Christmas Songs for Classical Players - Violin and Piano: 12 Holiday Favorites

Die "For Classical Players" Reihe besetzt eine echte Marktlücke. Hochwertige Arrangements für Geige und Klavier mit Live-Einspielungen(!) auf fortgeschrittenerem Level. Auch dieses Heft ist wieder wunderbar arrangiert und zusammengestellt. Es wird gespielt im Bereich der 1. bis 4. Lage, ein paar einfache Doppelgriffe sind eingestreut und die Tonarten sind nicht nur auf G- und D-Dur beschränkt. Das macht das weihnachtliche Vorspiel auch für fortgeschrittene Schülerinnen und Schüler sowie gute Laien interessant. Die mitgelieferten Begleittracks (online downloadbar) sind hochwertig mit echten Flügeln eingespielt, kein Synti- oder Midi-Gedöns. Ein echter Geheimtip! Ich besitze ausserdem das Heft mit der Filmmusik aus der Reihe, ebenfalls sehr empfehlenswert.Vorsicht, das andere Weihnachtsheft der Reihe "Favourite Christmas Carols" ist leider nicht gut.

The songs are beautiful and perfect for Violin Solo audience listening music. Mostly B Flat. Not for a beginner but just right for Intermediate because it won't take a lot of practice time away from regular lesson; but fun to play at Christmas time.

The sheet music and piano accompaniment are great! I would recommend this for an intermediate level player and above. Overall I’m very happy with my purchase. I’ll be entertaining friends and family all throughout the holidays!

There is no separate violin part pull-out. Why do I have to read over the pianist's shoulder? Also, if I want to write a fingering, it has to go in the piano part. The violin notation is also very small (much smaller than the pianist's notes). Music for violin and piano should include a separate violin part or clearly say so in the description. I bought this new, directly from Amazon, not some 3rd party vendor. Very disappointed. Hal Leonard seems so proud to have included a companion recording on the internet you can hear -- well, how about getting the basics right to begin with before an internet recording is made, specifically, having a printed violinist's part separate from the piano!

These songs were challenging and mostly fun to play on the violin: definitely intermediate level at least. Key signatures are not the traditionally easier/starter keys for violin, for whatever reason. There is generally an easier "normal" repetition of a familiar tune followed by a much more ornamented "fancier" repetition that is perhaps up an octave into higher positions or otherwise harder/wackier. If just playing a plain familiar version of Christmas carols beautifully is not enough and you need something more "fancy," go for it. In several cases, we decided to play just the more traditional-sounding first section of a song rather than the highly ornamented later sections.What made this book ultimately a disappointment were the piano arrangements. My accompanist is a skilled pianist, piano teacher, and music theorist, and these arrangements were so odd and oddly difficult because the pianist is expected to in several cases play bass clef with the right hand, which feels unnatural and unnecessarily more difficult. Why write music this way? With much practice, we could have pulled off performing these tunes, but just to "jam" for fun and play for a few family and friends, these were decidedly not fun or easy to play.If you're just going to use the recorded accompanying music available online (or no accompaniment) and not impose this on any actual pianist you know, you might enjoy the experience provided by these arrangements more.