Christmas Music

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Well, it's getting to be that time of year again. I'm looking for some good, unique, difficult arrangements of traditional or somewhat non-traditional Christmas music. I know you can find Christmas music anywhere, but about 99.9% of it is the same old generic stuff you've been able to play since BEFORE you had lessons ;-) I'm going for uniqueness more than anything. I've noticed that new twists on old favorites can make them quite interesting. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

-- Andrew (superfriend2k@yahoo.com), September 24, 2001

Answers

Try the Margaret Goldston Christmas books, the ones with the giant snowflake on the cover. Also, I love the Jerry Ray Christmas arrangements. They're fairly easy for late int./early advanced, and have some different, unpredictable chord changes. Last year, I started using different levels of Nutcracker arrangements. You can get them as simple as level 2 up to really advanced.

-- paula estess (catqueene@aol.com), October 11, 2001.

Andrew --

I happened to notice your post on www.greenspun.com site from September 2001 - looking for Christmas books that use a fresh approach. I might suggest the Christmas books I've arranged for Alfred Publishing and Warner Bros. Publications. It is always my goal to make arrangements new, exciting, fresh and different that most others. And I also try to make the arrangements sound harder than they really are. Not sure what level you or your students need, but these titles might be helpful. I've added links to Alfred and WBP's web sites.

ALFRED ( www.alfredpub.com ) Christmas With Style More Christmas With Style Simply Christmas Christmas for Two Christmas, Christmas, Christmas Family Christmas Sing-Along

WARNER BROS. PUBLICATIONS *** A Very Special Christmas (http://www.warnerbrospub.com/store/product.asp? upc=ELM00070&type=print&mscssid=584V5LW351439GM4UG8U3P4556NJCJV5

*** Play Christmas for Me (http://www.warnerbrospub.com/store/product.asp? upc=ELM00059&type=print&mscssid=584V5LW351439GM4UG8U3P4556NJCJV5)

I'm also rather proud of the Warner Bros. series entitled LOONEY TUNES PIANO LIBRARY. There are approx. 20 books in the series at all levels (1-4) mixed with a variety of musical styles. They range from light jazz, Broadway, movie titles, pop/rock standards and even some Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC and Britney Spears. The books are also available with fully orchestrated audio CD and MIDI floppy disks. Here is a link to one of the titles:

LOONEY TUNES PIANO LIBRARY - Popular Songs for All Piano Methods - Warner Bros. Pubs. *** Foghorn Leghorn's Hot Hits - (http://www.warnerbrospub.com/store/product.asp? upc=ELM01042CD&type=print&mscssid=584V5LW351439GM4UG8U3P4556NJCJV5)

Hope this helps. I'd love any feedback on how you and your students untilized the books. Are they are other types of books you'd like to see available that might assist you with your musical endeavors?

Have a great summer and Merry Christmas! Jerry Ray

P.S. Can you stand just one more "shamless plug"... ? Here's a link to a Christmas CD I recorded recently that many people have used as Christmas gifts for students, student awards, friends or family. Hope you enjoy. ( http://cdbaby.com/cd/jerryray )

-- Jerry Ray (mrjray123@aol.com), August 14, 2002.


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