Book Review: The Christmas Caroling Songbook

It's that time of year again when you scramble to remember Christmas songs that you haven't played in 330+ days.  It could be said that the mark of a great book-or anything for that matter-is that you buy it a second time when you lose it.  That's exactly what I've done with Hal Leonard's The Christmas Caroling Songbook. 

Don't be put-off by the word "caroling."  Yes, there are lyrics, but I've found this collection to be the best Christmas fake-book out there.  Most fake-books fail in a number of categories.  Often they are inadequate in the selection of tunes.  They either over simplify the chords or they over-arrange each song so much that they become nearly unrecognizable, e.g., Jamey Aebersold's Jazzy Christmas Play-A-Long.

Anyone that uses the word "Jazzy" is instantly on my short list of people with whom I don't want to play or talk about music.

As you can see from Amazon's preview of The Christmas Caroling Songbook below, there is a clean, easy to read melody with enough harmony to get the job done and enough room for ad-libbing.  The 72 songs are the ones you think of most around Christmas time.  And the size is perfect.  It's big enough to read, but still inconspicuous. 

 

 

 

The last and perhaps most important selling point is the price.  Most places on and offline retail this book for about $10.  If there is a downside, it's that the small binding is a little stiff.  A quick trip to Kinko's for spiral binding should do the trick.  Also, I occasionally think of a tune that's not in the book.  So, it's not exhaustive. 

If Hal Leonard produced a collection of Christmas songs that is similar in style and content quality, but included perhaps 200 songs and came spirally bound for $20, I think we would have a slam dunk.  As is, The Christmas Caroling Songbook is an indispensable part of my Christmas season tool kit.