I love Christmas piano books! But there’s so much Christmas sheet music out there, it can be hard to know where to start.
I’m around grade 5 piano and I find that when it comes to Christmas music, it’s best to have something that’s not too difficult for you. Grade 4 Christmas piano songs would probably be the most reasonable for me and maybe working at one grade 5 pieces with the limited time I have to practice. I also love relearning the songs that I played the previous year!
I’ve got a big list of Christmas songs I’d love to play, bit I will have to limit myself to just a couple.
I do have a few Christmas piano books now and wanted to put together a list of the best Christmas books for the piano that I’ve found.
It’s never too late to play Christmas Piano
I adore It’s never too late to play Christmas by Pam Wedgwood. I always recommend it. It’s probably about a grade 3. It’s got popular Christmas songs in and is arranged in a way that it’s simple to play but sounds lovely. There’s a lot of repetition in the left hand with broken cords to make it easy while making it sound harder than it actually is!
Even if you are more advanced, I’d still recommend this Christmas piano book to grab and use for sight-reading or a bit of mindless playing for fun.
Contents
- Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Cahn/Styne)
- We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Traditional)
- Past Three O’Clock (Traditional)
- In Dulci Jubilo (Traditional)
- White Christmas (Berlin)
- Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant (Traditional)
- Coventry Carol Traditional)
- Ding, Dong Merrily On High (Arbeau)
- Walking In The Air (Blake)
- In The Bleak Midwinter (Holst)
- Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (Coots/Gillespie)
- Quem Pastores Laudavere (Traditional)
- Christmas Song (Wells/Torme)
- The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy (Spiritual)
- Adeste Fideles (O Come, All Ye Faithful)
- Silent Night (Gruber)
- Winter Wonderland (Duet) (Smith/Bernard)
The Faber Music Christmas Piano Anthology
This book is harder than It’s never too late to play Christmas. It’s for grade 4 and above. But I’d say a lot is above. A lot of the songs are longer, too. It is a brilliant book though and has so many great songs in! I loved playing ‘Away in a manger and ‘o holy night’ last year from it!
Contents
- 1. A Holly Jolly Christmas
- 2. A Marshmallow World
- 3. A Winter’s Tale
- 4. All I Want For Christmas Is You
- 5. All Through the Night
- 6. Auld lang Syne
- 7. Away in A Manger
- 8. Bethlehem Down
- 9. Carol of the Bells
- 10. Coventry Carol
- 11. December Prayer
- 12. December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)
- 13. Deck the Halls
- 14. Ding Dong Merrily on High
- 15. Do They Know It’s Christmas?
- 16. (Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man With The Bag
- 17. Frosty the Snowman
- 18. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
- 19. Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah)
- 20. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
- 21. Have yourself a merry little Christmas
- 22. Holy, Holy, Holy
- 23. I Am Blessed
- 24. I saw three ships
- 25. I’ll Be Home For Christmas
- 26. I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
- 27. In the bleak midwinter
- 28. It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
- 29. It’s Christmas Time All Over The World
- 30. Jingle Bell Rock
- 31. Jingle bells
- 32. Joy to the world
- 33. Last christmas
- 34. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
- 35. Little Donkey
- 36. Merry Xmas Everybody
- 37. Mistletoe And Wine
- 38. O Christmas tree
- 39. O Come O Come Emmanuel
- 40. O come, all ye faithful
- 41. O holy night
- 42. O little town of Bethlehem
- 43. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
- 44. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
- 45. Santa Baby
- 46. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
- 47. Silent night
- 48. Sinfonia (from Christmas Oratorio)
- 49. Sleigh ride
- 50. Stop The Cavalry
- 51. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
- 52. The First Noel
- 53. The holly and the ivy
- 54. The Little drummer boy
- 55. The Power of Love
- 56. The Star
- 57. Troika from ‘Lieutenant Kije’
- 58. We Three Kings
- 59. We wish you a merry christmas
- 60. Weihnachtsbaum: Die Hirten an der Krippe (In Dulci Jubilo)
- 61. What a Wonderful World
- 62. What Child is This?
- 63. When a Child Is Born
- 64. While Shepherds Watched
- 65. Winter (from The Four Seasons)
- 66. Winter Wonderland
Really Easy Piano: Bumper Christmas Book
I love the Really Easy Piano series, it’s a great selection of songs that are easy to play. Around grade 2-3 again, with some a bit harder.
Contents
- 1. (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays
- 2. A Spaceman Came Travelling
- 3. A Winter’s Tale
- 4. All I Want For Christmas Is You
- 5. Angels From the Realms of Glory
- 6. Away in A Manger
- 7. Believe In Father Christmas
- 8. Blue Christmas
- 9. Deck the Halls
- 10. Ding dong! Merrily on High
- 11. Fairytale Of New York
- 12. God rest ye Merry, gentlemen
- 13. Good king Wenceslas
- 14. Happy xmas (war is over)
- 15. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
- 16. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
- 17. I saw three ships
- 18. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day
- 19. In the bleak midwinter
- 20. Jingle Bell Rock
- 21. Jingle bells
- 22. Joy to the world
- 23. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
- 24. Lonely This Christmas
- 25. Merry Xmas Everybody
- 26. O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)
- 27. O come, all ye faithful
- 28. O little town of Bethlehem
- 29. Once In Royal David’S City
- 30. Please Come Home For Christmas
- 31. Santa Baby
- 32. Silent night
- 33. Step Into Christmas
- 34. Stop The Cavalry
- 35. The Coventry Carol
- 36. The First Nowell
- 37. The holly and the ivy
- 38. The Twelve Days of Christmas
- 39. Unto Us A Boy Is Born
- 40. We Three Kings of Orient Are
- 41. We wish you a merry christmas
- 42. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
- 43. White Christmas
- 44. Winter Wonderland
- 45. Wonderful Christmastime
Adult Piano Adventures Christmas Book 2
This is a beginners book and good for those that have used the Adult Piano Adventures book and got to Level 2. It has sophisticated-sounding songs that are easy to play.
Contents
- 1. Jesu, Joy Of Man’S Desiring
- 2. Silent night
- 3. We wish you a merry christmas
- 4. Angels We Have Heard on High
- 5. Joy to the world
- 6. O little town of Bethlehem
- 7. What Child is This?
- 8. O holy night
- 9. The First Noël
- 10. The Twelve Days of Christmas
- 11. Away in A Manger
- 12. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
- 13. Auld lang Syne
- 14. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
- 15. God rest ye Merry, gentlemen
- 16. Hallelujah Chorus
- 17. Waltz Of The Flowers
- 18. Coventry Carol
- 19. The Skaters Waltz
- 20. Jingle Bell Boogie
- 21. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
- 22. Sleigh ride
- 23. Frosty The Snow Man
- 24. Have yourself a merry little Christmas
- 25. Jingle Bell Rock
- 26. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
- 27. O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
- 28. Pat-a-pan (Willie, Take Your Little Drum)
- 29. Winter Wonderland
- 30. Ukrainian Bell Carol
The Easiest Tune Book Of Christmas Carols
This book is by far the easiest piano Christmas book out of all the ones I’ve come across. Grade 1 and absolute beginners, this is for you. The songs are a single page and very simple. A great starting point for newbies. They do sound very simple, too so I would only recommend this to someone who is working towards grade 1 or children.
Contents
- 1. A Child This Day Is Born
- 2. As with gladness men of old
- 3. Away in A Manger
- 4. Christmas Bells
- 5. Coventry Carol
- 6. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
- 7. Good christian men, rejoice
- 8. Good king Wenceslas
- 9. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
- 10. I saw three ships
- 11. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
- 12. Little Baby Jesus
- 13. O come, all ye faithful
- 14. Once In Royal David’S City
- 15. See, Amid The Winter’s Snow
- 16. Silent night
- 17. The First Nowell
- 18. The holly and the ivy
- 19. We Three Kings of Orient Are
- 20. While Shepherds Watched
After Hours Christmas Piano Solo
Another one by Pam Wedgwood but this one is much more advanced, around a grade 4 and 5 so make a good next step from ‘It’s never too late to play Christmas’.
Contents
- The Angel Gabriel
- Kirkpatrick: Away In A Manger
- The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy
- Quem Pastores Laudavere
- Classic American Christmas (It Came Upon A Midnight Clear/Away In A Manger)
- In Dulce Jubilo
- I Wonder As I Wander
- God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (Duet)
- Arbeau: Ding! Dong! Merrily On High (Duet)
- Wassailing-By (Duet)
- Looking Back
Buy it here
Christmas Cool Piano Duets
This book of duets by Heather Hammond has some easy arrangements of Christmas songs. I cannot wait to play these in the future with my little boy! I am hoping he will love the piano as much when he is older as he does now!
I’ve not used this but myself yet, but Heather taught me for a year (before I had to stop due to giving birth) and I’ve played lots of her music before so have faith that this is a brilliant book of piano duets for Christmas.
Contents
- 1. Angels From the Realms of Glory
- 2. Frosty the Snowman
- 3. God rest ye Merry, gentlemen
- 4. Good king Wenceslas
- 5. Jingle bells
- 6. Joy to the world
- 7. Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer
- 8. Silent night
- 9. Walking in the Air
- 10. We Three Kings of Orient Are
- 11. We wish you a merry christmas
- 12. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
Hope you enjoyed learning about my favourite Christmas piano books!