We Wish You a Merry Christmas – Traditional

About this piece

We Wish You a Merry Christmas is a traditional English carol, long associated with carol singers going from door to door during the festive season. Its bouncy tune and cheerful ending make it one of the first holiday songs many people want to play, and it works well as a closing piece at a family gathering.

This arrangement runs about one minute in 3/4 time at 96 bpm, so you count three beats in every bar and feel a lilting, waltz-like swing. There is a single melody line, but it is split between the hands at middle C: notes below it go to the left hand and notes above it to the right. The range is wide for an easy piece, stretching from G3 up to D6, so expect a few quick moves up the keyboard as the tune climbs.

Start in Wait mode, where the falling notes pause until you press the right key, and set the speed to around 50 % so the hand changes around middle C feel calm. Turn on note names if you are still learning where each key sits. When one phrase keeps tripping you up, mark it with the A–B loop and repeat it until it flows, then raise the tempo step by step. The sheet music further down the page shows the same tune if you like reading along.