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

Marimba

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.

Publication for Percussion of this composer

Church Hymns for Marimba
Folk Songs for Marimba
Christmas Carols for Marimba
Johann Sebastian Bach: Music for Marimba
Wedding Music for Marimba
The Beatles for Vibraphone
The Beatles for Marimba
Christmas Songs for Vibraphone
Intermediate Studies for Developing Artists on Keyboard Percussion

Reference