One hand position
Rest five fingers of your right hand on C, D, E, F and G, the letters t to o on a computer keyboard, and you never need to move. Your middle finger, on E (u), does most of the work: over half the notes of the chorus are E.
Line by line
- Line one is the famous call: three Es, three Es again (the third of each group held), then
u o t - yu, a jump up to G, down to a long C, and a quick D leading to a long E. - Line two climbs to F for “Oh what fun it is to ride”, drops back to E, then steps down through D to finish on a long D and a long G.
- Line three is line one again.
- Line four starts like line two, but where line two stayed on D,
uuo o i y tclimbs to G twice and walks down F, D to the final C, held for four beats.
The difference between lines two and four is the part people most often mix up. Play them one after the other a few times, watching where they split.
Getting it up to speed
Since the piano waits for every key, the long runs of E are easy at first. When you know the notes, the challenge is the rhythm: the quick pairs yu and uu and the held notes after each group of three. Listen at the slow setting, then at normal speed, and try to match the bounce.
About the song
Jingle Bells is James Pierpont’s song The One Horse Open Sleigh, first published by Oliver Ditson in Boston in 1857 and dedicated to John P. Ordway (IMSLP). The sheet here is a simple arrangement of its chorus in C major. If this position suits you, Ode to Joy uses the same five keys plus one low G.