(Sep. 12, 2017) — Last week, the publisher of my arrangements, SheetMusicPlus.com, reminded its newsletter audience that musicians are already looking for Christmas music and associated titles have increased in sales in recent weeks.
At first it seemed to be too early to even think about snow, turkey, ornaments and the music that comes with it with the temperature still a balmy 80° during the day in these parts., However, with the effort it takes to notate, record and upload with an eye toward perfection and the time necessary for musicians to learn new music and play it at their best, it’s a credible statement.
I have therefore taken a break from notating all of my best-loved Celtic selections and turned to music for the upcoming season, beginning with “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” made possible through SheetMusicPlus’s “ArrangeMe” program which allows arrangers to legally produce their own interpretations of copyrighted music. That feature is a big “plus!”
Whether you are a beginning, intermediate, or advanced harpist, the selections I will be uploading over the next few weeks should offer you a new perspective on some familiar songs as well as new, easy-to-learn repertoire not previously arranged for the instrument to my knowledge.
Two songs falling into the latter category are already available.
Each year I used to scour all kinds of playlists to find public-domain but unique pieces to adapt for annual Christmas performances. It is my hope that these arrangements will provide that capability, with less effort, to others.