This is an arrangement of 'Away in a Manger' for piano, grade 2-3. It is good practice for training the top fingers of the left hand to become independent while the fifth finger holds down pedal note. The piece should be played gently, like a lullaby, with the two phrases rising and falling. Try using the sustain pedal a bit for extra smoothness.

No-one is quite sure who wrote the words of 'Away in a Manger', and this has led to some heated arguments between academic types. A few have suggested Martin Luther had something to do with it, but most now reckon he didn't.

To add to the confusion, people living in the UK sing a different tune from the Americans to the much-loved Christmas carol. The version here is the tune used in the UK, and was written by (strangely enough) an American musician called William J. Kirkpatrick.

"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain, it is one of the most popular carols; a 1996 Gallup Poll ranked it joint second. Although it was long claimed to be the work of German religious reformer Martin Luther, the carol is now thought to be wholly American in origin. The two most-common musical settings are by William J. Kirkpatrick (1895) and James Ramsey Murray (1887).
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