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What Child Is This?: alto part

The alto part of What Child Is This? in F#m, from A3 to Ab4. Hear it on its own or with the others, then sing it and watch each note light up.

Sings the words under the tune, most often on C-sharp, then E, up to its top G-sharp only on "laid" and the "an-" of "anthems" in verse 1, "Christ" and "bring" in the first chorus, "gold" and the "va-" of "salvation" in verse 3 and "song" and "Christ" in the second, down to its low A only on the last two syllables of each verse and chorus ("keeping?", "Mary.", "throne Him." and "Mary!"), and crossing a third above the tune where it drops to its low C-sharp at the end of "sleeping?" and "own Him:".

Range
A3 to Ab4
Key
F#m
Guide voice
The app's own voice

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How to learn the alto 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 What Child Is This?

Words: William Chatterton Dix (as printed in Bramley and Stainer, Christmas Carols New and Old)

Tune: Greensleeves, Old English (as printed in Bramley and Stainer, Christmas Carols New and Old)

What Child Is This? is William Chatterton Dix's Christmas carol to the old English tune Greensleeves, as Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer printed it in the first series of their Christmas Carols New and Old, published by Novello in London in November 1867; we read it in a later printing. Our arrangement is read from that book, a whole tone higher in F-sharp minor: the soprano sings the book's tune, with breaths written in for beginners, and the alto, tenor and bass are our own, on the chords of the book's four unsigned parts. This is verses 1 and 3 for 2 to 4 singers, each with its own chorus: the Child asleep on Mary's lap, with "This, this is Christ the King", and the gifts of incense, gold and myrrh, with "Raise, raise, the song on high".

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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.
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  • Your notes light upEach note shows where you landed, and a hint when to go up or down.
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