This Holiday

Put on your merry, put on your glow.
Let your inner spirit show.

Kick off your holiday program with this joyous, high energy tune! It's a real natural as an opener, but you could certainly use it at any point in your program, including as a finale. The lyrics are filled with iconic seasonal imagery and themes like candles, twinkling lights, holiday spirit, singing (of course!), and peace.

We have designed the song to work well as a unison piece, but if you can add the optional second part, the reward will be more than worth the effort. This is especially true at bar 41 (the second time), which we found ourselves referring to as "the peaceful section" due to its unexpected contrast to the driving pulse of the rest of the piece.

If you are uncertain about incorporating part 2 with your usual choir or class, we typically recommend supplementing with a few helpers from older classes, or even teachers or parents. And, of course, you can always use the full performance version of the song from our Performance/Accompaniment recording for reinforcement, if you wish. For help in teaching part 2, we have created an isolated rehearsal track for you to use. You can find this for free on our web site, MusicK8.com (See details in the box on page 78.)

You will note that this tune also includes an optional bells part. It uses the notes C, D, F, G, A, and C'. Until the last bar, which has a rest on beat 4, bells play all whole notes. There are a combination of single notes and multiple ones. You can simplify the part by eliminating some of the notes of a given chord. Or you could even add to some of the simpler ones if that works better for you. To help you out, we have included an extracted bells part which you will find on page 16.