Christmas/Hanukkah Songs with Small Vocal Range
As a vocal teacher working with young and inexperienced students, I found that it was sometimes difficult to find songs that had a narrow enough range to fit the limited vocal range of beginning students. To save time, I started compiling a list of songs that have a range of one octave or less. They are listed here in order from Perfect Fifth to Perfect Octave, followed by a list of scale degrees used in each song. This list may also be very helpful for actors with limited singing skills to pick suitable audition pieces, for instrumentalists practicing transposition, or for finding melodies with limited pitch content for beginning instrumentalists to play. Many of the hymns are public domain and available for free at hymnary.org. Please be aware that many hymns and folks songs have multiple versions, or even entirely different settings, so you will need to double-check that your sheet music lists the same composer/lyricist as indicated here and that the range and scale degrees match the information listed here.
If you find this page useful, please consider donating to the site upkeep.
Here are my top Christmas song book recommendations:
Perfect Fifth"I Have a Little Dreidel/The Dreidel Song" (Traditional) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5. NOTE: some versions of this song have an octave range.
Minor Sixth"The Boar's Head Carol" (Traditional) - scale degrees 3,4,5,6,7,1 "The Coventry Carol" (Traditional) - minor scale degrees 7,1,2,3,#3,4,5 "Pat-a-Pan (Willie, Bring Your Little Drum)" (Traditional) - minor scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,5
Major Sixth"As Each Happy Christmas" (Johann Christian Heinrich Rink) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6 "As Lately We Watched" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3 "Christ Was Born on Christmas Day" (Traditional) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6 "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" (Charles Wesley, Rowland H. Prichard) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6 "Infant So Gentle" (Traditional) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6 "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3 "Love Came Down at Christmas" (Christina Georgina Rossetti) - scale degrees 1,2,3,5,6 "The Star Carol (canzone D'i Zampognari)" (Peter Seeger) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6 "Up on the Housetop" (traditional) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6
Minor Seventh"As Joseph Was A-Walking (The Cherry Tree Carol)" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4 "A Child is Born in Bethlehem" (Traditional) - Dorian scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 "The Friendly Beasts" (Traditional) - scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,5,6 "Fum Fum Fum" (Traditional) - minor scale degrees 5,b7,7,1,2,3,4 "Gabriel's Message Does Away" (John Mason Neale, Piae Cantiones) - major scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4 or natural minor scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,5,6 "I am so Glad on Christmas Eve (I am so Glad Each Christmas Eve)" (Peder Knudsen) - major scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4 "The Little Drummer Boy" (Harry Simeone, Henry Onorati, Katherine Davis) - major scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,b7 - Note: this is only in a minor seventh range if there is no key change. "Los Peces en el Río (The Fish in the River)" (Traditional) - minor scale degrees 5,#7,1,2,3,4 "Must Be Santa" (Hal Moore, Bill Fredricks) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4 "O Savior Sweet (O Jesus So Sweet)" (J.S. Bach) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4 "Remember, O Thou Man" (Thomas Ravenscroft) - minor scale degrees #6,b7,7,1,2,3,#3,4,5 "Rocking (Czech Christmas Carol)" (Traditional) - scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,#4,5,6 "Sussex Carol (On Christmas Night All Christians Sing)" (Traditional) - scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,5,6
Perfect Octave"The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came (Basque Carol)" (S. Baring-Gould) - natural minor scale degrees 5,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Away in a Manger" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "The Bells of Paradise" (Traditional) - minor scale degrees 5,#6,b7,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Beside Thy Manger Here I Stand" (Martin Luther) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light" (John Rist, Johann Schop, Johann Sebastian Bach) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,#4,5,6,7,1 "Brightest and Best" (Rev. Joseph Francis Thrupp) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella", "Un Flambeau" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Ding Dong Merrily on High" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (Noël Regney, Gloria Shayne) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,1 (NOTE: this one only stays within a perfect if there is no key change.) "Feliz Navidad" (José Feliciano) - scale degrees 3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3 "The First Noel" (Traditional) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 - NOTE: there are multiple versions of this song, it is only within one octave in the one that does not go up to the 3rd in the refrain. "From Every Spire on Christmas Eve" (Eleanor A. Hunter, George Coles) - scale degrees 5,7,1,2,3,4,5 "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come" (Martin Luther) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Gesù Bambin l'e nato (Jesus Was Born to Mary)" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,1,2,3,4,5 "God Bless All" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,1,2,3,4,5 "Good Christian Men, Rejoice (In Dulci Jubilo)" (Traditional) - scale degrees 6,7,1,2,3,4,5,6 "Good King Wenceslas" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" (Randy Brooks) - scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,5,6, then up a whole-step 7,1,2,3,4,5,6, overall range is a Perfect Octave "Hanuka Dance" (Woody Guthrie) - scale degrees 5,6,1,2,3,4,5 "Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah (Chanukah, Oh Chanukah)" (Traditional) - natural minor scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Happy Christmas, Little Friend" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) -scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Hey Ho, Nobody Home" (Thomas Ravenscroft) - natural minor scale degrees 5,7,1,2,3,4,5 "The Holly and the Ivy (minor key setting)" (Traditional) - minor scale degrees 1,2,3,#3,4,#4,5,6,#6,b7,7,1 "How Brightly Beams the Morning Star (How Bright Appears the Morning Star)" (Philipp Nicolai) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "In the Bleak Midwinter" (Christina Georgina Rossetti, Gustav Holst) - scale degrees 6,7,1,2,3,4,5,6 "I Saw Three Ships" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,7,1,2,3,4,5 "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (Traditional) - scale degrees 3,#4,5,#5,6,7,1,2,3 "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (Hippo the Hero)" (John Rox) - scale degrees 3,4,#4,5,#5,6,#6/b7,7,1,#1,2,3 "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth" (Parley P. Pratt, Giacomo Meyerbeer) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine (Joseph, O Dear Joseph, Mine)" - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,#4,5,6,7,1 "Joy to the World" (G.F. Handel) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" (Traditional) - natural minor scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Little Children, Can You Tell? (On a Christmas Morning)" (Traditional) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,1 "O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fidelis)" - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "O Come Little Children" (Johann A. P. Schulz) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,1 "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" (Traditional) - natural minor scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 "O Sanctissima (Oh, How Joyfully)" - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Over the River and Through the Woods" (Lydia Maria Child) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Santa Baby" (Joan Javits, Philip Springer, Tony Springer) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,#1,2,#2,3,4,#4,5 "Santa, Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" (Aaron Schroeder, Claude De Metruis) - scale degrees 3,4,#4,5,6,7,1,2,3 "The Seven Joys of Mary" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Slumber Song of the Infant Jesus" (François-Auguste Gevaert) - minor scale degrees 1,2,3,#3,4,5,1 "Snoopy's Christmas" (George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore) - scale degrees 1,2,b3,3,4,5,6,7,1 "The Snow Lay on the Ground" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Song of the Ship" (Traditional) - natural minor scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Songs of Praise the Angels Sang" (James Montgomery, Isaac Smith) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "There Is No Christmas Like A Home Christmas" (Carl Sigman, Mickey J. Addy) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne" (Emily E. S. Elliott, Timothy R. Matthews) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,#4,5,6,7,1 "A Virgin Unspotted" (Traditional) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "Wassail, Wassail!" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,7,1,2,3,4,5 "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night" (John Bowring, Lowell Mason) - scale degrees 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1 "We Three Kings of Orient Are" (John Henry Hopkins) - natural minor scale degrees 7,1,2,3,4,5,6,7, or major scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5 "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (Traditional) - scale degrees 5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5
Samuel Stokes ● Samuelstokes@yahoo.com     |
|---|
