Angels From The Realms of Glory: Piano Arranging Ideas

Good morning. This is Duane and Merry Christmas to you. We’ve been taking a series of Christmas carols this last couple of weeks and I have about 13 or 14 recorded and I’m going to finish up this week as I’m recording this because it’s Christmas week. I have about five more days to do about five more Christmas carols. I think with today we’ll do Angels from the Realms of Glory.

I went up to … my wife and I went up to a nativity scene last night, outdoors, a beautiful nativity scene in Jacksonville Oregon, which is a historic town, and this nativity scene had a … one of the scenes were angels appeared to the shepherds and it reminded me that this were angels from the realms of glory, they weren’t angels from the realms of depression, or boredom or anything, they were from the realms of glory. As we play this, let’s try to reflect a little joy or a little happiness in it, okay. It’s some guys play it like this. And let’s jazz it up a little bit, okay.

By the way, in the right hand all you are doing is playing inversions of the C chord, the whole first phrase or almost the whole first phrase. Those at C position, upside down, C, just turn upside down, turn upside down, the C chords and then it goes to G7 and C chord, F F C C C G7 C, C C C C, now we can go to E7, A, A minor, E7, A minor, E7, A minor and it just goes back and forth with A minor and E7 for a bit. G, D7, G, G or G7, C, F, D, that’s D minor 7, A7, D minor, we can go to F sharp then manage from what to do, wouldn’t have to, D minor 7, G7 and end up at C, okay.

Now, at the let hand, all I need to do really is play an active bass or I could play both finger thumb. Unless we make it more interesting. That little thing I’m doing right now. We can use that as a introduction and as a closing, ending too. Watch in the left hand I’m just playing C, C, C, C with my little finger and my thumb. In the right hand I’m playing the C chord and the first version, E, G, C. And then I’m going up to the F, A , C, and then the F chord. Then I’m going to achieve chord by keeping C on top. Watch. You can do that up here. If you don’t like it there.

Let’s do that as an introduction and I’ll do it at the ending too. Watch. And you can aim like that. Of course it’s a very short piece, so you could play, change keys. You can play it in D flat and D and just keep moving up by half steps if you wanted to.

Okay, there is some ideas on Angels from the Realms of Glory. We’ll see you tomorrow with some more ideas on a different Christmas carols. Thank you. Bye-bye for now.

Here is the story of the carol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_from_the_Realms_of_Glory

Here is the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BVXocvzdRg
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