Play "In the Bleak Midwinter" Your Way! (PIYW #12, December 2026)

rsl12 · 2026-10-16T18:09:47+00:00

Special Note: For this PIYW, submissions will be posted in Pianotell's Winter Holiday Recital. You can participate in the Holiday Recital either through PIYW (by playing "In the Bleak Midwinter") or you can play any other holiday song. Your choice! PIYW #12: Play "In the Bleak Midwinter" Your Way Play It Your Way is a quasi-monthly event for beginners, professionals, classical, jazz, or pop pianists and everyone in between! This month, we are starting work on "In the Bleak Midwinter" (lyrics by Christina Rossetti (1872), music by Holst (1906) and Darke (1909)). Use the links below to find an arrangement or lead sheet you like, and when you are ready, post your performance in the Pianotell Winter Holiday Recital (which will be created at the beginning of December). Perfection is not expected! Also, be sure to participate in the November Quarterly Recital! Previous PIYWs: PIYW #11: Play "Don't Know Why" Your Way PIYW #10: Play "Last Song" Your Way PIYW #9: Play Chopin's "Wiosna (Spring)" Your Way PIYW #8: Play "How Long Blues" Your Way Thanks to TulipAcid for this month's suggestion! Please suggest pieces for future "Play It Your Way" events by using the suggestion box. The theme of the upcoming PIYW (to be announced in November) is Classical, but feel free to submit good ideas across all genres. (Ideally, the Play It Your Way piece will be playable by many different skill levels, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.) Guidelines This is not a contest! It is meant to be a casual and fun event. A new "Play It Your Way" piece will be announced on the 16th of the following months: Jan, Feb, Apr, May, July, Aug, Oct, Nov. You can use this thread to discuss your preparation of the piece, or anything else related to PIYW. To submit a recording of your performance, go to the submission thread. All PIYW submissions will remain hidden from public view until December 15. However, there is no deadline for when you need to submit your performance. You may submit a recording at any time, including before and after that date. For this special Holiday edition of PIYW, all PIYW submissions will go into the Holiday Recital Thread . In the Bleak Midwinter There are two popular versions of this song: one composed by Gustav Holst (1906)... ...and one composed by Harold Darke (1909). From Wikipedia: "In the Bleak Midwinter" is a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti [in January 1872]. It has been set to music several times. Two settings, those by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, are popular and often sung as Christmas carols. Holst's is a hymn tune called Cranham, published in 1906 in The English Hymnal and simple enough to be sung by a congregation. Darke's is an anthem composed in 1909 and intended for a trained choir; it was named the best Christmas carol in a 2008 poll of leading choirmasters and choral experts. Links to Sheet Music / Lead Sheet You are not limited to only the arrangements linked below. Feel free to find or create your own. You do not have to complete or perfect the piece to submit it, and don't be afraid to simplify or shorten the piece. Improvisation, backing tracks, and backing humans are all allowed. Holst (“Cranham”) Phillip Keveren: He’s one of the most widely played church and holiday piano arrangers. His “classical version” is sold as a Hal Leonard piano solo on Sheet Music Direct. It’s a solid intermediate choice for church or recital. He also has a jazz version. sheetmusicdirect Chilly Gonzales: His piano solo arrangement is sold digitally and rated at a mid-level difficulty of 3. It’s short and moody, and less traditional than the others. stretta-music Len Rhodes: This one is built on the Holst tune but includes a hint of Darke’s setting and some original material, with contemporary jazz piano styling. It’s a good pick if you want both melodies in one piece. sheetmusicdirect Musicnotes Edition (in F): A buyer review says a hotel resident pianist liked it and found it easy to play. It’s a safe, straightforward option. (non-Claude find from Tulip Acid) Dan Chadburn's arrangement is on his award-winning holiday CD and you can listen on youtube. I'd say it's intermediate. Simplest option: The plain hymn harmonization is public domain, so you can play straight from a hymnal at no cost. Darke There are very few true piano solos for Darke’s setting. The ones you’ll find are: John Maul’s arrangement is of the Darke setting. He describes it as staying faithful to Harold Darke’s original, and he wrote it for pianist Jill Morton’s 2020 Musical Advent Calendar series on YouTube. It’s a 5-page solo rated late intermediate. Larry Shackley: His arrangement is listed on Musicnotes under Darke, with a piano version among the scorings. It’s the most substantial piano option I found. (DJC Note: the score says Cranham, which is the Holst tune, but it begins Darke and moves on to Holst/Cranham, so it's a 2 fer!) Claire Summerbell: This is an easy arrangement for late beginner to early intermediate players. Sources: Keveren arr. – Sheet Music Direct Chilly Gonzales arr. – Stretta Len Rhodes arr. – Sheet Music Direct Musicnotes Edition (Holst) Dan Chadburn arr. Sheet Music Plus Darke/Shakley Darke/Summerbell – Sheet Music Direct Darke/Maul — Sheet Music Direct Lead Sheet | (Beginner's Guide to Lead Sheets)

diretonic

ShiroKuro Ok, so far so good. Would you be able to pencil in some expression yourself by checking the score while listening to Ffrench.

diretonic

Nightowl So, do you have perfect pitch (or pretty close to it)? That must be amazing and so useful in a situation like this.

No. I can usually remember the key of a tune I know well, or one that I've recently been playing a lot, but if someone plays a random note when I'm not immersed in any musical activity, it would be a wild guess. I could identify the note by reference to my 'known tune'. I have 'relative' pitch, which is all that's needed to navigate.

ShiroKuro

diretonic expression yourself by checking the score while listening to Ffrench

Here do you mean things like dynamics? Yes, I can do that! Also I can add ties, slurs, phrasing myself.

diretonic

ShiroKuro Great! - that'll take a load off. Back tomorrow...

diretonic

Once I've figured out how to do it and checked the 'rules' I'm thinking of possibly giving my unremarkable YT channel a little boost by putting up a scrolling score of Ffrench's performance of Bleak Midwinter (with Ffrench's audio? I wonder if that's acceptable?). Then again, idleness may scupper the plan...or, odds-on, someone else will beat me too it.

Whatever, I've deleted the jpegs I uploaded yesterday and will keep the score private to foil any potential pilferer tempted to present the work as their own. I've pm'd the score to ShiroKuro and I'm happy to provide a dropbox link to any of our friends here who'd like a pdf of the score, just pop me a pm. Please keep it to yourself!

KevinM

diretonic Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it. I have sent a PM for the score. I doubt I'll have time for it before the next PIYW. But I wanted to make sure I have a copy of the score for the future sometime.

rsl12

I put up an announcement on Reddit:

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