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Piano sheet music for kids · Carol · Level 3: Notes below middle C
As with Gladness Men of Old
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 4/4, 8 bars (the first four played twice). 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
Conrad Kocher’s tune of 1838, shortened in 1861 by William Henry Monk, with William Chatterton Dix’s words about the wise men following the star. It is in C major, and the second beat of bar 1 is a quick pair of quavers (eighth notes) dipping down to B and back to C. The first four bars are played twice, with both sets of words under the notes. The last line climbs to the G above middle C, a dotted crotchet and a quaver, then walks home. The hand moves between the G below middle C and the G above it. The left hand plays chords that change in the middle of each bar.
Practice tip: Start with finger 2 on middle C so the thumb is ready for the B. In bar 3 move the hand down, ready for the G below middle C in bar 4, and in bar 6 hold the G for its full beat and a half before the quick F.
The words
As with gladness, men of old did the guiding star behold; as with joy they hailed its light, leading onward, beaming bright; so, most glorious Lord, may we evermore be led to Thee.
A short history
William Chatterton Dix wrote these words on 6 January 1859, the feast of the Epiphany, which remembers the wise men’s visit. He was ill in bed and missed church that morning, so he read the story in Matthew’s Gospel and spent the day writing. The hymn was printed a year later for St Raphael’s Church in Bristol, his home town. Dix was not a clergyman but a marine insurance agent in Glasgow, and he was delighted when it was chosen for the first Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861.
The music editor of that book, William Henry Monk, fitted the words to a tune printed in 1838 by Conrad Kocher, an organist in Stuttgart, and shortened it by one line. The tune came to be called “Dix”, which is a little ironic: Dix himself did not like it.
Dix also wrote the words of “What Child Is This?”, sung to Greensleeves.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Conrad Kocher, 1838, adapted by William Henry Monk, 1861 (“Dix”)
- Words
- William Chatterton Dix, 1860
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 8 bars (the first four played twice)
- Tempo
- Steadily, crotchet = 96
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 54 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
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