Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

Solo Piano Arrangement By Thomas Gunther

Here you can get the sheet-music and see Thomas Gunther perform his Solo Piano Arrangement of SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN

"Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is another one of my favorite Christmas songs. For some reason I love playing it in a bluesy style, with some jazz voicings. The bridge is more in stride piano style.

Get the sheet music at Sheet Music Direct or Sheet Music Plus 

About The Arrangement

The arrangement incorporates various stylistic elements commonly found in traditional popular piano music. It has a bluesy vibe while also showcasing elements of jazz and stride piano.
In terms of structure, I expanded the piece by adding an introduction that returns between sections as an interlude. Additionally, there is an outro.

About The Sheet Music

The sheet music is the exact transcription of my recording. (You can listen to it and see me perform in the video below.)

The sheet music contains jazz chord symbols and plentiful of articulations as well as some dynamic markings. 

My Arranging Workflow

I have different approaches to creating solo piano arrangements of songs. The one I took here is as follows: First, I come up with different ideas, try them out, and after a while, settle on those I like best. Once I practice and internalize those ideas, I press record and hope for the best. Before the final version is done, I record myself many times over. This gives me the opportunity to improve upon each version until I have one that I feel comfortable with.

Recommendations For Learning The Song

I recommend that you first listen to my performance while reading along with the sheet music. This way, you will get a better understanding of the phrasing and rhythmic feel.

You may want to vamp a few bars to get into the groove. When that feels good, move on to different sections.

The bridge has a different feel because it is based on stride piano rather than blues. Stride piano features big jumps in the left hand and big intervals between the outer notes (up to a 10th). If you have difficulty playing those big intervals (smaller hands will make this hard), you may roll the notes and use the sustain pedal.

Is This Arrangement For You?

This solo piano arrangement is for every pianist who would like to try playing Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town in a more bluesy-jazzy style. Dependent on what your specialty is musically speaking, you made benefit from it in different ways. Here are some examples.

Classical Pianists

If you are a classical pianist who rarely listens to jazz and blues music, this arrangement might be a great way to dip your feed into more contemporary genres and styles like blues and jazz. This said, it might be quite challenging. Not from a technical point of view, but from a musical point of view. For example, swung eighth notes and accents and phrasing in blues and jazz are somewhat contrary to classical music. It's gonna be a great learning experience for sure!

Jazz Pianists

If you are a jazz or blues musician, you may not necessarily want to play the arrangement as written note for note. Instead, you might fall in love with some of my ideas and create your own arrangement based on those.
This goes especially for the solo section. You can play my solo or use it as inspiration for your solo. Of course, experienced blues and jazz musicians will prefer to create their own solos.
I truly hope you have fun playing this arrangement!