- Sheet music and tab downloads are located below.
Practice Notes
We Wish You a Merry Christmas should be playable by beginners with some practice. One of the challenges are the faster notes (eighth notes) but they are not overly difficult because they are always done in stepwise motion, meaning that they are small parts of scales with no skipped notes. If you have been practicing your scales, you should be able to handle them. Start the music with an upbow, then play the notes "as they come." This means to alternate the bow direction up and down with no exceptions. All the musical phrases work out perfectly this way, so there is nothing tricky to do with the bow.
Practice Exercise Suggestions
As mentioned above, there are a few faster moving notes. To work on your speed, try the following exercise. You may play it with slurs as indicated or you can play all the notes with a separate bow. G Major Acceleration Scale
We Wish You a Merry Christmas Information
No one is sure about the composition of We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It was published with the title A Merry Christmas in 1935 and was described as a West Country Traditional Song, (meaning the south western part of England) but does not appear in any of the traditional song collections that would be likely to have included such a tune. One aspect of the lyrics is very rare: The lyrics mention the New Years holiday. With Christmas and New Years so close, one may think that more carols would combine the two.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas is a favorite of Christmas carolers, going from door to door singing favorite Christmas songs for neighbors. The lyrics are a humorous way to demand treats from the home owners with the lines "give us some figgy pudding" and "bring it right here."
Sheet Music Downloads
