Notalo › Piano songs with letters › The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas — piano notes with letters
The first two verses — “On the first day of Christmas” through “two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree” — in F major with one flat. Every later verse just repeats the same two phrases, so once you have these nine bars you have the whole song.
Traditional (English), 18th century (melody by Frederic Austin, 1909) · F major · 4/4 · public domain · arranged and labeled by Notalo
Hear it. A MIDI file of exactly these notes at 112 BPM — open it in any music app, or slow it down to practice.
Download MIDIAbout the song
The words were first printed in London around 1780 as a children's memory game, and the melody most people sing today was set down by the English composer Frederic Austin in 1909 — including the drawn-out “five gold rings”, which was his addition. The cumulative structure, each verse adding a gift and repeating all the earlier ones, is why the full song runs to twelve verses and several minutes. Our page gives only the first two verses, which contain every phrase the melody has.
How to play it, phrase by phrase
“On the first day of Christmas” is C C, then F F F F E — a pickup of two C's and five notes on F with a small drop to E. “My true love gave to me” climbs F G A up to B♭ and comes back G A. “A partridge in a pear tree” is B♭ C D, the high point, then B♭ A F G F home to the key note. Verse two adds “two turtle doves” — C G A B♭ — before the same “and a partridge” tail. Play the left hand as one whole-bar chord under each phrase: F, C, B♭ and F.
Letter notes, bar by bar (right hand)
Read left to right; a | is a bar line. Chord symbols are for the left hand or a guitar.
| Bar | Chord | Right-hand letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | C C | |
| 2 | Fmaj7 | F F F F E |
| 3 | Am7 | F G A B♭ G A |
| 4 | Bbmaj7 | B♭ C D B♭ A F G |
| 5 | F | F C C |
| 6 | Fmaj7 | F F F F E |
| 7 | Am7 | F G A B♭ G A |
| 8 | F | C G A B♭ |
| 9 | Bbmaj7 | A B♭ C D B♭ A |
| 10 | F | F G F |
Three things to watch
- The only black key is B♭, which appears in almost every bar — keep the fourth finger ready for it.
- “A partridge in a pear tree” climbs to the high D in bar 3 and bar 8: that is the top of the piece.
- The pickup “On the” starts on C before the first bar line — count “3, 4” and come in.
Have a different version, or a different song? Upload your own sheet music — a photo or PDF — and Notalo writes the letters under every note the same way, plus chords and a MIDI file.
Add letters to my sheet musicMore songs with letters
Jingle Bells · Silent Night · We Wish You a Merry Christmas · Deck the Halls · Happy Birthday · Für Elise · Twinkle Twinkle Little Star · Canon in D · Ode to Joy · Amazing Grace · Moonlight Sonata (1st movement, easy) · Minuet in G · Greensleeves · Mary Had a Little Lamb · Old MacDonald Had a Farm · Chopsticks · Joy to the World · The First Noel · Auld Lang Syne · O Holy Night · Ave Maria (Schubert, easy) · Eine kleine Nachtmusik (opening) · God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen · In the Hall of the Mountain King · Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2 (easy) · O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) · The Star-Spangled Banner · Spring (The Four Seasons, opening) · Wedding March (Mendelssohn) · Hark! The Herald Angels Sing · London Bridge Is Falling Down · Yankee Doodle · Itsy Bitsy Spider · Scarborough Fair · The Blue Danube (waltz theme) · Symphony No. 5 (opening motif) · Prelude in C major, BWV 846 · Morning Mood (Peer Gynt)
New to the staff? Start with how to read sheet music.
Frequently asked questions
Is this sheet music free to print and use?
Yes. The Twelve Days of Christmas is in the public domain and this arrangement was written and rendered by Notalo. Print it, share it, use it in lessons.
What do the colors mean?
Red letters are the right hand (treble clef), blue letters are the left hand (bass clef), green is the chord for the bar. This is the same output Notalo gives for any sheet music you upload.
Can I get it with Do Re Mi or numbers instead of letters?
Yes — download the image above, upload it to Notalo, and pick solfège (Do Re Mi), German letters, or numbers (1 2 3) as the label style.