Product Description
2nd edition - new and improved.
Volume 1 of our Christmas collection (the "Green Book") contains ten classic Christmas carols that both you and your audience are sure to love.
Be sure to also check out Volumes 2 and 3, each with 10 different Christmas carols! [You might also like "American Patriotic Music for All, Volume 1" with four classic patriotic tunes and three complete Sousa marches.]
These holiday favorites can be played with anywhere from 1 to 7 parts, suitable for a single solo, a chamber group, a pickup group for church choir accompaniment, or a full band or orchestra (school, community, or professional). This is one of the most versatile collections you'll ever use! The audio clip has an excerpt of one carol performed as a full orchestra, a string quartet, and a woodwind duet.
The carols included in Volume 1 are:
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Angels from the Realms of Glory
We Three Kings
Away in a Manger (Mueller)
O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)
Joy to the World
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Silent Night
Each carol is in its original key, so it is easy to combine these with your own choir or piano/organ parts. Each carol also includes a new descant counter-melody to feature your soloists and add a unique sound to your performance.
For maximum flexibility, this collection is distributed as both individual parts and full-score books for C, Bb, Eb, and F instruments, allowing players to trade parts on different verses and songs. All four transpositions work together, so you can have different instruments playing from different books. There are no page turns within a song, so it is very easy to play from the scores. This collection also has separate parts for every individual instrument, containing one harmony plus melody and descant.
The overall arrangement is rated "intermediate", but certain instrument combinations might be more advanced depending on the range of the instruments. Please consult the part ranges below.
We recommend the following combination of parts (but feel free to mix and match as you like).
Solo: Part 2.
Duet: Part 2, any other part.
Trio: Part 2, any two harmonies. Part 1, 2, any one harmony.
Quartet: Part 2, 3, 4, 5 (standard SATB voicing). Part 2, any three harmonies. Part 1, 2, any two harmonies.
Quintet: Part 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (full harmony). Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (SATB voicing with descant). Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.
Sextet: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (full harmony with descant).
Septet: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Part ranges are listed in concert pitch, where C4 is middle C. The most common instruments are listed below; many others are possible.
Part 1 (F4 - G5): Descant (new counter-melody, traditionally only played on the final verse). Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Soprano/Alto Saxophone, Trumpet, Violin, Viola.
Part 2 (C4 - E5): Main melody. Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Soprano/Alto Saxophone, Trumpet, Violin, Viola.
Part 3 (A3 - A4): Harmony. Clarinet, Alto/Bass Clarinet, Alto/Tenor Saxophone, French Horn, Trumpet, Violin, Viola, Cello.
Part 4 (D3 - E4): Harmony. Clarinet, Alto/Bass Clarinet, Tenor/Baritone Saxophone, Bassoon, French Horn, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Viola, Cello, Bass.
Part 5 (F2 - B3): Harmony. Bass Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone, Bassoon, French Horn, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Viola, Cello, Bass.
Part 6 (D2 - F3): Harmony. Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Cello, Bass.
Part 7 (Bb2 - F2): Doubling melody, down 1 octave. Bass Clarinet, Tenor/Baritone Saxophone, Bassoon, French Horn, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Viola, Cello, Bass
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.