If you want to buy a new set they are $300 as in the past. (I am pretending that the recent inflation surge has not happened.) With 34 arrangements this comes to a price of $8.82 per arrangement.
The changes this year focus on issues I had never put much stock in, but due to my downhill slide to old age, I have ben forced to realize that they are actually quite important. So with that in mind, everything is larger. Many of the arrangements have been re-keyed to lower them by a second or third, one or two by a 4th. This was only partially due to range issues, as my colleagues are all professional orchestra players and can read just about anything I put in front of them. Some of this was due to fatigue issues, Some were due to intonation issues. (Some keys are easier to keep well in tune. Some are easier to improvise in. Stuff like that.) I also realized two things when I increased the staff size. First, everything became very cramped. I had tried very hard to prevent ANY page turns in ANY parts. I tried hard to avoid poorly spaced paged with only a few systems on them, or blank pages to facilitate page turns. (I hate poorly laid out books where these things are normal.) So I expanded most of these to be two-page or four-page parts. The two Leroy Anderson tunes have four-page parts with decent page turns. In Sleigh Ride, I rearranged a few short sections to give players enough rests to allow for a page turn. The other is that after I increased the staff height of everything I was still having issues reading the parts. I realized that all my lines were set to be too fine, so I bumped up the thickness of everything until I looked more like what some of my favorite publishers use. MUCH BETTER! MUCH EASIER TO READ!
Further, I reset all the margins so that these can be spiral bound without the holes cutting into the music, which is another lack-of-planning thing that I detest.
I rearranged sections of many of the tunes, so now everyone has more rests.
Also, there are several new ones, along with a few that are not specifically for Christmas, but that are excellent choices for Christmas or Advent services that will allow you to have a nice offertory or communion tunes that are not about the Secular Trinity of Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty, heh, heh…
So, the TL'DR version is…
These arrangements feature improved readability/playability through:
larger/easier-to-read print
more rests in many tunes
better keys for range, intonation, improv, etc.
decent page turns
yada, yada, yada
The set also includes some new Christmas tunes as well as some very usable service tunes that are not much better than simple SATB hymns and that do not include organ or piano. Note that these are not Christmas music, but pieces that music minister friends of mine have programmed for organ, piano, choir, or orchestra during the Advent season (but these are appropriate service music for any service or a recital).
PM me for my PayPal address. Again, if you know the old password you can have this new set for free. This collection is worth the money. Here is a list of what is included. Your money gets you a password-protected PDF for each separate instrument so you can email them to players and they do not have to fish around to print only their parts. In the past I had people PayPal me and THEN get the link, and this caused some issues because some of you do not read and follow instructions very well, and I received payment from several users who failed to identify themselves to me. I can't send you the link via the TF PM system if you don't PM me. So if you want a copy of these you MUST M me FIRST, then we can set up payment and get you the link.
Thanks.
Two of these are not yet finished and might never be finished. I need to play them first, to make sure they are solid, and that might happen so late as to preclude getting them done in time for Christmas, but I am trying to hurry up. So 32 are good to go, with two almost done.
Merry Christmas, people!
