The Definitive Christmas Collection 3rd Edition (Paperback)

by Hal Leonard Corp. (Creator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The higher price gets you a very large selection of holiday music (over 100 numbers) and a frustration-sparing spiral binding. The selection of music is pop oriented, with songs by George Michael, Neil Diamond, and Garth Brooks included. The exciting wild card here is a charming Percy Faith instrumental, "Brazilian Sleighbells." You also get the overlooked "Go Tell It on the Mountain." Skill level is generally moderate, with few of the key signatures going past one flat or sharp. Some guitar chord fingerings are offered; other songs have just the chord names, but most are quite simple. --William R. Braun

Product Description
Newly revised with even more Christmas classics, this must-have, 352-page collection contains more than 120 top songs, such as: Away in a Manger * The Chipmunk Song * The Christmas Shoes * Christmas Time Is Here * Do They Know It's Christmas * Do You Hear What I Hear * Feliz Navidad * The First Noel * The Greatest Gift of All * Happy Holiday * He * A Holly Jolly Christmas * Jingle-Bell Rock * Little Saint Nick * Merry Christmas, Darling * Mister Santa * My Favorite Things * O Holy Night * Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer * Santa, Bring My Baby Back (To Me) * Silent Night * Silver and Gold * We Need a Little Christmas * and more!

Product Details

Sample Music Notation [24kb PDF]

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation; 3 edition (August 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793519853
• ISBN-13: 978-0793519859
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #579,037 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive collection of holiday music, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This book contains 126 songs (sheet music) for the December holiday season (predominantly Christmas). Although it lacks a few of the ones I was looking for, it contains not only the most popular songs, but some I'm not familiar with. The arrangement of the music in this book appears to be the originally written version instead of a chopped up, simplified, or edited version that is presented in some sheet music books. Presented for piano, vocal, and guitar.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good basic collection of solid traditional arrangements. Good mix of popular and traditional sacred, December 26, 2005

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

While no single collection of Christmas music is going to have everything you want in it, at least I have not found one, this is pretty darn fine for several reasons. It has a broad selection of the popular and traditional, with some lesser known numbers of each. The arrangements are interesting, but easy enough to play for someone of moderate ability and sight readable for someone who is skilled. Also, the arrangements are pretty traditional. So many arrangers feel the need of adding more colorful chords and changing rhythms. Many of us merely want good rich traditional arrangements where the harmonies of the original come through and the part writing for the for singing around a piano, and there are guitar chords and the fingering boxes provided as well.

The book is arranged alphabetically, so you can quickly find the piece you are looking for. However, if you don't know the name, it takes awhile because the book is so big. My advice for using this book to play for any occasion is to use post it notes to mark the tunes you intend to play so you can flip to them quickly.

The binding is good and strong, so it will stand up to use. While spiral binding might be preferred by some because it will lay flat, I find that they often break, get bent, or have other problems.

I like this collection a lot and recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book but not quite as described, November 1, 2008

By	Bonnie Speck - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I like the book a lot. It has a great selection of christmas songs which seem so far (as others mentioned) to be traditional arrangements. Also as another mentioned, this is NOT the book described by William R Braun, i.e. it is NOT spiral bound, it does NOT contain the song "Brazilian Sleighbells" if you were looking for that, and some of the songs are in 3-4 flats or sharps

For me, the main advantage of spiral bound books is that they stay open when placed on a music stand and don't keep closing on their own like some other bindings. This is is a necessary feature for an instrumentalist, however it is my experience that after much use the pages and cover often tear out of spiral bound books, and therefore are not as durable as some other types of bindings.

The Definitive Christmas Collection 3rd edition is a big book loaded with great songs (i.m.o.) and even though it may not lay perfectly flat like spiral bound it stays open nicely to the page to which it was turned.

I would definitely recommend this book, I just wish Amazon would get on the ball and remove the misleading description by William R Braun.