Christmas
Christmas is music and worship and thankfulness and joy. It is a time of so many emotions that cannot be expressed in the spoken word – so we must sing and play and dance with joy!
Play these songs for yourself and others. If you use them in a studio or recital setting, just make sure my name is attached as the arranger in printed or video presentation.
It was so hard to stay with just one tune and so this has both by Murray and Kirkpatrick. Though the difficulty of this piece is a beginner/early level, I left fingerings out (hoping to encourage students to read notes) so teachers may need to pencil in fingerings where needed.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen L2
This rousing carol has great words and movement of melody. Boys are particularly drawn to playing this around Christmas time.
Unlike the folk song “Scarborough Fair”, this was composed by a very English composer – George F. Handel. I love the opening descending scale and use this song for students to identify descending minor 2nd intervals. This is also a great piece to introduce octave scales and I use the hymn renditions to teach a softer LH repetitive chord accompaniments.
Make sure you start the opening four measures slowly enough so the rest of the song doesn’t sound too rushed.
This L5 arrangement is very much like the L3-4 version above. There are harmonic differences and expanded LH runs. Keep it tender and sounding effortless in your playing.
Even early levels should have music that sounds special. Students should want to play a song for family and friends and this easy arrangement, I think, fits the bill.
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