Christmas Sheet Music - How to Re-harmonize Jingle Bells
Christmas Sheet Music is generally like every other kind of sheet music except for one thing; because of the well-known melodies it is more open to re-harmonization. What does that mean exactly? Well, simply by virtue of the fact that everyone knows the melody it s easier for the piano accompanist to take more harmonic chances.
Christmas songs like Deck the Halls, Jingle Bells, Silent Night and Joy to the World are so entrenched in our consciousness that few people even have to think about the words or the melody. It just comes naturally for most of us, at least in western culture, to sing the lyrics and melodies without any thought at all.
That s what makes it all
...aside. What you want is not important and will hinder your ability to hear the inner voice.Whenever you want to create something you set yourself up because you block that small inner voice that says. "Let me go where I ...
Christmas sheet music is very often notated with accompanying chord symbols to help pianists make good chord choices. Of course, the more talented the pianist the more interesting the choices. That s why I like chord symbols on Christmas sheet music because, it gives me a general guide to follow and makes it easier to add more chords to the mix.
How is this done? Let s take a song like Jingle Bells for example.
...every 2-bars or so. Having said that - and assuming you're already able to freely improvise, let's see how to create our first real new age piano piece.First, understand that most music is composed in sections. In fact, musical composition ...
| F | | | | Bb | F | C7 | | | F | | | | Bb | F | C7 | F |
Now, how would one approach re-harmonizing this very simple chord progression? Most jazz players would know the answer to that question but for everyone else the trick lies in something we call the 2-5-1 progression or II V I. This basically means that in front of every landing chord we can put a II
...people I met in Africa (Farafina). To me they are just different ethnic groups like the Yoruba, the Bantou, the Zoulou or the Touareg. Africa is not one culture. We have thousands and thousands of languages and different music. My ...
If in the chord progression above you were to put a II V in front of the Bb landing chord you would get a whole new sound. What is a II V? In the scale of Bb (our landing chord) C is the second note of the scale and F is the fifth note of the scale. Therefore the chord progression would be C F Bb. However, because the second chord of the Bb scale is a C minor chord the progression would be notated like this |C- | F | Bb|.
Would you like to
...do on the piano without the book!I soon realized that I didn't want to become a professional note reader. No. I wanted to be able to sit down at the piano, place my fingers on a chord that called to ...
So how would the chorus of Jingle Bells be notated if you used II V s in front of each landing chord? Like this;
| F | | |C-7 F7 | BbM7 | F | G-7 | C7 | | F | | |C-7 F7 | BbM7
...play chord piano is actually easier then playing chords on a guitar. It's because you don't have to hurt your fingers on the strings. No finger calluses here. Not at all. In fact, the piano may be the easiest of ...
As you can likely hear if you play these chords on the piano it makes the progression seem much more interesting and rich. So, the next time you pick up a sheet of Christmas music have a look at the landing chords and see if you can t put a II V in front of them. You re music will have so much extra color to it and everyone will marvel at your new found ability. Merry Christmas Sheet Music Everyone!
Christmas Sheet Music will never sound the same again after you visit Paul Tobey’s online piano music store and download some original sheet music for Christmas.
...the force of gravity in its mechanism. Additionally, its sprawling structure allows for a fuller sound to resonate through the bridge, giving an impressive tonal distinction between grands and most upright models. Uprights on the other hand strive to be ...