The holiday season often brings a flurry of Christmas music into our lives. Every year, new editions of Christmas songbooks appear on shelves, featuring variations in keys, positions, and predominantly left-hand arrangements. Music shops stock up on these new anthologies, and piano teachers start assigning these pieces weeks before Christmas.
This has become the norm in many Western piano studios, but it raises an intriguing question: Why the ongoing demand for new Christmas songbooks? Most traditional Christmas carols are public domain and freely accessible from sources like IMSLP.
It’s true that these traditional pieces may be challenging for beginners or young children to read, but why not use the holiday season as an educational opportunity to delve deeper into musical understanding?
Here are some pedagogical ideas for maximizing the Christmas season’s musical opportunities:
- Young learners are often already familiar with the melodies they want to play and are eager to learn. Why not have them identify the melody notes on the keyboard?
- Encourage them to explore what the left hand could play in accompaniment when the right hand is tackling the melody.
- If they’re able, have them jot down the melody, or even compose their own Christmas song based on a favorite tune.
- For students who are more adept at reading music, challenge them to simplify complex arrangements.
- Engage them in transposing the melody to different keys.
- Many children enjoy using music software like Finale; they could compile their own customized Christmas songbook.
Rather than spending money on new songbooks that will only be used seasonally and can often be accessed for free, students should invest their time in a more enriching holiday experience. The season provides a unique backdrop for learning to listen, read, write, transpose, and perform music.