How Cinco de Mayo Led to Arranging Christmas Music!

I never considered myself a “real” composer. Oh I knew the composition rules - parallel fourths, fifths and octaves are against tonal harmony rules, Ti leads to Do - and so forth. I had never really sat down and brainstormed and allowed my imagination and creative juices to really flow. But then I purchased a course that literally rocked my world. 

I dug in. I worked hard and I couldn’t get enough. By May 2024, I’d spent more than six months writing countless numbers of elementary piano pieces that included adorable little melodies, catchy lyrics and fun teacher duets. I was on a creative high and I’d enjoyed every part of the process. I smiled as I chose the perfect themes including special animals for my songs by digging through my own memories searching for inspiration. I literally squeaked with joy when I found the perfect rhyme for the lyrics in my elementary pieces. The continuous cycle of writing, rewriting, harmonizing, and re-harmonizing kept me on my toes. I LEARNED SO MUCH from the course I had taken!

One morning in May I woke up and checked my calendar. I realized it was Cinco de Mayo. As I was savoring the thought of tacos and margaritas, a colleague said: “When you’re a composer, around Cinco de Mayo is when you need to start thinking about Christmas music.”

Well, that was a twist. But my colleague was right - Christmas music has a special place in my heart, and the thought of diving into a new adventure intrigued me and made me smile. It was time to figure out the ins and outs of arranging music! Up until then, everything I’d written had been my original work, so stepping into the world of arranging felt like I was learning an entirely new language. I had to get up to speed on copyright rules, public domain guidelines and more. I like to say, “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.” Where to begin? My brain was working overtime carving out new neural pathways.

Thankfully, I had the secret weapon: I had purchased BOTH of Carol Matz’s video courses, Teachers Who Want to Compose and Teachers Who Want to Arrange. If you haven’t purchased these courses yet then you are missing out. This purchase was some of the best money I’ve ever spent, and this is seriously no exaggeration. The video lessons are practical, clear and they are full of great information. You purchase the courses once and you have access to videos, pdfs and so much content forever. You are armed with everything you need to begin composing and arranging.

By Cinco de Mayo I had already completed the Teachers Who Want to Compose course and I had written a plethora of elementary and early intermediate piano solos. So I dove right in and I threw myself into the Teachers Who Want to Arrange course. I buckled down and I doubled up on homework. I stayed up late, got up early, and spent time at my computer when so many of my friends and colleagues were vegging out on the couch binge-watching TV shows. Hard work and daily diligence paid off. My progress came quickly and I’m thrilled to say, I now have available, Christmas Book 1 and Christmas Book 2!

I am excited that my first Christmas books are now available on my website! They are super fun and you and you and your students will absolutely love this studio licensed Christmas music!

Why call them Studio Savers? Because these collections are STUDIO LICENSED and they are designed to add value to your studio. You can use them to save you and your students’ families money. The collections are all about making playing the piano fun and getting students reading more music and sight-reading regularly. Students learn to read in school because they read often and they read a lot. When is it better to read loads of piano music than during the Christmas season?

The Christmas Book One Collection features eight Early Elementary to Elementary level piano pieces, complete with lyrics and optional teacher duets plus there are six fun Christmas Activity pages. If you have more advanced students, why not encourage these students to take on the teacher part in the Christmas Book One collection and couple them with your lower level students? What a fun duet team!

Christmas Book 1

Table of contents

For your Late Elementary to Early Intermediate students, have a look at  the Christmas Book Two Collection. These solos are arranged with fun key changes and interesting re-harmonizations in mind and melodies that alternate between the hands to give the familiar Christmas songs a captivating new feel.

Many students play beautifully by ear or by rote. What a gift this is, but our students need to be able to read music and to read it well. There’s no shortcut here—the only way to get better at reading music is to read regularly. Make your studio stand out by building a robust studio-licensed library. 

Start with my Studio Savers Christmas Collection Book One with fun activity sheets for Early Elementary to Elementary pianists and Studio Savers Christmas Collection Book Two for Late Elementary to Early Intermediate pianists. Give your students the entire book or pick and choose the pieces that suit them best. 

So, here’s to Cinco de Mayo, Christmas arranging, improving sight reading skills, neural pathways, and keeping the creative journey exciting! Enjoy the music. Don’t forget to bookmark my website. Find it at www.pamelajackmusic.com A whole lot more music will be coming to you soon. Cheers!

Christmas Book 1. Studio Savers. Early Elementary to Elementary with Teacher Duet and Activity Sheets arranged by Pamela R. Jack