Good King Wenceslas

Traditionnel (Piae Cantiones, 1582) · Level 2 (Beginner) · traditional · Piano

The tune comes from the spring carol “Tempus adest floridum” in the Finnish collection Piae Cantiones (1582); in 1853 John Mason Neale set to it the story of good King Wenceslas helping a poor man on the day after Christmas. An easy arrangement in G major: the right hand plays the tune, the left hand alternates a bass note and a two-note chord (“oom-pah”).

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Learn the tune alone by singing it, then the left hand alone: spot the chord changes before putting hands together in Wait mode, then at a reduced tempo.

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après l’air « Tempus adest floridum » (Piae Cantiones, 1582) · Public Domain