Free Holiday Sheet Music!
The organ is known as the king of instruments. Unfortunately, it’s reign has significantly dwindled in today’s worship services.
When I meet people, they frequently say one of three things to me:
My grandma’s name was Leila.
My grandma played the organ.
OR…
My grandma’s name was Leila and she played the organ!
At times, I feel like I’m in a time warp and should be sent back to the 1930s!
With the decline of the organ in church services and a shortage of those who play the instrument, it makes me even more passionate about playing the instrument and more importantly, finding music that’s fun to play with crowd appeal.
That’s how this arrangement of "Tidings of Joy" came about back in 2008. Mercy Me is a Christian worship band that regularly creates arrangements of holiday tunes that rock! Their setting of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was just TOO FUN and I was compelled to bring it to the organ.
This year, I dug it out of the archives, updated the score and am sharing it with you!
Our church is home to an Allen Renaissance Quantum organ. Along with the typical organ stops, each manual has 241 MIDI voices. This "department store" array of sounds inspires me to explore new stop combinations beyond the typical. The score includes all my registrations.
Watch the video below to see my latest performance.
I encourage you to share the sheet music with an organist or a young pianist who is interested in learning more about the organ. There’s nothing quite like the power of orchestrating the king of instruments!
Not an organist? Feel free to give the sheet music to your favorite organist and say "Merry Christmas!" Or, turn the arrangement into a duet or trio with fellow keyboardists. Or, assign parts to the bass guitar, synthesizer, guitar, piano and even hand bells and jam. Get creative and have fun!
IF you do come up with a combo, please share a performance video—I’d love to hear it!
Follow this link to watch the video of my interpretation.
Get the FREE sheet music here.
Merry Christmas!
-Leila