I Sing the Birth, by Sullivan
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 I Sing the Birth
Here it is. Check your inbox for day 1.
- Hear it through at Slow (54 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 E major. Say the note names out loud the first time through, then play it three times without stopping.
- Find the chords under it: E, B7, F♯m7 and E6. Play each one as a block in your left hand and say its name, so you know what the harmony is before the left hand has to move.
- 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, 54 bpm. Bars 1 to 8 only. Stop after every wrong note and play that bar again before moving on.
- Move up to Steady (81 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
I Sing the Birth is a Christmas carol by Arthur Sullivan, who lived from 1842 to 1900, and it was printed in 1868 in Boosey & Co. The words are by Ben Jonson. Here you play the keyboard part printed with the choir's parts; it doubles the singers almost note for note, so the whole choir is under your hands on two staves.
How to play it
The piano part already carries the singers, so play it as written and let the top notes sing the tune. Choose a calm tempo you can hold from the first bar to the last, and breathe at the ends of the phrases.
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.
More free Sullivan sheet music
Who Sullivan was
English composer famous for the comic operas he wrote with W. S. Gilbert, including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. He also wrote the hymn tune for Onward, Christian Soldiers. He always hoped to be remembered for his serious music.
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 E major.