A Jazzy Ol' Christmas: Jazz Ensemble Conductor Score

Straightforward swing and jazz grooves wrapped around winter melodies you know, with enough arranging craft to keep both players and listeners engaged without getting in the way of learning the idiom.

First-year jazz ensemble directors who need reliable, playable holiday material that doesn't oversimplify the genre. This works equally well for groups building fundamentals and for experienced programs looking for accessible opener material on a holiday concert.

• Balance the melody across your front line carefully; these accessible voicings work best when each voice projects without forcing tone quality.
• Use the conductor score to guide tempo consistency across all the tunes, since students will be reading the same book for the entire medley.
• Mark cut points in advance if you're planning to drop certain tunes from your performance, so the section leaders know exactly where transitions happen.

Slot this into the first half of a holiday concert where you want to set a swinging mood without taxing your ensemble's endurance. The collection format also lets you program individual tunes between other pieces, mixing them into a varied concert flow rather than performing them as one long medley.

• Reading lead sheets and chord symbols in a jazz context
• Maintaining steady swing feel across multiple charts
• Balancing ensemble voicings in four-part jazz writing
• Understanding jazz articulation and phrasing in familiar melodies