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Christmas A to Z / Winter A to Z
Follow along with the lyrics as you listen to the accompaniment with melody guide for Christmas A to Z.
Christmas A to Z is one of 12 songs from the song collection "It's Christmas Time". Donna Rhodenizer has written these songs in a variety of styles and skill levels for singers from ages 5-12+.
Learn more about this fun collection for elementary-aged kids, choirs and solo vocal students.
Purchase print copy from Amazon
Stream or Purchase Christmas A to Z (It's Christmas Time CD) from many streaming sites including:
Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer.
The It's Christmas Time CD (Donna & Andy performance and instrumental) tracks (20) are available for download or physical CD on this website.
Concert presentation
Creating a simple introduction to a song can set up the performance without involving a complicated, dramatic script. Here is a short introductory narration I wrote for Christmas A to Z:
Narrator: I can think of lots of things I like about Christmas. Let’s listen to the next class sing at least 26 things that make Christmas a great time of year.
If there are two speakers, here is another option for introducing Christmas A to Z:
Narrator 1: I was trying to think of things that make Christmas special but I keep losing count.
Narrator 2: Let’s listen to the grade 2s. They have organized the whole Christmas season into 26 easy to remember sections.
Visual Cue – flip book
To help students remember the lyrics for the long list of items in Christmas A to Z, create a flip book. It is easy to manage and a great way to provide the visual cues the students may need.
- Create a page for each letter
- Use card stock to create a more stable book. Note: Laminating may make the image shiny and difficult to see.
- Add a simple image for each letter. Be sure that the image can be easily identified from where your students will be standing
- Fasten the pages at the top with binder rings so the pages will flip up and over and out of the way.
- Hold the flip book in front of you so the students can see it but it isn’t in view of the audience.
An alternate option to the flip book is to create individual cards that are not fastened together. Hold all the cards and remove the top image, placing it out of the way on a music stand, stool or other nearby surface.
Expressive singing
Combining classes is a great way to increase the volume of the performers without requesting that they “sing louder”. Young singers have smaller voices and less ability to project their sound, so a combined group helps address this issue without straining young voices.
If remembering the lyrics is an issue, when combining classes or a small group class in a vocal studio, divide the verses up so there are small groups of students who are responsible for specific letters. Be careful not to create groups that are so small that the volume issue mentioned above becomes problematic.
If a microphone is being used be sure to practice with the students before the concert. They need to know that the microphone is going to do the work of amplifying their voice. They also need to know how close to be to the microphone and get used to using it to allow them to give their best performance.
Alternate lyrics
This song has both Christmas and winter lyrics for versatile concert programming.
Student ukulele lead sheet
A lead sheet with simplified chords (only using D, G and A) is provided for use with ukulele players. NOTE: The simplified chords will clash with the more complicated chords played in the recorded accompaniments. If using piano and ukuleles, the accompanist is advised to follow the ukulele lead sheet and use the same chords supplied in the student version.
Props
Represent each letter on a card or use a letter-shaped cutout.
When each letter is sung, have a student hold up the corresponding card.
If there are more than 26 students, they can hold up cards with pictures of some of the items or include more than one card for each letter.
Christmas A to Z / Winter A to Z
List songs can be hard to remember unless there is an organizational framework. The alphabet makes a pretty good foundation! I created the words for this song for my students for a school Christmas concert. It was fun to think of all the things that make Christmas special and include those things in the song. I thought the alphabet would help them remember the words, but there were a lot of things! I created a flip book with pictures for each letter which I held up so they could see what to sing for each letter. It turned out to be a fun song (with our helpful lyrics visuals) and it was a successful performance.
In later years, our school Christmas concerts changed and more winter elements were added. This accommodated students who didn’t celebrate Christmas, but who were happy to sing winter songs as part of our concert. The alternate winter lyrics also meant the song could be used any time in our Canadian winter when we wanted to celebrate the winter season. I love versatility and songs that can be used for multiple things. This song filled the repertoire search for a variety of performances using different lyrics to suit each occasion.
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