12 Easy Christmas Solos for Piano Beginners
It’s the perfect time of the year for piano students to start learning Christmas music!
’Tis the season to learn Christmas songs on the piano! Even if you’re firmly in the “no Christmas music before Thanksgiving/Advent/December 1” camp, piano students still need time to prepare Christmas music before the official holidays arrive.
Here are some piano solos best suited for students in their first or second year of piano lessons.
1. “Jingle Bells” arranged by Jennifer Eklund
This arrangement keeps both hands close to C position. A student who has learned how to read notes on the staff should be able to figure out this song. The chorus on the 2nd page is the easiest part, and it’s definitely OK to skip to that part if you are looking for something shorter.
2. “Deck The Halls” arranged by Jennifer Eklund
Here is another song that stays mostly in the familiar C position. The right hand does move slightly above and below C position, but with mostly stepwise movement between notes, it’s pretty easy to figure out.
3. “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” arranged by Samantha Hayes
This arrangement seems long because it’s four pages, but it’s really because the rhythm has been simplified to make it easier for beginners to read. Each hand covers a small range of notes just bigger than a five-finger position, so there are a few hand shifts throughout the song.
4. “The Chipmunk Song” arranged by Chrissy Ricker
This is a cute, less common Christmas song kids enjoy. The left hand mostly stays in Middle C position, then shifts to C position near the end. The right hand starts out in a D-Major five-finger pattern, then shifts a bit higher for a moment. It is rhythmically easy to read.
5. “The Little Drummer Boy” arranged by Chrissy Ricker
This song is very doable for a student who has played the piano for about a year. It’s almost entirely in G five-finger position. The left hand mostly plays open fifths to replicate the sound of a beating drum, with just a few exceptions within the 5-finger range. The right hand has one small shift above G position, but quickly returns back to familiar ground.
6. “Holly Jolly Christmas” arranged by PianoSSam
This arrangement is great for beginners who are excited to play a Christmas song, but don’t quite have the reading skills to figure one out. It has slightly larger print and the note names are labeled on each note for students who aren’t confident readers. The melody is split between the two hands and falls under the range of all 10 fingers staying in one position.
7. “Feliz Navidad” arranged by PianoSSam
Here is another arrangement that includes note names on each note. (Labeling note-names isn’t a good long-term reading strategy, but it’s helpful early on for students who are eager to play familiar songs.) This one also falls under all ten fingers staying within the same position. The rhythm might look confusing for a beginner, but if they are familiar with the tune, they can follow their ear to play it correctly.
8. “Joy to the World” arranged by Jennifer Eklund
The melody of this tune follows a major scale, so even though it’s a bigger range than some of the other songs we’ve suggested, it’s easy for students to follow the stepwise motion. The left hand mostly stays within C position chord shells.
9. “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” arranged by Jennifer Eklund
This simple tune contains many repeated notes in a small range which makes it easy to play and read. In this short arrangement, the right hand only has to play 3 notes and the left hand plays chord shells or single bass notes around C position.
10. “O Christmas Tree” arranged by Jennifer Eklund
Here’s another mostly-in-C-position song that is just one page long. It includes some helpful finger numbers for a few small shifts outside of C position.
11. “Silent Night” arranged by Alicja Urbanowicz
This simple but lovely arrangement includes a QR code that links to a YouTube tutorial to help you learn this piece. The left hand plays single bass notes, all within C position. The right hand does shift around a bit, but there are helpful fingerings included on all of those shifts.
12. “Carol of the Bells” from Making Music Fun
This very simple arrangement of “Carol of the Bells” splits the melody between both hands. Most notes in this song move by either just a step or a skip, making it easy for beginners to read.
This post was written by Megan, piano teacher and author of Pianissimo: A Very Piano Blog. Visit her website for more piano related blogs for teachers, parents, students, and all things piano.
Published on November 22, 2022