November 12

0 comments

I’ll Be Home For Christmas

By Thomas Gunther

November 12, 2023

Christmas Music, Latin Piano, Solo Piano Arrangements

Here you can get the sheet-music and see Thomas Gunther perform his Solo Piano Arrangement of I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS


About my Solo Piano Arrangement "I'll Be Home For Christmas"

My Solo Piano Arrangement of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is written in a jazz-latin type style. I wrote it out note for note, and even included fingering and sustain pedal suggestions. I also included jazz chord symbols for those of you that either like to know what harmonies I was thinking, or want to add their own ideas based on those chords. The chords I used are pretty much based on the original harmony. 

When I started out arranging for solo piano I was especially curious about how to create a latin groove underneath a melody. I studied bossa and samba music as well as cuban music for that. The rumba is a great style to start with. That's also the bases for this arrangement. 

Get the sheet-music for only $6.99 at SheetMusicDirect!

About the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas"

I have a very special relationship to this song. I first heard it after moving to the United States from Germany and spending my first Christmas in Chicago. On that Christmas Eve I was all alone for the first time, and when I turned on the radio this song came on. I don't easily cry, bad that was one of those moments when the floodgates just open up. It is such a sentimental song. And the closing lyrics "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams" are just so emotional in this context.

Thomas Gunther

About the author

Thomas Gunther (Thommy GĂĽnther) is a versatile internationally active jazz pianist and keyboardist, music producer, and music educator. Born in Germany, Thomas moved to Chicago after receiving his masters in teaching and performing popular music and jazz piano (from the State University of Arts & Music Stuttgart/Germany) to become the principle pianist with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. Soon he formed his own bands playing piano and keyboards all over town and touring Europe regularly. Today, Thomas is a well respected member of the Chicago music scene. For many years he has also worked as an instructor at Columbia College Chicago where he still designs and teaches courses for its Contemporary Urban Music Program (CUP) such as Pop-Jazz Keyboards & Theory, Applied Music Production with Logic Pro, Contemporary Arranging and Orchestration, Harmony & Rhythm, etc.. Thomas is also the creator and owner of several educational websites such as popjazzkeys.com and MusicTrainingOnline.
Visit http://www.ThomasGunther.com for more info.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
>