Deck the Halls - Late Elementary

Get the sheet music here.

What key is Deck the Halls in?

“Deck the Halls” is commonly played in F major, but this version is in C major.

What are the piano notes for Deck the Halls?

“Deck the Halls” begins with this melody: G F E D C D E C, D E F D E D C B C. This phrase is called the A section. The A section is played twice, followed by the B section: D E F D, E F G D, E F G A B C B A G. Finally, the song finishes with a melody similar to the A section, but with a different ending. Due to the different ending, we call it the C section. The C section is: G F E D C D E C, A A A A G F E D C. As you can see, this song uses the A-A-B-C form.

What are the chords for Deck the Halls?

In this song, there are I, V7, and IV chords, but there are also single note countermelodies in the left hand. 

Who composed Deck the Halls and when was it written?

“Deck the Halls” was originally a Welsh song. The song is from the 16th century and no one knows who composed the melody, but the English words were written in 1862 by Scottish musician and author Thomas Oliphant. The original Welsh song had more to do with New Year’s Eve than Christmas, and the original Welsh title of the song even means “New Year’s Eve.”

What is Deck the Halls about?

The English words of “Deck the Halls” (originally named “Deck the Hall” by Oliphant) tell us to set up holiday decorations in our homes, to sit in front of a warm fireplace, and to enjoy singing and making music with our friends and family.

What other holiday songs are the same level as this version of Deck the Halls?

If you enjoyed learning this late elementary version of “Deck the Halls,” check out our late elementary tutorials on “Carol of the Bells” and “The First Noel!”

Transcript

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman
and today we're learning how to play
"Deck the Halls". This video is my Level 2
piano tutorial which requires that you
have about two years or more solid piano
experience. If you try this and it seems
too hard and you want something easier,
then please check out my Preparatory
Level "Deck the Halls" tutorial. Okay,
let's come to the piano to get started.
By the way, as we're learning this, it
might be helpful to have your own copy
of "Deck the Halls".
So I recommend that you download and
print "Deck the Halls" Level 2 which you
can find on our website. Let's start by
learning the right hand. You can see here
in the treble staff we have finger 5
on G. Actually before we get there, we
should check out our time signature
tells us we're in 4/4, and we're going to
be playing this lively. So get finger
five on treble G, and what we're going to
do today is I'm going to see how much
you can learn on your own.
So I'll have you pause the video and try
the right hand by yourself for the first
two measures, then the left hand which
starts here on this C major chord, and
then go ahead and try it hands together
and then I'll walk you through it
and we'll see how you did. So, press pause
and just work on these first two
measures, right hand alone, left hand
alone, then hands together, and then we'll
do it together. So, press pause and then
play to go on.
So the right hand should have sounded
like this.
Now let's try that together.
Ready, go.
Good, then the left hand should
be, 1 2 3, F E F G E. Now try it with me.
Let's slow it down a little bit.
Ready, go. 1 2 3, F E F G E. Now together it
sounds like this.
And notice for the hands together, we
have this chord and then,
the hands kind of follow this pattern
where they both step down together, step
up, step up, skip down, even though they're
on different notes, they're following the
same pattern.
Okay, now let's try it together.
Ready, go. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4. Feel free to press
pause if you need a little more practice
with that section, otherwise let's keep
going to the next two measures. Let's
look at the right hand first. We have, it
starts on a D, we go D, step up, step up,
skip down, step up,
step down, step down, with the staccato,
then we have to step down again but, uh oh,
we're out of fingers.
No problem, finger 2 will just come over
for that B below middle C, but our thumb
is gonna stay on middle C. So we're gonna
have C B C. We're gonna come right
back, so just glide that finger 2 over,
but the thum ...