on each white key going up, so your fingers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 sit on C, D, E, F and G.
This piece uses 4 notes: D, E, F, G. In the music, the number above each note tells you the finger and the letter under it tells you the key. Your hand never has to move.
About this arrangement
The first half of a German children’s carol, sung here in the original German. It never uses middle C, but put your thumb there anyway, so fingers 2 to 5 sit on D, E, F and G. It starts with one note before the first bar line, G on “Ihr”, counted as beat 4. Each bar is a minim (counts 1 and 2) and two one-count notes, and bar 4 has a silent count before the next line. The words mean: “Little children, come, oh come, all of you! Come to the manger in Bethlehem’s stable.”
Practice tip: Each bar goes “long, short, short”. Clap that rhythm while you say “kom-met, o” a few times, then play. The second line uses exactly the same notes as the first, so once you can play line 1, you can play it all.
The words
Ihr Kinderlein, kommet, o kommet doch all! Zur Krippe her kommet in Bethlehems Stall.
A short history
The tune was written in 1794 by the German composer Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, for a song that had nothing to do with Christmas, “Wie reizend, wie wonnig” (“How charming, how delightful”).
The words are by Christoph von Schmid, a Catholic priest who wrote many books for children. He wrote the poem in 1798 as “Die Kinder bei der Krippe” (“The children at the manger”), inviting children to come and see the baby in the stable at Bethlehem, and it was first published in 1811.
Words and tune were first printed together around 1832, and “Ihr Kinderlein, kommet” became one of the best-loved German carols. It is sung here in von Schmid’s own German words.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, 1794
- Words
- Christoph von Schmid, 1798 (German)
- Level
- Absolute beginner (five keys, every note labelled)
- Key
- C position (right thumb on middle C)
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 8 bars and a pickup
- Tempo
- Gently, crotchet = 126
- Hands
- Right hand only: thumb on middle C, one finger for each key; the finger number is above every note and the letter name under it
- 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 O Come, Little Children (Ihr Kinderlein, kommet)?
Is O Come, Little Children (Ihr Kinderlein, kommet) out of copyright?
Any tips for a first go?
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