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What Child Is This?: the melody (soprano)

The melody of What Child Is This?, sung by the soprano, in F#m, from C#4 to E5. Hear it on its own or with the others, then sing it and watch each note light up.

Carries the book's Greensleeves tune, most often on F-sharp, then G-sharp, up to its top E only on the repeated words that open the first and third lines of each chorus ("This, this" and "Haste, haste", "Raise, raise," and "Joy, Joy,"), and down to its low C-sharp only on the last syllable of the second line of each verse and chorus (the "ing?" of "sleeping?", "sing:", the "Him:" of "own Him:" and the "by:" of "lullaby:").

Range
C#4 to E5
Key
F#m
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 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".

All about What Child Is This? 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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