Christmas Carols for Marimba
General Info
Published Date: 1st July 2013 Publisher : Meredith Music Pages : 48 ISBN-13 : 978-1-5746-3385-6 Cost: $32.99
Overview
The songs and carols in this collection are drawn from the rich traditions of American and European Yuletide, Christmas and New Years' carols. These century-old melodies have become an important part of annual holiday traditions around the world. Some carols reflect the story of the birth of Jesus while others simply celebrate the winter season and holiday traditions. Each carol is presented in both two and four-mallet versions for mallet players with different ability levels. The arrangements can be played as a solo or together as a group. The two-mallet arrangements can be played on marimba, vibraphone, xylophone or a standard set of orchestra bells. The four-mallet arrangements are all playable on a 4 and 1/3 octave "low A" marimba.
Instrumentation
Song List
- Angels We Have Heard on High
- Auld Lang Syne
- Away in a Manger
- Carol of the Bells
- Coventry Carol
- The First Noel
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
- The Holly and the Ivy
- It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
- Jingle Bells
- Joy to the World
- O Christmas Tree
- O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
- O Little Town of Bethlehem
- Silent Night
- Still, Still, Still
- We Three Kings
- We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Review
Mr. Bear's Comment
First, the best part about this book: Each piece comes with 3 arrangements:
1. The melody, alone, for two mallets.
2. A more complex arrangement, for two mallets.
3. A four mallet arrangement.
This is great for students of various skill levels. The arrangements themselves are not particularly inspired, but they are solid. They are what you would expect. Some people have complained about the arrangements being simple, but these are christmas carols. They're simple tunes to begin with. You're not coming here for some post-modern jazz arrangements with complex harmonies and abstract interpretations of the original pieces, right? On that note, one small improvement that would greatly improve the book for me would be to have the chords printed above the bar line.