Christmas Jazz, Rags & Blues, Book 1

11 Piano Arrangments Of Favorite Carols

By Martha Mier

Bought these for my students to get away from the standard classical style of playing. The 11 songs in this book have different style rhythms from blues,Jazz, and Ragtime written to Christmas music. This book 1 has some very good syncopated rhythms, plus I have the students also add...

some improv. or change the note durations along with what is written to make the songs sound more lively. Songs in this series are pretty good as written. The Book 1 is easy to read and well organized. Songs are 1 to 3 pages in length. The songs are a series to get into pop/blues/Rag to learn basic syncopated rhythms to known Christmas songs. Book 1 is for the Early/intermediate student throughout the book. All 4 Levels of this series are pretty good learning books. Variety of Blues, Jazz,and Ragtime Christmas songs from easy to the intermediate/advanced playing student. All the songs have very interesting styles to them. hope this helps. pianomanDT

I learned of this title (and the other books in the series) from my grandson. The music is fun; variations on the old familiar Christmas carols. I was enthusiastic while playing and both my husband and I enjoyed the music. I've now obtained 'non holiday' music by the same...

arranger.

I have finished the Jazz, Rags, and Blues book 1. It was awesome. This book is a big jump from there. While I did finish one song, I decided I need another year of seasoning before I do more. I will have been through Jazz, Rags, and Blues book 2...

. by next Christmas. I think I will be ready then!

My kids enjoyed playing songs from this book over the Christmas and they will probably pick some of the songs for their Christmas concert this year, which will be great for the audience as they don't have to listen to 20 same old Jinggle Bells - the song arrangement in...

this book put a little twist on the classic Christmas songs and it's a pleasure to both play them and listen to them.

I had a few students play songs from this book for our annual Christmas recital this year. This is the first time that I've used it and it really added variety and a twist where most books have rather traditional renditions of Christmas songs. The students that used the...

book are probably classified as late beginner or early intermediate. The level of difficulty was more than challenging for them but those students that were diligent in working on the pieces really hard managed to be ready for performance.