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Good King Wenceslas: the melody (soprano)

The melody of Good King Wenceslas, sung by the soprano, in A, from E4 to E5. Hear it on its own or with the others, then sing it and watch each note light up.

Carries the old spring carol's tune as Neale and Helmore's book prints it, most often on A, up to its top E only on the first syllable of each verse's fifth and last lines ("Brightly" and "Gath'ring", "Mark" and "Freeze", "Therefore," and "Shall"), and down to its low E on the last note of each verse's first and third lines ("out," and the "bout," of "about,", "now," and "how;", "trod," and "sod"), the second word of its second, fourth and sixth lines and the first two words of its seventh ("When a", "Thou shalt", "Ye who").

Range
E4 to E5
Key
A
Guide voice
The app's own voice

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How to learn the soprano part

  1. 01 · Your part

    Hear your part on its own until the tune of it is in your ear.

  2. 02 · With the others

    Hear it with the others, so you know where it sits in the chord.

  3. 03 · Sing it

    Sing it with the others under you and watch each note light up as you land it. The mic listens only while it plays, and nothing is recorded.

About Good King Wenceslas

Words: John Mason Neale (Carols for Christmas-tide, 1853)

Tune: "Tempus adest floridum" (Piae Cantiones, 1582), as Thomas Helmore set it to Neale's words

Good King Wenceslas is John Mason Neale's carol of the king who goes out with his page on the Feast of Stephen to carry meat, wine and pine logs to a poor man, sung to the spring carol Tempus adest floridum from the songbook Piae Cantiones of 1582. Its earliest known printing is Neale and Thomas Helmore's Carols for Christmas-tide, out by 28 October 1853, and our tune and words are read from their 1854 vocal parts, in A as printed: the soprano sings their tune, and the alto, tenor and bass are our own, checked against the chords of Bramley and Stainer's Christmas Carols New and Old. This is verses 1, 4 and 5 of the five, for 2 to 4 singers: the poor man seen in the moonlit snow, the page's fear and the king's answer, and the warm footprints with the closing call to bless the poor.

All about Good King Wenceslas More Christmas carols, part by part

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Stackapella recording a part: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording a part: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording a part: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording a part: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up.
  • A guide sings your partHear your line over the others, slow it down, then take your turn.
  • Your notes light upEach note shows where you landed, and a hint when to go up or down.
  • Record every part yourselfStack your takes in time until you're the whole choir.
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