Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling (Wachet Auf!), by Nicolai
Every score here is public domain, free to read, print and keep. Open it in the browser and it plays, at whatever tempo you can read it.
Get the practice plan for Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling (Wachet Auf!)
Here it is. Check your inbox for day 1.
- Hear it through at Slow (45 bpm). Open it in the reader, choose Slow, and follow the page with your eyes without playing. As it plays, count 4 to the bar.
- Learn the right hand of bars 1 to 8 on its own, in D major. Say the note names out loud the first time through, then play it three times without stopping.
- Learn the left hand of the same bars on its own. Keep it quiet and even: it is the floor the tune stands on.
- Put hands together at Slow, 45 bpm. Bars 1 to 8 only. Stop after every wrong note and play that bar again before moving on.
- Move up to Steady (68 bpm) once Slow feels easy three times in a row. Then learn the next 8 bars the same way: right hand, left hand, together.
- Play the whole piece (about 2 minutes) from the start, at whatever speed keeps it going. A steady run with a few slips beats a fast one that stops.
About this piece
The English Hymnal of 1906 sets Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling as hymn 12 to the tune Wachet Auf!; the hymnal's own credit reads: Melody by P. Nicolai 1556 to 1608. Adapted and harmonized by J. S. Bach. The four-part harmony is printed as the hymnal gives it, soprano and alto in the right hand and tenor and bass in the left.
How to play it
Keep the melody singing on top while the other three parts move quietly underneath. Hold every chord for its full length and breathe at the end of each line, as the singers would.
Reading it, and printing it
The score opens in Artform's reader, which shows the music as engraved notation and plays it back so you can hear the line before you try it. You can slow the tempo down, loop a passage that is not working yet, and print the page when you would rather have paper on the stand.
The file itself is MusicXML, which MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale and Dorico all open, so the notes are yours to keep whatever you read them in.
Who Nicolai was
German Lutheran pastor and poet who wrote two of the greatest chorales, Wachet auf and Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern. He wrote them during a plague. Bach used them in his cantatas.
Learn the music behind it
Reading a piece and understanding it are different skills. If you want the harmony under this one, the chord trainer teaches chords the way songs use them, and the scale pages cover the fingering for every key, including D major.