Hello there

Does anyone know of any traditional beautiful christmas music for solo piano?

I only seem to be able to find stuff that is for piano accompaniment to voice. I'd rather have something that was just for the piano.

Thanks in advance

Zoe

Have PM'd you!

I have a few bits sitting on my hard drive that I got from the public domain but don't really know if I'll have time to learn much for Christmas... I know I should but ugh!

I would recommend Carol of the Bells, a beautiful Xmas carol, if a little haunting. Way out of my league!!

I have the sheets for that but haven't gone anywhere near it...

Ooohh cool, I'll see if I can find it. Thanks x

I like 'A Little Suite for Christmas' by George Crumb. Very contemporary, but it's rather nice.

Not too sure if it fits the "christmas" mood though.

I have just received a delivery of a piano book titled " Jazz on a Winter's Night" by Nikki Iles.
This is the best Christmas piano book I have ever bought! May not be for very young children. They may sound "grown-up" music, as they are jazzy. However, most importantly, they are written for piano solo! (not those with block chords arrangement to accompany songs, if you know what I mean..) The book also comes with a CD. Check out the site below. You can listen to some sample pieces, and download a few sheets , too.

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/music/k...780193365902.do

ISBN no. is: 978 0 19 336590 2

Hi
this book can be got at www.bookdepository.co uk at a very good price about 30% off have just ordered myself

Thanks for that, have looked at and tried out the sample music and now ordered it! (Wish I'd read billyboy's message first though!)

I think she also wrote "Willow" in the old grade 3 syllabus which is beautiful.

Ooh, it looks great, though maybe a bit easy? (Going on the sample pieces) I asked my teacher if I could do something Christmas themed this year - I haven't done anything special since about 5 years ago when I used 'Piano time carols' He seemes a bit surprised (like he does when I ask for stickers ) but said he'd look for something. I now have a suggestion!

I've just ordered it...the pieces sound lovely, and the simplicity is good, so I don't need to invest too much time learning them, and when the family are round over Christmas I should be able to play to them without too much stress!

I like this too, I just ordered it! What I've looked at is sight-readable so will be quick to learn and play nicely methinks! The Silent Night arrangement is really nice.

I've just ordered it too! Thanks for the tip!

Tell me your email. I will give you a nice one.

Just ordered "Jazz on a Winter's Night" as well - they are getting a lot of sales out of us!

I've just ordered too! Pity we don't all live nearer and maybe we could have got a bulk discount! lol

ET

Mine arrived this morning... been playing through "Silent Night" already, despite a hangover! Great!

The Santa Claus is Coming To Town arrangement is fantastic, bit tricky to read some of the rhythms though, I wish there were some fingerings in the book...

I can see this being a great book to study, and I might end up playing more jazzy stuff because of it

The Nikki Iles collection is certainly a welcome addition, given the relative paucity of Christmas music for piano solo. Picked up my copy yesterday - Sans day carol my favourite so far. For some time though, I have been playing from Christopher Norton's two delightful slim volumes, 'Swing a Carol' and 'Carol Jazz'. These are in a similar vein to the Iles but, unlike her collection, not attributable to any particular jazz style, except perhaps that of Norton himself!

For the exponent of stride piano, the collection 'Harlem Stride Piano Solos' includes a fine transcription of (first name, short for Richard) Wellstood's 'Jingle Bells'; not at all a stroll in the park though, more a trudge through the snow, unless that is you're a dab hand at playing stride piano!

Does anybody know a good piano arrangement of "O Holy Night"? I love this piece of music but the only music sheets I've found so far are simplified.

My "Jazz on a Winter's Night" arrived today and I love it - thanks for the suggestion Hanonmum! I'm glad there is a CD though as I am realising how bad I am at reading jazz rhythms. A nice mixture of styles and difficulty levels too.

Glad to hear you like the book, Tortellini. I have been practising out of this book Peter Warlock's "Balulalow" which is a good addition to the Christmas classics.
I will be secretly waiting to be asked by a visitor to play something Christmasy on the piano.

I've got The Afternoon Pianist - Christmas Favourites - it's a piano solo mixture of Christmas/winter songs and Christmas carols, there's a full list on the linked web site. I'm not keen on Christmas music myself so I don't want to spend time learning any of the pieces (I'll only play them when I can sightread them) so I'm not sure what level they are - maybe G1-2? The blurb says the compilation "has been specially designed to cater for the less experienced adult learner".

Hi HanonMum, that is the one that I have been working on too, it is really lovely isn't it? I just need to get mine moving a little faster though, but my teacher said that I had the pedal just right.

ET