A Baroque Christmas: Intermediate Piano Book

McLean's arrangements honor Baroque sensibilities while remaining genuinely playable at the intermediate level. Rather than oversimplifying, he preserves the harmonic language and contrapuntal textures that make these carols feel both familiar and fresh, giving your students real pianistic work alongside repertoire they'll recognize.

Candlelit and unhurried. These arrangements sit comfortably in the Baroque keyboard idiom, with enough voice independence to feel sophisticated but enough breathing room to avoid overwrought ornament. You'll find yourself leaning into the harmonic progressions rather than rushing through them.

Intermediate pianists preparing for holiday services, school concerts, or solo recitals. This collection works equally well for organists and harpsichordists who want period-appropriate arrangements without excessive technical demands.

• Treat each carol as a short character study. The Baroque framework invites you to find one clear interpretive choice per piece rather than shifting dramatically within the arrangement.
• Pay attention to the figured bass language in the accompaniment. Even where it's not explicit, thinking in those harmonic terms will clarify your voicing choices and keep the texture transparent.
• Balance the melody line generously. These songs carry their weight in the tune, and intermediate players often underestimate how much the ear needs to hear it above the accompaniment.

Deploy individual pieces throughout the holiday season rather than performing the entire collection at once. A single arrangement makes an elegant prelude before a school concert or service; pair three or four pieces for a solo recital intermission that showcases your student's growing interpretive range.

• Voice independence and transparency in four-part writing
• Baroque harmonic language and figured bass literacy
• Stylistic ornamentation and articulation appropriate to the era
• Balancing melody with accompaniment textures
• Reading and executing figured bass notation