The First Noel 2021

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listen: ORC

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“The First Noel” originated in Cornwall, England during the 13th or 14th century and was created to express the excitement and wonder of Christmas. Cornish people sang it in the streets as a way to spread hope and joy, and though the world may look very different today, we still gather to sing the song for the same reasons. The song is a testament to the fact that no matter what the earth looks like, no matter how much time passes, the encouraging story of Jesus will always connect with the hearts that are desperate for Him.

Read the full hymn history on the blog.

Info:
Words: Traditional English Carol
Music: W. Sandys' Christmas Carols
Key: D major
Time Sig: 3/4
Tempo: 106 | midtempo
Tune: THE FIRST NOEL
Meter: irregular
CCLI #: 5205565
Verse: Luke 2:11
Ideas:
As the arrangement goes quite high, you may want to transpose the SATB and SAB parts down to C or even B. This arrangement can be transposed with the free Finale Notepad software.

Read more about this arrangement on the hymncharts blog.
   Free Finale Notepad
NEW: 10.22.24 Shhh! I still have a Windows version of Finale Notepad that you can download, install and open my Finale files to change key. When you download, do NOT register the software, just run it. Download Finale Notepad for Windows
   Free Key Change
NEW: 09.23.24 Finale has announced they will no longer be making the software! Read my thoughts about the future of sheet music at Hymncharts.
   HYMNDEX Links
The modern worship lyrics trend for projection is to leave out most punctuation for a clean look. The original hymncharts lyrics text file contains punctuation. Our website hymndex.com was created to help churches build hymn lyric slides without punctuation.
Instruments mp3s are the arrangements played one time through with just piano and instrumental parts to give you an idea of the orchestration. In the early days of hymncharts before I made vocal recordings I had created these instruments mp3s as a quick demo. Since I now create both a POP and an ORC (orchestrated) mix I no longer make instrumental mp3s for newer arrangements.
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