If you are like me, the month of December is “Play Christmas pieces like CRAZY” month in my studio. After all, students only have a limited time that they can learn and enjoy Christmas pieces before it’s back to normal routine. So let’s make full use of it while we can!
Enters in Jazzed About Christmas by Jerald Simon.
This book is chock full of 18 Christmas pieces! All of the pieces are just one page long, all in the Key of C, which makes for a perfect book for students to enjoy and easily sight-read over Christmas break.
Jazzed About Christmas is geared towards the Early Intermediate student. You will find various jazz styles that students will enjoy over and over. If you have a student that loves to improvise, this is a great book to add in improvisations where they would like to. How about having a student arrange a Christmas medley? Many of the pieces in Jazzed About Christmas would work well in a medley especially since they are all in the key of C!
Jazzed About Christmas includes many Christmas favorites and a few we don’t hear often enough:
Jingle Bells Jolly Old Saint Nicholas Up On The Housetop Deck the Halls Joy to the World God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Hark the Herald Angels Sing O Christmas Tree Angels We Have Heard on High Silent Night The First Noel Good King Wenceslas Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella I Saw Three Ships Still, Still, Still Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy The Holly and the Ivy We Wish You a Merry ChristmasYou can view a sample of Jazzed About Christmas (includes 5 free songs!) here. Jazzed About Christmas is available as a pdf download for $4.95 (instant access!) or $12.95 for a spiral bound hard copy. Now until the 25th of December (Christmas Day, anyone (piano teachers, piano students, parents, etc.) can enter the coupon code “Christmas” and receive a 30% discount on ALL of Jerald Simon’s books, albums, or singles when ordering from his online store (when checking out it will ask if you have a coupon or promotional code). He has a lot of good stuff in his store, so take advantage and pass the word on to your friends and piano families!
Now back to Jazzed About Christmas. Jerald has generously offered to give a way 10, yep you read that right 10!!! PDF versions of Jazzed Up For Christmas to FPSResource readers! How fun is that?!!
To enter, leave a comment below by this Monday, November 18th by 10:00pm (Mtn. standard time) what you like to do with your students during the month of December. Do you do group lessons, a Christmas camp, sight-reading, games? Share away! GIVEAWAY HAS EXPIRED
(pssst… Have you liked FPSResources on Facebook yet? If not, you may want to. There is a giveaway only for Facebook fans going on right now.)
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34 Responses
I enjoy playing Christmas duets with students during December.
We have a studio party up at a local restaurant and everyone has to play or sing a Christmas song — including parents.
We are splitting our Christmas recital into 3 mini recitals at the local nursing home/ care centers. They will be short and sweet!
We will be playing at a local nursing home.
We love to play new and old Christmas songs along with fun duets each year at The Atria, home for retired citizens and those with Alzheimer’s disease. We have two separate recitals on two separate weekends (because the full studio cannot fit at one time). Each student brings a homemade ornament to share with a resident after the recital. The students who are young go with their parent to visit a while and give the ornament.
We do a recital and follow-up with pizza.
Thanks for sharing! I’m always looking for Christmas music that can add variety to my recitals. It seems like every year is a battle against Jingle Bells which seems to be the favorite of all my young students. Of course I don’t want to hear 20 performances of Jingle Bells on the recital and neither do the parents!
I use Jerald’s books — used his Jazzed Up for 4th of July for Veteran’s Day. Anyway, would love to win his Christmas music.
Our local music teachers group sponsors a Christmas recital at the mall in December. Students and teachers continuously playing Christmas carols for six hours. Kids feel like rock stars when shoppers stop and listen!
I usually hold a group lesson with fun Christmas themed theory/eartraining games at the beginning of December instead of having lessons during the week of Christmas. I also like to have students sightread Christmas duets at lessons that are a little easier than their current playing ability. They love being able to play familiar Christmas songs and see their improvement from year to year. My Students enjoy Jerald’s Cool Songs for Cool Kids throughout the year… especially the boys!
I would enjoy trying out these arrangements with several students that love to improvise. Anxious to get my own copy!
We have a Christmas Piano Party – a recital featuring favorite holiday music followed by refreshments. Family members are invited to perform with students, and everyone plays an ensemble as well as solo music. Parents bring a plate if goodies to share, and I provide hot cocoa or cider.