Christmas-Songs on 12 Hole Ocarina Tabs

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Where O Come O Come Emmanuel comes from
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This hymn began in Latin as Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, built on the old O Antiphons sung in the last days before Christmas. John Mason Neale translated it into English in the 1850s, and Thomas Helmore set it to the melody most people know, which came from a fifteenth-century French source. Strictly speaking it is an Advent hymn, a song of waiting, though it is sung all through the season. I posted this tab on Christmas Day 2013.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

About God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
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This is a traditional English carol, old enough that its author is unknown, and the title is often misread. “Rest” here means keep, so the line wishes the gentlemen to stay merry, and the comma belongs after “merry.” Charles Dickens has Scrooge chase off a boy singing it in A Christmas Carol.

Silent Night

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

About Silent Night
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Silent Night was first sung on Christmas Eve in 1818, in the small church of St. Nicholas at Oberndorf, Austria. Joseph Mohr wrote the words and Franz Xaver Gruber set them to music. My wife asked me to tab this one, and it sounds beautiful on the 12-hole ocarina.

We Three Kings of Orient

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

About We Three Kings of Orient
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John Henry Hopkins Jr. wrote both words and music around 1857 for a Christmas pageant in New York City, and it became one of the first widely sung American carols. The verses follow the gifts the three travelers bring, and the minor-key opening gives way to a bright, swinging refrain.

Little Drummer Boy

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

About Little Drummer Boy
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The Little Drummer Boy started out as “Carol of the Drum,” written by the American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. Later recordings gave it the title most people know today. It is one of my favorite Christmas melodies, and it sounds great on a 12-hole ocarina.

Christmas-Songs on 12 Hole Ocarina Tabs

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Where O Come O Come Emmanuel comes from #

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

About God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen #