Christmas in September?

Anyone like to celebrate Christmas all year round? I've had the pleasure of doing so whilst writing a new collection of Christmas arrangements for solo marimba! I've been chipping away at it since November of 2007. Actually, I arranged two tunes (Silent Night & God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen) and stopped for about 7 months. Here's a YouTube performance of "God Rest" at a clinic I gave in Salem, OR back in December. Please excuse the less-than stellar audio quality (and the wrong note at the end).



I started back up in July, planning to do a total of 6 arrangements for the collection until two of my always helpful colleagues (read: opinionated) told me that I needed to do 8 so that the book would be thicker (and therefore more marketable). I just finished the eighth and final arrangement and the collection is now reaching the final stages of the publication process. Here's the list of tunes and the beautiful cover designed by Ed Morgan of navyblue design.


Silent Night

God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen

O Holy Night

Carol of the Bells

What Child Is This?

In the Bleak Midwinter

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Deck the Halls

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about the release of this one. It'll be available from my publisher in mid-October, just in time for people to pick it up and learn some festive tunes for Christmas.