Santa, What A Guy

You absolutely must listen to the recording of this tune to appreciate how very cool it is. Set in a swing style reminiscent of the '50s and '60s, you can almost hear the crooning of Bobby Darrin, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., or more recently, Michael Bublé, singing this one. The big band arrangement is what really makes it cook, thanks to the phenomenal crafting of Paul Jennings.

One of the things that is the most notable about this chart is that it modulates several times, though the fact that it is all unison keeps it quite doable. Teach your singers to listen and zero in on the instrumental clues about the key changes for smooth transitions. Sometimes they're subtle, so it will keep them on their toes! You may note that the piano part does not exactly represent what the jazz band is playing on the recording. In this case, the part was written to be an accompaniment on its own should you prefer to use it live with your own jazz pianist. You can adapt and ad lib to taste if you do it this way.

Santa's little hoofers - At the end of the piece, there is a big ol' slow down and bring-it-on-home verse that feels so right. Makes you want to start dancing along! If you want real inspiration to do some stepping, be sure to check out Melissa Schott's choreography ideas for this tune. Once again, she has put together a demo and teaching video as well as a PDF of some teaching notes that you can download for free at our web site, MusicK8.com Use as is, or change it up any way it works best for you. (See details on page 79.)