About the Book
ALL SONGS ARE MINOR KEY ARRANGEMENTS OF HOLIDAY AND CHILDREN'S CLASSICS. THEY WILL SOUND DIFFERENT THAN THE TRADITIONAL SONG AND ARE PURPOSELY MADE TO BE DARK AND EERIE. Songs include: Aloutte, Amazing Grace, Angels We Have Heard on High, Are You Sleeping? (Frére Jaques), Away in a Manger, Bridal Chorus (from Wagner's Lohengrin), Deck the Halls, Eensy Weensy Spider, The Farmer in the Dell, The First Noel, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Home on the Range, Humpty Dumpty, Hush, Little Baby, It's Raining, It's Pouring, Jingle Bells, Largo (from "The New World"), London Bridge, Mary Had a Little Lamb, The Muffin Man, O Christmas Tree, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, Ode to Joy, Oh, Susanna, The Old Gray Mare, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, On Top of Old Smokey, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, She'll be Comin' 'Round the Mountain, Silent Night, This Old Man, Three Blind Mice, Tisket, a Tasket, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Up On the Housetop, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and When the Saints Go Marching In. The arrangements in this book are meant for beginning to early-intermediate music students. The playing of dark, minor arrangements of familiar songs that normally sound cheerful and bright has been incredibly enjoyable for my students, and has been a highly effective pitch training tool for them to learn the differences between "Major" and "Minor". Most of the arrangements are two pages, and the pieces are arranged in alphabetical order, not progressive order. They vary somewhat in difficulty, but are all easy to learn and play. I have omitted any dynamic and tempo markings so that the student can choose how they would like to play them for themselves, or follow their teacher's recommendations. In order to eliminate any awkward page turns, I have inserted a few "conversation starters" along the way instead of leaving blank pages. These are meant to pique curiosity in the student so that they perhaps ask for further guidance from their instructor.
About the Author: Robert Anthony is a Multi-Instrumental Musician and has worked with Gene Simmons, A&E Television, The Howard Stern Show, Friends of Distinction, Universal Music Group, Danger Crüe Records, Japanese guitar legend Hideaki Nakama, and many more. Robert has been teaching students of Guitar, Piano & Keyboards, Bass Guitar, Drums & Percussion, Mandolin, Music Theory, Composition, Aural Skills, for greater than 25 years.