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What Child Is This: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Vince Guaraldi

  • F minor
  • 3/4
  • 84 BPM
  • 1966
  • Easy
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Left hand Oom-pah-pahThe right hand sings the tuneChords the loop the song repeats most

Play the full song with sheet music

The accompaniment with every note named, bar by bar: the bar sheet shows each note as a bar on the staff with its letter inside, so you can accompany What Child Is This without reading music. The left hand plays oom-pah-pah (waltz oom-pah-pah), and the right hand sings the tune.

What Child Is This accompaniment in letter notes

The Fm – Db – Bb – C7 loop with oom-pah-pah in the left hand. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Fm
RF4+Ab4+C5
LF2 Ab2+C3 Ab2+C3
Bar 2
Db
RDb4+F4+Ab4
LDb3 F3+Ab3 F3+Ab3
Bar 3
Bb
RBb3+D4+F4
LBb2 D3+F3 D3+F3
Bar 4
C7
RC4+E4+G4 E4 G4 Bb4 C5 E5 G5 Bb5 C6
LC3 E3+G3 E3+G3
Bar 5
Fm
RF4+Ab4+C5
LF2 Ab2+C3 Ab2+C3
Bar 6
Db
RDb4+F4+Ab4
LDb3 F3+Ab3 F3+Ab3
Bar 7
Bb
RBb3+D4+F4
LBb2 D3+F3 D3+F3
Bar 8
C7
RC4+E4+G4
LC3 E3+G3 E3+G3

How to read the bar sheet

The player above shows the treble staff (right hand) over the bass staff (left hand). Every note is a bar as long as it sounds, at its place on the staff, with its name inside, and the music scrolls past a line that marks now. The chord names run along the top.

Start with the left hand alone at a slow speed, then the right, then both. When the letters feel easy, try the sheet music.

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Questions about What Child Is This

What are the letter notes for the What Child Is This piano accompaniment?

Bar by bar, both hands: the bar sheet on this page names every note of the accompaniment (C4 is middle C) and plays along. The loop is Fm – Db – Bb – C7, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in What Child Is This?

The loop is Fm – Db – Bb – C7 (i – bVI – IV – V7) in F minor, and the song ends on Db – Eb – Fm.

What key is What Child Is This in?

F minor, at about 84 beats a minute in 3/4.

What does the left hand play in What Child Is This?

Oom-pah-pah: waltz oom-pah-pah, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is What Child Is This easy to play on piano?

Yes. Both hands play easy patterns over 4 chords. Learn the chords first, then add one hand at a time.

Made from one arrangement of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.