Joy to the World

Lowell Mason · Level 2 (Beginner) · traditional · Piano

Isaac Watts’s Christmas hymn (1719) sung to the tune “Antioch”, published by Lowell Mason in 1839 after motifs by Handel. It opens with a complete descending major scale. An easy arrangement in C 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. The opening scale needs a thumb crossing: prepare it.

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après l’air « Antioch » de Lowell Mason (1839) · Public Domain