Organ and lead sheet arrangements of the popular Christmas song “Carol of the Bells (Ukrainian Bell Carol)“.
“Carol of the Bells” is a beautiful piece based on the Ukrainian New Year song “Shchedryk”. The music for the carol comes from the song written by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych around 1916. An American composer of Ukrainian origin, Peter Wilhousky, wrote the English lyrics in 1936.
I first came across this song as “Ukrainian Carol” or “Ukrainian Bell Carol”.
I originally wrote an arrangement to play this song on the theatre organ. It’s one that I perform annually for our Theatre Organ Society (WA) festive afternoon on the first Sunday in December.
- Unlike my usual Christmas arrangements, this particular arrangement is not in a singable key. I play it in A minor, which works very well for the accompaniment, especially the foot pedals.
- I have edited my original arrangement to be playable on all organs, including spinet organs.
The lead sheet is written in D minor, which is a much easier key to sing this piece in! I have adjusted the chord progression on the lead sheet to mimic the vocal harmony in the choral version of this piece.
Purchase Carol of the Bells
The organ arrangement is a 3 page PDF in A4 format, comprising a cover page plus 2 page organ score written in A minor.
The fake book is a 3 page PDF in A4 format, comprising a cover page, a separate sheet of lyrics, and a lead sheet written in D minor.
