by Jacy Burroughs
The Christmas season is one of the busiest times for musicians, with church gigs, themed concerts and holiday parties galore! With the thousands of arrangements out there, it can be difficult to decide what to play. That’s why Sheet Music Plus has come up with this brief guide of our most popular Christmas arrangements to help you get started. The following arrangements are great for both professional musicians and students. Pros can easily sightread these at a gig and students, with a little more preparation, can have some festive pieces for their holiday concerts.
Christmas Traditions for String Quartet, arr. by Carole Neuen-Rabinowitz
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Christmas Traditions consists of the following 10 well-known carols:
Both violin parts go to fifth position, so this would be for more intermediate to advanced students. |
Christmas Pops for String Quartet, arr. by Steve W. Mauldin
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Looking for a more secular selection of arrangements? Christmas Pops has fun, swinging arrangements of the following songs, arranged for high school students and up.
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Keeping Christmas: Seven English Carols for String Trio, arr. by Catherine McMichael
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This selection of Christmas songs is arranged for violin, viola and cello at an advanced intermediate level. If you do not have a violist available, there is an optional violin 2 part to replace the viola.
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A Christmas Tableau of Piano Trios, arr. by Eugenie R. Rocherolle
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Nine popular Christmas carols are arranged for performers at similar levels of ability. A great way to include family members or school music friends in your Yuletide celebrations.
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The Canadian Brass Christmas Carols, arr. by Lloyd Larson
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A brass player’s Christmas wouldn’t be complete without some arrangements from the legendary Canadian Brass. These 15 easy arrangements can be played with a brass quartet or brass quintet. Flexible instrumentation allows you to choose what works for your ensemble. These arrangements are ideal accompaniments for congregational singing in churches or other groups but also work great for brass only performances.
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God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen for Woodwind Quintet, arr. by Kenneth Abeling
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This is a jazzy, swingin’ arrangement of the traditional Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. It is suitable for professional musicians or more advanced high school players.
This publisher has several Christmas carols arranged in a jazz style. To see more arrangements, click here. |
Do you have a group that doesn’t fit within traditional chamber ensemble instrumentation? That’s ok! More and more arrangers are starting to offer flexible instrumentation for their arrangements. The parts are written according to the keys of the instruments and range. For example, a high C part can be used by a flute or violin, a B-flat part by a clarinet or trumpet. These are great if you or your students want to get together and play with friends. Check out flexible instrumentation Christmas arrangements.
Still not finding what you’re looking for? Check out over 4500 Christmas Chamber Music pieces.
Jacy Burroughs is the Program Marketing Manager at Sheet Music Plus. She has degrees in horn performance from The University of the Pacific and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a freelance musician in the Bay Area.
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