Christmas In The Valley

You know that feeling on Christmas morning, just before dawn? All is quiet and maybe, just maybe, you can hear bells start to ring in the distance, perhaps from a valley. Even if this isn't your particular experience, you can no doubt imagine it in your mind. The lights are twinkling from the night into the morning still and the feeling of love surrounds everything. It's magical. That's the inspiration for this lovely song, "Christmas In The Valley."

To make it feel even more magical, we have taken the theme of hearing bells to the next level by adding handbells to the accompaniment. These are, of course, optional, but they add such a sweet, gentle touch to the piece, you may wish to try to include them if you can. You will find an isolated bells part on our web site. For those who prefer not to have any guide bells in the orchestration on the recording, you can find an alternate accompaniment (no bell guide) track also on our web site.

Another option for this song is the addition of a second vocal part. As the song transitions from gentle and serene during the first verse to majestic and grand at the chorus (bar 18), the addition of part 2 adds to the power of the moment. Once it's in, it stays in till the end, changing styles as the tune does. If you wish to use part 2, we have isolated the audio tracks for rehearsing and included them on our web site for free as well.