One tradition at my elementary winter band/orchestra/choir concerts is that the orchestras always end their portion of the concert with "Jingle Bells." I've written an arrangement that works well for where my students are by this point in the year. Beginners have an open-string arco harmony part, while the 2nd-year players have a more exciting harmony part, with lots of shuffle bowing patterns. The beginners' harmony part is in unision; while the 2nd-year harmony part has separate parts for upper strings, cellos, and basses. 2nd-year basses are welcome to add slaps on the rests in their harmony part! The piano interlude gives them time to set bows down and get ready to pluck.
Combined beginners and 2nd-year players play through this twice at the concert:
1st time:
- Beginners--open-string harmony part
- 2nd year players--melody
2nd time:
- Beginners--melody (or open-string harmony--their choice)
- 2nd year players--harmony
In past years, at the school performance for students, one pre-chosen student from each class comes up and rings jingle bells while the orchestra plays. I have students from the orchestra help with distributing and collecting the bells. They're just little jingle bells from a craft store threaded through pipe cleaners with the ends tied together to form a bracelet.
For an introduction, I play the last two measures on the piano, and, as an interlude before the repeat, I play the last four measures again, showcasing the jingle bell players and giving the string players a moment to remember which part they're playing next.
- Beginning parts (PDF) (melody/open-string harmony)
- Advanced parts (PDF) (melody/harmony)
- Score (PDF)
- Piano part (PDF)
Audio files (with piano introduction and interlude)
Happy jingling!
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