New this time: a congregational accompaniment for “The First Noel.”

It’s been awhile since I did one of these because… to tell the truth, they’re kinda boring to write.

You have to stick exactly to the harmonies in the original hymn so your accompaniment doesn’t clash with the voices. They’re designed to bulk up the sound of the organ accompaniment, so they’re a bit… well… bulky, and there’s very little finesse involved. (You’ll notice there are no dynamics included–congregations don’t really follow those.)

Aaaaand while I’m slogging away at stock harmonies, new ideas come along like squirrels to lead me away from my task into (temporarily) forbidden paths. Ah well, it’s done, and my reward shall be to follow one of those tempting squirrels to it’s eventual destination.

There’s no recording for this one–just the scores. The arrangement is for organ and 4-hand piano. The individual parts are very simple and should be easy to play.

The DeFord Music staff would like to wish you and yours a happy Christmas season. My newest assistant checked the books and found that we have covered all our site expenses for the year, so for the month of December, all available CDs are $2.50. He advises me that though they are interesting, they are not edible and therefore highly disappointing. My bad. 😉