Holiday Sheet Music

When I started to put together a list of holiday music for the banner on the front page of our website, I thought it would be a fairly simple task. Looking back on it now, all I can say is “WOW”, was I completely wrong in that assumption. The list of holiday music is as diverse as the percussive world itself. Arrangements of classics holiday tunes are available for all types of instrumentations and grade levels. Arrangements by Chris Brooks, Lloyd Brooks and Murray Houllif will keep your beginning percussion ensembles content for the whole season. The great thing about many of these arrangements is the integration of non-pitched and pitched percussion sounds. Most of the arrangements take the classic melodies and intertwine them with great grooves and feels that most students will find fun and challenging. The thing that surprised me most was that the arrangements weren’t only for scholastic ensembles. There are many collections in the library that would be great for the working percussionist. Playing holiday solo gigs may be a way to generate extra work during the holiday season. Arrangements from Ludwig Albert, Zskowski, and Bruce Henczel would be great for this application. Most of the collections contain more than 10 holiday classics arranged for solo performance. To my surprise, I even found recordings of holiday music. The range of styles was truly impressive. You can listen to traditional xylophone recordings by Val Eddy, spicy Latin from Lalo Davila, and marimba choir arrangements from Ed Hartman. With the wide variety of music available, holiday percussion music can now fill your home when the family gathers for the season.