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Good King Wenceslas
John Mason Neale’s 1853 words about Saint Wenceslas of Bohemia, set to a spring carol printed in 1582: the whole first verse as a steady march in even beats. The second half leaps up a fifth on “Brightly.”
The words of Good King Wenceslas were written by John Mason Neale (1818–1866) in 1853 about Saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia. They are set to the spring carol “Tempus adest floridum,” printed in the 1582 collection Piae Cantiones. You sing the whole first verse, from “Good King Wenceslas looked out” to “Gath'ring winter fuel.” It has 53 notes and takes about 26 seconds, as a steady march in even beats. The range is an octave, from a fourth below the root to the fifth above.
How to do it
- Wait for the count-in. The piano plays the first phrase alone, then plays along.
- Lines 3 and 4 repeat the music of lines 1 and 2; “looked out” drops a fourth below the root.
- Leap a fifth up on “Brightly” and come down the scale to “night.”
- On “When a poor man came in sight,” climb step by step from the low note.
- Finish by coming down from the fifth. On “fu-” sing the root, then up a fourth, and end on the root.
Coach's tip: Keep every beat the same length, like a walk. The low note on “out” is a fourth below – drop to it cleanly and come back up without sliding.
What to watch out for
The drop below the root on “looked out” is where pitch tends to go flat or the voice goes quiet, so keep the tone supported. The leap of a fifth on “Brightly” is easy to undershoot; hear the top note before you jump. In a march it is tempting to rush, so stay on the even beat. The final fourth on “fuel” often sags. Stop if anything hurts, and lower your saved range if the low notes strain.
Who it's for
Level 1, for beginners who want an easy carol in even, steady beats. Prepare with Interval: perfect fourth and Major scale downward. No program lists it. The daily training offers it only from 1 December to 6 January, but it is in the library all year. The piano plays along by default; you can switch to “Listen → Sing.”
Opens the app in your browser. Free to start, no account needed. Put on headphones first.
Related exercises
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- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star A fifth leap at the start, then walking down the scale.
- Ode to Joy (Beethoven) The theme of the 9th Symphony. Only seconds – a step-by-step intonation test.
- Happy Birthday An octave leap in the third phrase. A classic trap.
- Twang on “nyah” A bright, narrow “nyah” on the first five scale degrees, holding the fifth. Twang is the safe base of rock edge – the voice sounds sharp while the throat stays loose.
- Pentatonic over a drone The piano holds a low drone – the tonic an octave down, like bagpipes or a hurdy-gurdy – and you sing the major pentatonic over it, up to the sixth and back. You hear the melody first, then sing it alone with just the drone.