about this post
In this post, you’ll find
- my video performance (hand view with sheet music)
- links to the sheet music for my solo piano arrangement
- important practice tips
About the song Santa Baby
Vocalist Eartha Kitt made “Santa Baby” famous. Her version is heavily infused with a bluesy vibe, which inspired me to arrange it in a classic blues piano style.
About the Sheet Music and Arrangement Of "Santa Baby"
You can purchase the beautifully written sheet music at “Sheet Music Direct”.
The sheet music is comprehensive and includes fingering suggestions and pop chord symbols. You can also see it in my performance video.
I’ve added a fully notated solo passage that is inspired by classic blues and boogie-woogie piano solos.
For whom this arrangement was written for
I wrote this arrangement for intermediate-level pianists who enjoy playing swing and blues piano in the tradition of the great blues and swing musicians.
I paid great attention to detail when notating the music. However, following notation conventions, I wrote the swinging eighth notes as straight eighths.
Practice Tips for how to learn the arrangement
Blues and swing music is all about the feel. For this reason, the best thing you can do is listen to this type of music a lot. The good news is that you can listen to me performing the sheet music.
Practice tip: Before you practice any part of my arrangement, make sure you listen closely to my phrasing. In addition, you may go back to the original big band recording and listen to their phrasing as well.
The solo passage I composed is full of classic blues licks. Memorizing them can be very beneficial if you are interested in creating your own unique improvisations down the road. Improvisers have a vast repertory of small musical ideas, such as blues licks, especially in blues and jazz.
Pianists with little experience reading and playing music in a swing feel may initially find it challenging to interpret swung eighth notes. For this reason, I have included two highly effective exercises in my performance video of "Santa Baby," which you can view starting four minutes into the video.
Tip: If you're interested in improving your swing feel and reading swing music, my post, "Swing Feel Exercises for Pianists," offers free exercises with sheet music (including those featured in my Santa Baby video).
In traditional blues and swing music, the left hand is extremely important. It takes the part of the rhythm section all by itself. Just playing with your left hand can make people dance when done correctly. In blues music, the left hand often follows a repetitive pattern that adapts to the chord changes. This is also the case in my Santa baby arrangement.
Practice tip: Put on a metronome and interpret each beat as beats 2 and 4. Then, play only the left hand until it really grooves. Begin with only playing the first two bars of my Santa Baby arrangement.
The right hand can perform several different functions. For example, when not playing the melody, it may create syncopated counter-rhythms to complement the left hand, adding drive and interest. The right hand also plays blues licks based on the famous blues scale during improvisation.
Practice tip: Pick one lick from my Santa Baby arrangement and practice it until it sounds good without the left hand first. Only then, add the left hand. I suggest you work your way through the arrangement this way rather than trying to sightread it from start to finish.