So, maybe you’ve noticed that my goal is to compose and arrange Christmas and holiday music that is really unique and amazingly fun to play. Whether I’m successful or not with the new Deck the Hall and Cup-tapping We Three Kings is certainly up to you to decide!

But as a teacher, do you feel left out? If so, I wanted to tell you about one of my most favorite printed books of all time that’s probably right at your level (it’s late intermediate/early advanced)! And through November 12th, I’m throwing in a free CD of all the songs with the purchase of the book! It’s the All is Calm, All is Bright collection and if I had to describe it in one word, I’d call it:

“Uncensored Wendy”

Now, don’t for a minute thinks that it’s unedited. I had a great editor at Augsburg Fortress that cleaned up my manuscripts before it was published. By uncensored, I mean it’s all the “many moods of Wendy” without anyone saying, “Hey, I don’t like that!” or “Why don’t you change this so it appeals to more people?” or “We don’t like how short it is. Can you lengthen it?” or “This is too ‘different’ for our audience.” Okay enough of that.**

So what kind of music is in All is Calm?

That’s a fair question since I said it was uncensored. Here’s what you’ll find:

Angels We Have Heard on High – as told and performed by those little boy angels on the back row who were just a little ornery during the Luke 2 performance for the shepherds.

It Came Up on a Midnight Clear – I challenged myself to write an arrangement I could love for this song that has such a strange, lumpy rhythmic sound in the original tune. It’s now my favorite by the way!

Deck the Hall Hoedown – this is as I imagine a slower, more folksy culture might dance in barns during the cold of winter.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel – my production engineer said he was infatuated with the unique, colorful harmonies and how they unfold in this piece.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – in a mysterious 7/8 meter

Silent Night, Holy Night – this was my experimentation with harmonics on the piano (especially if you have a grand) – just listen and you might hear some interesting sounds.

We Three Kings – I had to throw a little jazzy twist in there somewhere.

Ding Dong Merrily on High – my playful side – maybe those little angels on the back row were at it again!

In the Bleak Midwinter – my experimentation with “temperatures” of keys and settings – feel the cold of the homophonic intro, unfolding into a warmer setting in which you can hear stars twinkling in the winter sky

Here We Come a-Caroling – just plain fun, a wee bit of ornery lydian mode

The Holly and the Ivy – this one just makes me feel good to play

Sing We Now of Christmas – enjoy the beauty of the dorian mode

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly – my experiment in musicalizing the word “holy”

Here’s the Special! 

If you buy this book between now and November 5th, I’ll throw in the CD of the book for free! That’s 13 new, original songs to add to your Christmas playlist this year and they WON’T sound like anything else you have! But as of now, I only have 20 17 books out of 25 left, so don’t wait…I don’t usually re-order.

This offer is expired. 

And don’t worry about adding the CD to the cart. I’ll just take care of sending you a free one automatically!
SHIPPING NOTE: U.S. shipping will be calculated while in Paypal. Unfortunately, international shipping is cost prohibitive, so I don’t do that at this time. I can ship to Canada, but shipping rates have sky rocketed in recent years, so the shipping fee is $15 to Canada.

**By the way, my editors at Willis Piano Music are great, and I have no complaints with them. They are great about helping to make sure that my piano pedagogy music is solid, clean, easily read, and appealing to young students.