Christmas Carols - Piano Accompaniment | Christmas Accompaniment

27 May 2008

Christmas Accompaniment

What follows is a listing of the cd, with a link to purchase it, as well as a list of the hymns that are included (and a link to each of their purchase pages if you would like to just purchase the mp3 of one of the individual hymns.) If you’re interested in the background of the CD, you will find that below the track listing.

Buy Christmas Accompaniment ($9.99)
Christmas Accompaniment cover

The idea behind this CD is fairly simple. My goal was to have a simple piano “chorale-style” playing of the Christmas hymns. This makes it ideal for accompanying a worship service, or other group singing where a live pianist is not available. I’ve found these piano only/chorale style recordings of hymns to be excellent for working on parts (Soprano / Alto / Tenor / Bass) as well (in fact working with a recording like this is my favorite way to learn a new part in a hurry.)

There are 26 songs in this compilation most of them are familiar I’m sure. I’ve noted the key that each one is played in and the number of verses played. The style as I’ve said is simple chorale style which means the piano essentially plays the SATB parts that you might find in a hymnal. There are some slight additions where it was helpful to keep the pulse of the music going. Since some parts of these Christmas songs are traditionally sung in unison there is a different accompaniment style for those sections (the chorus of Go Tell it on the Mountain is a good example.) Each song has a short intro and then straight through the verses. (There are no interludes between verses.) In the case of Of the Father’s Love Begotten, the time is a bit irregular, but hopefully you’ll find this playing of it useful.

I had hoped to complete this CD in time for last Christmas (2006), but one thing led to another and I have just got to recording it. I had half of the tracks recoreded when I had an attack of vertigo that’s left me somewhat dizzy and in a fog since late August. As Thanksgiving has approached I really had to try and grab bits of time here and there to finish it in time for this Christmas season. All of these were recorded direct input to the Zoom H4 Handy Recorder and a Kawai CP95. All of the songs are public domain source material.

I have also included the tune names where they were available. So many hymns do borrow melody from another and you may find these tunes work for more than the listed hymn. I notice the tune Dix for As with Gladness Men of Old is also used with For the Beauty of the Earth. (In some cases there may be slight variations though.)

I hope these are entertaining and useful for whatever purposes you have in mind. They MAY definitely be used to accompany worship service or other gathering. I place NO restriction whatsoever on that kind of “public performance”. They may NOT be used as content in any recording for redistribution for profit. (In other words, if you have a service and do recordings for your congregation that’s fine, but if you seek to sell for a profit you will need permission.) If you have any questions, please contact me.