Yes!
If you’re a musician, you begin Christmas in the summer – or even earlier. When I directed the Norfolk Keyboard Orchestra, I arranged the Christmas music in July and August and we’d start rehearsing it in September. So remember that, next time you feel like moaning at the cards, decorations and Christmas jumpers the shops have been stocking since last month!
Last year I recommended a book of Christmas music for beginner and intermediate pianists. It was called the Piano Advent Calendar, and several of you bought it. It was great fun, with a different Christmas carol for each day in December. Not only that, but there were two versions, one for beginners and the other for not-quite-beginners (around Grade 1).
This year, I’m going to recommend that book again, but also a few others. I’m bearing in mind that you are not going to be practising these songs for months. Perhaps it takes you a few months to learn your Grade pieces, and that’s fine. But you want to get these songs under your belt in seven weeks! That’s my starting point for my recommendations.
Piano Advent Calendar
If you’re more advanced than Grade 1, this is still a good book to get, as it’s great sight-reading practice (a new song every day!) and just fun to have readily-available Christmas carols at your fingertips.
If you are a relative beginner, or a less confident sight-reader, this will be a great book for your Christmas music. The double-version feature means that for some songs you might work at the harder version, while having the easier one to fall back on if you need to or want to. Very versatile! The arrangements are good, and the music is clear and easy to read.
The “easy version” of each song includes letter names inside each note. I don’t normally allow students to have letter names on their notes, but I make an exception here, because you just want to enjoy and be able to play the music! So go ahead and read the letters.
Fingering is very helpful, making it absolutely clear where and how you might need to change hand position. This will be in the harder versions only; the easier versions don’t involve hand position changes.
I love the way this book is set out as an advent calendar!
Really Easy Christmas Carols for Piano
This is another beginner book, so it overlaps with the Piano Advent Calendar. Again, it’s well set out and easy to read. If you’re Grade 1 or higher, this book will be too easy for you, even for sight-reading practice, but if you haven’t been learning long and you’re looking for a way to make festive music, this book will be ideal.
Lyrics to the first verse are given, but you’ll have to hunt for the other verses if you want to sing them all.
Fingering is given, although only where the editor thinks it’s needed. You may want more guidance!
The Easiest Tune Book of Christmas Carols
Believe it or not, this is the book I learnt my first Christmas carols with when I was a child, and it’s still going strong and still in publication. The cover looks exactly the same too!
Buy this book if you’re Grade 2-3 standard and you don’t mind spending a short time practising the songs. If you’re Grade 4-5, these pieces will be good sight-reading practice.
So – not a book for beginners, but the songs are nicely arranged in easy keys, and there’s very helpful fingering for both hands throughout each song.
What’s really nice is that the lyrics of all the verses are provided for each carol, so you don’t have to hunt for them in other books or online. Everyone can stand around the piano and sing along!
There are guitar chords, but they’re under the bass stave and not very easy to read.
Piano Time Carols
This is another book that’s been around a long time, and that’s an indication of its popularity, both with piano teachers and with students.
The standard required is variable. Some songs are pre-Grade 1, others are more like Grade 2, but nothing is harder than that. The easier ones tend to be duets, with a slightly more difficult duet part, but you don’t need a duet partner. The easy solo part sounds fine on its own.
Some lyrics are included, although not all, and not all verses.
Very clearly set out, but the fingering is more sparse than in the “Easiest Tune Book”.
Merry Christmas Carols
This is the only book I’ve found with both English and American versions of such tunes as “Away in a Manger” and “I Saw Three Ships”. Usually you get one or the other!
It’s a really nice book with clear, large notation, but aimed at Grades 3-5 standard. Even if you’re Grade 6 or higher, you’ll still enjoy this book, as the arrangements are fun to play, and you may have to work a little at fluency and confidence.
So the title is not accurate: “Arranged for easy piano”? No. Obviously there are more advanced books than this one, but I’d say you want to be a confident Grade 3-5 pianist to master these carols during the Christmas season.
Lyrics are given as a pull-out double spread in the centre of the book, so you’d find it hard to play and sing, but others could sing as you play of course.
Fingering is sparse but clear, and certainly enough for the Grade 3-5 level I’ve suggested for this book.
The Christmas Songbook
This is a very special book, and worth getting, whatever your level of playing. That’s because it contains stories, poems and Christmas recipes, as well as thirty well-known carols. It’s a treasury for Christmas! So if you can’t yet play the songs, you can at least enjoy the stories, make the recipes, and come to the music next year or the year after…
I’d say the music is Grade 4-5 standard (bearing in mind the caveat given at the start, which is that I’m basing this on a short learning period). If you’re more advanced than this, it’s still a lovely resource of Christmas music
All lyrics are given, but no fingering! Why not? It would have been helpful, but there we are.
Guitar chords are given, this time easy to read and clearly marked above the treble stave.
Well, that’s my selection for this year. I hope you can find something to enjoy playing over the festive season. All the books are available from Amazon, and they’re all around the £10 mark, some a little less than that.
I’ve limited my choices to books for beginners up to about Grade 5. There are many more books than this, and there are some lovely collections of Christmas music for more advanced players. These books often include Christmas hits and pop songs as well as traditional carols. Once you’re able to play (and especially once you’re able to sight-read) just about anything, you can go for any of these. If you want any guidance with this, please just get in touch. I’m more than happy to help.
And, speaking of being happy to help, if you’re one of my pupils and you want to have a go at one of these books, please do bring it along to your lesson. I can give you any help you might need, and it’s always fun to play and hear festive music!
I’d love to know what you think of all this. You can put a comment in the box below this post, or you can email me directly. I read and respond to everything.
Humoresque is available to anyone who might be interested. You don’t have to be one of my pupils, or even learning music. If you know anyone who might be interested in subscribing to Humoresque, please let me know. I will only need their name and their email address. Thanks.
Humoresque = a whimsical or fanciful piece of music. Be whimsical, be fanciful, but play in time!
This is Humoresque Number 21