December 20, 2024
About the Author: Sonja Joubert
Every single year Christmas suddenly arrives at our doorstep, especially if you are living in the UK where people tend to work right up to the day before Christmas!
In countries like South Africa, where I originally came from, the schools and universities close at the beginning of December with a lovely hot summer holiday ahead.
This means that there are literally 3 or 4 weeks before Christmas arrives, giving you ample time to prepare for Christmas, learn the relevant songs and prepare presents, food etc.
Christmas is the cherry on the cake, so to speak, in this lovely holiday time, which finishes off with happy new year celebrations!
Of course the song – “Im Dreaming of a White Christmas” doesn’t really work as it really only is a dream, living where it’s summer at Christmas time!
The UK Christmas Season
In the UK it is a bit different as it’s not summer time nor a long holiday time. It’s a cold and wet winter time and everyone is trying to finish off their year’s targets. This can actually be quite stressful.
In the midst of all this work, it’s a wonderful relaxing project to learn at least one or two Christmas songs to sing with, or to play to your family.
It’s always heart warming and brings a bond between family members when they sing Christmas songs together or have a little concert.
We as children loved to sing the Christmas carols and do the Christmas play of Mary and Joseph and the little baby Jesus born as the Saviour of the world and Santa brought some gifts. We loved it. I trust that families will do that again!
Can you imagine if there were No music during Christmas time! Whether you believe in the Christmas story or not, it would be unthinkable!
There is a distinct joy and happiness that is part of Christmas songs and Christmas time.
So it’s time to sit down and learn at least one or two songs in this last stretch before Christmas.
Simple Christmas Songs to Start With
There are some very simple Christmas songs. Like:
- Jingle Bells or
- Silent Night or
- Oh Come Let Us Adore Him and maybe for the more adventurous
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, etc.
The sheet music you can download on Google or ask your teacher to help with choosing the best version suited to you.
In the last few weeks I have been doing Silent Night and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with quite a number of my students.
We did Silent Night as part of ear training, by picking out the melody by ear, and NOT by reading the notes from the sheet music.
Training Your Ear
This in itself is a great exercise for hearing intervals – the distances between tones sung or played.
If you want to do this effectively, do not put the sheet music out for yourself to see.
Put it far away or on the floor so that you force yourself to hear and listen and try, and try again and again until you find the right note on your piano.
It’s not silly to struggle with this at first. We ALL do or did! Just try to hear where the melody goes to.
Try out notes until you get the right one. You will soon be able to hear if the melodic line is walking stepwise or jumping up or down and whether it’s a small jump like a third or a big one like a seventh or an octave etc.
It’s important not to allow yourself to feel “stupid” when you struggle at not being able to do it at first. It is excellent ear training!
If you have mastered the melodic line bit by bit in Silent Night, then we can move on to the chords.
Another tool to use in picking out the melodic line is to write out the lyrics line by line.
It will help you to remember when and where the melody jumps are. Think “hearing” where the melodic line moves to, more than trying to think or remember the jumps.
If the ear gets trained in intervals, it helps with every other song or music.
It’s wonderful to be able to play a Christmas song by ear (or hearing) rather than having to grab for the sheet music, trying to remember the notes!
This type of ear training is definitely not time wasting. It’s part of musical development and ear training forms the real basis of all playing.
Playing Chords and Accompaniment
Let’s look at only playing chords as an accompaniment.
Silent night makes use of 4 basic chords in the key you are playing in. This is another discussion on its own.
Let’s assume you will be playing in the key of C. The C major scale will indicate which notes will be available to use.
The 4 chords I mentioned are the following:
- The 1st chord which is the C chord,
- The 4th which is the F chord and
- The 5th which is the G chord built on the scale of C. We will also use
- The 6th chord which is a minor.
A song like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” uses much more chords and is more jazz orientated, where you need to have an understanding of basic jazz chords, unless you play from a score.
There are simplified versions available on Google. Ask your teacher to help with this choice.
Silent Night: A Step-by-Step Approach
Let’s go back to Silent night.
You can either play the song with the melody in the right hand and the left hand playing the chords… or you can play the song by only playing chords with your hands and singing the melody on top.
This way you will be playing the song as an accompaniment.
How to play accompaniment:
- For accompaniment you only need to know and play the 4 chords required for the song.
- Know where to start to sing.
Knowing on which note to start to sing can be tricky in Silent night.
The first note of the song starts on the 5th note of the C major chord and not on the tonic or C note.
When giving lead in accompaniment for your family to sing, give them the G note as a starting note else it will all sound out of tune.
Use your lead sheet:
- Use your lead sheet or music to see where the chords need to change if you are unsure.
When doing it at first you might not be able to know when and where to do the chord changes but having a lead sheet with the melody, words and chords on will be helpful.
You will be surprised to see how your ear naturally will be able to hear when you need to change chords or when you are using the wrong chord!
Enjoy Learning and Sharing
Well, enjoy learning this simple song!
- Learn line by line.
It’s best to do it line by line with the lyrics and not all in one go.
- Know your lyrics! Even if it’s just one verse.
- Keep it simple.
- Play it higher and add sounds.
It’s also lovely to play it up higher on the keyboard and if you have a digital keyboard to possibly add some bells or strings.
- Use your pedal!
Also make use of your pedal to create more singing and a shiny sound!
Enjoy Christmas time!
- Make lovely music and have fun and ignore any mistakes!
- Just have joy in this joyous time.
Give joy to your family. Let them enjoy your playing weather perfect or not! It’s not about that!
