Songs in this list include brand new selections like Winter Snow by Chris Tomlin as well as holiday sheet music favorites like Mary, Did You Know?. For your convenience, we’ve listed the song titles in alphabetical order so you can easily skim through this list of contemporary Christian Christmas songs. Which of these songs do you enjoy listening to? Have you learned to play or sing any of the songs in our list?

1. A Cradle Prayer by Rebecca St. James

2. A Prayer For Every Year by Plus One

3. A Strange Way to Save the World by Rob Blaney

4. All is Well by Michael W. Smith

5. All My Heart Rejoices by Steve Green

6. Angels We Have Heard on High by Point of Grace, Chris Tomlin and many more!

7. Be It Unto Me by Craig & Dean Phillips

8. Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song) by Amy Grant

9. Celebrate the Child by Michael Card

10. Child of Bethlehem by Wayne Watson

11. Child of Peace by Sandi Patty

12. Christmas Day by Michael W. Smith

13. Christmas is in the Heart by Steven Curtis Chapman

14. Christmas to Remember by Amy Grant

15. Emmanuel, God With Us by Amy Grant

16. Gloria by Michael W. Smith

17. Medley of Go, Tell It on the Mountain / Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee / Ain’t-a That Good News by BarlowGirl

18. Going Home for Christmas by Steven Curtis Chapman

19. Good News by Kathy Mattea

20. Hallelujah (Light Has Come by BarlowGirl

21. Happy Birthday, Jesus by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

22. I Celebrate the Day by Relient K

23. Immanuel by Michael Card

24. It’s the Thought by Twila Paris

25. Jesus is Born by Steve Green

26. Joseph’s Song by Michael Card

27. Joy (To the World) by Avalon

28. Little Town by Amy Grant, Point of Grace

29. Mary, Did you Know? by Kathy Mattea and several others

30. No Eye Had Seen by Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant

31. Not That Far From Bethlehem by Point of Grace

32. O Come, O Come Emmanuel by BarlowGirl, Steven Curtis Chapman and more!

33. One King by Point of Grace

34. One Small Child by David Meece

35. Precious Promise by Steven Curtis Chapman

36. Rose of Bethlehem by Steve Green

37. Sing Mary Sing by Jennifer Knapp

38. Still Her Little Child by Ray Boltz

39. Sweet Little Jesus Boy by Rebecca St. James

40. Tennessee Christmas by Point of Grace

41. The Christmas Hope by NewSong

42. The Christmas Shoes by NewSong

43. The Last Christmas Without You by Sixpence None the Richer

44. The Night That Christ Was Born by Kirk Franklin

45. This Baby by Steven Curtis Chapman

46. This Gift by Point of Grace

47. This Little Child by Scott Wesley Brown

48. To the Mystery by Michael Card

49. Unto Us (Isaiah 9) by Sandi Patty

50. Winter Snow by Chris Tomlin

For more ideas about songs to play for the holidays, be sure to visit our Christmas sheet music page.

This year, Musicnotes.com is pleased to present you with a broader selection of arrangements for Christmas songs that you can sing along to. We have quite a few Singer Pro arrangements of Christmas songs that you can browse through like this popular medley of Carol of the Bells and Sing We Now of Christmas by BarlowGirl.

For those of you in a choir, we’ve added several new choral arrangements of Christmas sheet music and will have more on the way. Choose from traditional Christmas carols like the Hallelujah Chorus or popular holiday songs like Believe by Josh Groban in a choral arrangement.

If you’re looking for more traditional Christmas carols or Christmas solos for vocalists, we have hundreds of songs to choose from. Our broad selection of Christmas sheet music for vocalists highlights several music styles including hymns, traditional carols, contemporary holiday songs and more!

This year, let your voice ring clear and pick a song that’s right for you. Choose from songs like:

• Santa Baby
• Happy Holiday
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• Toyland
• The Christmas Song
• Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
• I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

For more holiday songs, be sure to visit our Christmas sheet music page. Be sure to read our post about Deciphering Singer Pro Sheet Music and Finding Your Vocal Range if you have any questions about how to find the song that’s right for you.

So what are you waiting for? Find your favorite holiday song and sing, sing, sing!!!

We came up with twenty piano solos that we think are pretty scary. Many of these are by your favorite classical sheet music composers including Ludwig Van Beethoven, Edvard Grieg and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

When we were looking into our collection of sheet music for these scary piano solos, we realized that many of these compositions are in minor keys. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, for example, is extremely scary when played on the organ.

The complexity of the arrangements we have listed here ranges from easy piano to advanced. Which of these scary piano solos have you played? Which do you want to learn how to play?

• Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J.S. Bach Digital sheet music
• Danse Macabre by C. Saint-Saens Digital sheet music
• Hungarian Dance No. 5 by J. Brahms Digital sheet music
• William Tell Overture by G. Rossini Digital sheet music
• Totentanz by F. Listz Sheet music book
• Funeral March (for French Horn and Piano) by E. Grieg Sheet music book
• Lacrymosa (from Requiem) by W. Mozart Digital sheet music
• Sonata No 17 in D Minor, Op 31, No 2 (Tempest) by L.V. Beethoven Sheet music book
• Pictures at an Exhibition by M.P. Mussorgsky Sheet music book
• Piano Sonata No. 1 Op. 22 by A. Ginastera Sheet music book
• Opus 31, Prelude No. 8 by C.V. Alkan Sheet music book
• The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 by S. Rachmaninoff Sheet music book
• Sonata No. 9 by A.N. Scriabin Sheet music book
• Funeral March of a Marionette by C.F. Gounod Digital sheet music
• Theme Song from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by P. Dukas Digital sheet music
• Sonata in C Minor Pathetique by L.V. Beethoven Digital sheet music
• Moonlight Sonata 1. Adagio Sostenuto by L.V. Beethoven Digital Sheet Music
• In the Hall of the Mountain King by E. Grieg Digital Sheet Music
• Symphony No 5 by L.V. Beethoven Digital sheet music
• Shadow Dance Op. 39, No. 8 by E.A. Macdowell Digital sheet music

With music and lyrics written by Joss Whedon, the songs offer a range of styles from jazz to rock to Broadway. Now, you can download digital sheet music for Once More With Feeling. Here are some of the more memorable songs from this popular episode:

• I’ll Never Tell which was sung by Xander and Anya
• Going Through the Motions was sung by Buffy, but was also sung as a reprise.
• Rest In Peace was sung by the vampire Spike to Buffy.
• Under Your Spell was sung by Tara to Willow
• Standing was sung by Giles
• Walk Through the Fire was sung by the cast from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

In addition to songs from this musical episode, we also have more sheet music from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, including the theme song.

Hit Songs from Your Song Requests

We are pleased to announce that we’ve added these brand new songs straight from your song requests from some wonderful performers!

• Fallin’ for You by Colbie Caillat
• Doesn’t Mean Anything by Alicia Keys
• Cowboy Casanova by Carrie Underwood
• Wild Horses by Susan Boyle
• Winter Snow by Chris Tomlin
• Bridal March by Jonathan Cain
• Happy by Leona Lewis
• Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z with Alicia Keys

Stay tuned for more news about your song requests and Christmas sheet music. We’ve heard that some of you are already practicing Christmas carols, and we want to ensure that we get you the sheet music you need to sing or play for this year’s holiday season!

ONE WEEK LEFT! Take $1.00 Off Your Next Digital Music Purchase

Isn’t it amazing how spooky a piano can be? Songwriters have been composing piano sheet music for everything from creepy TV shows to somber classical music. There are quite a few movies with eerie theme songs like Tubular Bells from THE EXORCIST or the Main Theme from John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN.

There are also quite a few songs that weren’t initially written to be used in scary movies, but were used to highlight different scenes. ZOMBIELAND is one example of a film that uses several existing songs. (If you’re interested, we have quite a bit of ZOMBIELAND sheet music that you can look through.) In ZOMBIELAND’s case, the music is a combination of an original score and existing songs. That phenomenon actually happens more often than you might think, which is why multiple soundtracks for a film might be released. If you ever want to find out what songs have been used in your favorite movie, you might want to check the Internet Movie DataBase (IMDb) for fun film facts and song information, if it’s available. You might be surprised to see what types of classical pieces or popular songs have been used in the background.

Music in slasher films or darker movies can be pretty challenging for songwriters to write, because the melody has to help set the tone for the movie or contribute to the mood. For example, the Theme Song from EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, which was composed by Danny Elfman, immediately gave the film an almost gothic, dark fairytale feel. On the other hand, the song Coconut used in PRACTICAL MAGIC ended up being part of the story.

Here at Musicnotes, one of the most popular collection of movie songs, is the sheet music from NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Of course, CORPSE BRIDE is pretty popular, too, but Jack Skellington continues to be an annual Halloween favorite for many of you.

For other interesting films, we recommend taking a peek at this selection of sheet music from Halloween movies and TV shows:

• Beetlejuice
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
• John Carpenter’s Halloween
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• New Moon
• Shaun of the Dead
• Interview With A Vampire
• Friday the 13th
• Psycho

Be sure to check out our Halloween sheet music page for more song suggestions including sheet music perfect for kids, too!

SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a Broadway show that first appeared on stage in the late 1970s. Based on a character from the Penny Dreadful serial novel from the mid-1860s, this spooky barber cut more than his client’s hair. Assisted by Mrs. Lovett who bakes his victims into her pies, this is definitely one of the creepier shows ever to hit the stage on Broadway. Songs include Green Finch and Linnet Bird, Not While I’m Around and The Worst Pies in London.

Man-eating plants from outer space, frightening dentists and big hair run amok in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. The show has a little bit of a “B”-movie feel to it. A popular show for a lot of kids, songs include Suddenly, Seymour, Somewhere That’s Green and Feed Me.

Both PHANTOM and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA were inspired by the 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra written by Gaston Leroux. The story of a disfigured man-in-the-shadows who falls in love with a beautiful girl named Christine may be part romance, but it’s also a terrifying and tragic story, too. Over the years, the phantom’s signature mask has inspired many Halloween costumes. The new PHANTOM is more like the original novel than the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, but both offer memorable and haunting songs like Think of Me and Home.

Other Broadway shows perfect for Halloween include WICKED, JEKYLL AND HYDE, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

New Moon Sheet Music New Releases!

This week, we’ve added two classical pieces from the brand new NEW MOON soundtrack. Both of these songs are part of the bonus track on the CD, and sheet music is available for instant download.

• Die Fledermaus — Duettino: Ach, ich darf nicht hin zu dir performed by APM Orchestra
• Wandrers Nachtlied II, Op. 96, No. 3, D.768 performed by Ulf Bastlein

Be sure to watch Musicnotes.com for more updates about upcoming sheet music for New Moon.

Join Your Fellow Music Lovers on Facebook!

Have you visited Musicnotes on Facebook? We have been having a lot of fun on our Facebook page. Many of you have chimed in and offered us feedback or enjoyed our Facebook-specific contests. When you become a fan of us on Facebook, we’ll offer you some sneak previews that will show up in your updates.

Thank you so much for sharing your love of music! We hope you continue playing and practicing your favorite songs!

And if you’re on Facebook…we’ll see you there!

Trick or Treat! Take $1.00 Off Your Next Digital Music Purchase

One song you might be interested in reading more about is our post about the Monster Mash song history. Monster Mash is one of several songs featured on our Halloween sheet music page, and it’s also one of the Top 25 Best-Selling Halloween Songs from 2007, too.

From Harry Potter sheet music to Creepy Theme Songs from Old TV Shows, we have a huge selection of Halloween sheet music for you to enjoy.

Check out these brand new creepy songs from some of your favorite Halloween movies!

• The Haunted House from John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN
• Halloween 1963 from John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN
• Ave Satani from THE OMEN
• Theme Song from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
• Theme Song from FRIDAY THE 13th (1980)

Also new to Musicnotes.com is our broad selection of Twilight sheet music, too!

25 Top-Selling Halloween Songs from 2008

Still not sure what you might want to play or sing for Halloween? We’d like to share with you the twenty-five most popular Halloween songs from last year. This list of songs represents the best-selling sheets from our site. There are some interesting songs in this list, many of which come from movies like THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

If you’re looking for a great way to save money, we’d also like to point out that two of our Halloween sheet music collections are really popular. First, there’s the complete collection of sheet music from Tim Burton’s THE NIGHMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, which offers all of your favorite songs from the movie. Next, our collection of Songs for a Spooky Halloween offers you a broad selection of nine Halloween songs for you to enjoy.

Here are the twenty-five most popular songs from last year. Are there any Halloween songs on this list that you love to play?

1. Main Theme from HALLOWEEN
2. This Is Halloween from A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
3. Sally’s Song from A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
4. Monster Mash
5. What’s This? from A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
6. Witch Doctor
7. Jack’s Lament from A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
8. Halloween 1978 from HALLOWEEN
9. Purple People Eater
10. Teddy Bears’ Pinic – Halloween Version
11. Theme Song from THE ADDAMS FAMILY
12. Tears To Shed from CORPSE BRIDE
13. Theme Song from TALES FROM THE CRYPT
14. Oogie Boogie’s Song from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
15. The Great Pumpkin Waltz from PEANUTS
16. Moon Dance from CORPSE BRIDE
17. Mysterious March
18. Bat Dance
19. Frankenstein’s Footsteps
20. Midnight Rendezvous (Halloween)
21. Theme Song from THE MUNSTERS
22. It’s a Monster’s Holiday
23. II The City from PSYCHO
24. Somethin’ In the Swamp
25. V The Cellar from PSYCHO

At the heart of this story is a retired doctor named Dr. Sam, who leads the group “Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Blues Band,” specializing in entertaining and humorous songs for the health care industry. In 2002, Dr. Sam was leaving an airport parking structure in Florida and handed his money to an older gentleman who worked as the parking attendant. The attendant muttered, “Gee, I took two bullets for this country and look what I’m doing.” Dr. Sam thanked him for his service, and the veteran started to cry. Shaken up by the experience, Dr. Sam drove home and wrote the lyrics to “Before You Go.” For three years, Dr. Sam searched for someone to set his powerful lyrics to music but couldn’t get anyone interested. As luck would have it, lifelong musician John Melnick joined Dr. Sam’s band in 2005. When Dr. Sam asked John whether or not he’d be interested, John had no idea how powerful this song would become. Two weeks after John sat down with Dr. Sam and the lyrics, “Before You Go” was finally finished.

You can listen to the song “Before You Go” here: http://www.beforeyougo.us/

After the song was finished, Dr. Sam put together a pictorial to illustrate the song’s lyrics and emailed the link to about a hundred friends and family. The effect of that one, single email was phenomenal. What started out as a few visits a day to http://www.beforeyougo.us snowballed into an average of sixty thousand daily visitors who have all listened to the song for free.

Performed in the House of Representatives for Flag Day in 2006, this single song of gratitude has touched people so deeply that they’ve sent letters, emails and responses to Dr. Sam and John. For John, this song has a tremendous connection for him because he grew up in the Vietnam era near Long Island, where the community was specifically built for the GIs that returned home from WWII. John expresses that, “My parents grew up in that period of time and this song is a way of honoring their generation.” John also shared with us a chilling reminder: the soldiers who served in World War II didn’t know what the outcome of the war was going to be. Although history books describe the winners of wars around the world, many of the men and women who served their duty were simply lucky to survive.

Although Dr. Sam and John could have capitalized on the song, they’ve decided to offer it for free because it’s the “right thing to do.” The message of honoring the soldiers and their sacrifices is so powerful to them, that they’ve allowed you to create your own pictorial set to the music on their website. In addition to their original video for WWII and Korean War veterans, they’ve also created a pictorial for soldiers who’ve served in Vietnam as well.

We also took a moment to ask John if there were any stories that stood out in his mind. Although every story is meaningful to him, there are a few stories that still cause him to pause and reflect, no matter what he is doing at the time. One letter he received was from a set of twin brothers; one lives in Colorado and the other in Arizona. These brothers were only nine years old when they were rescued from Auschwitz, where they were lost their parents. When Auschwitz was liberated, they were taken by a company of American soldiers who kept them with them for two months until they returned to safety. Although they grew up as Americans and are prosperous and happy now, the twins expressed that they owed their lives to the American soldiers who went above and beyond the call of duty to protect them. John concluded his story by saying, “It’s enough to say ‘Thank You’ as many times as possible before the soldiers leave this earth. Whether we agree with our country’s policy or not, they sacrifice our lives to protect us.”

John and Dr. Sam are still performing together today, and the popularity of their song still amazes them. Musicnotes.com would like to express our deepest thanks to both John and Dr. Sam for allowing us to get the story behind this song and feature it for Memorial Day. We hope you have the chance to listen to or play sheet music for Before You Go to say “Thank You” to a veteran or a soldier today.

First celebrated in the early 1970s, Earth Day offers everyone the chance to learn a little bit about what’s going on with the environment around them. The EPA site offers a history of Earth Day where you can read facts about how this holiday has evolved.

Here at Musicnotes.com, we celebrate Earth Day almost every day. If you haven’t downloaded sheet music from us before, you might not know that you’re doing your part for the environment by engaging in a “green” shopping experience. After your purchase, you could print out your sheet music on recycled paper, play a Guitar Guru session right from your computer, or order a biodegradable gift card!

If you have a music student in your home, you might be surprised to learn that many schools now are offering music-related classroom education for Earth Day. This songbook and accompanying CD for “Earthchild (Songs, Movement and Activities That Celebrate Our Environment)” is one example of a songbook, but there are others. The sheet music for Schoolhouse Rock includes the song Electricity. Scored as a choral ensemble, this is a “one-of-a-kind collection that offers earth-smart songs and corresponding movement activities, nature projects for the classroom and community, literature links to classical poems of childhood and reproducible songsheets … all under one cover!”

EARTH DAY COUPON – For digital sheet music suggestions, why not check out our list of song titles related to nature and the environment below? Then use our coupon just in time for Earth Day, it’s good through April 26, 2009. Just type in MNEARTH as your coupon code at checkout to take 15% off your digital sheet music order. While it’s not valid on sheet music collections, you can take 15% off of guitar tab and Guitar Guru sessions, too!

Songs About Nature & Environment for Earth Day

Here is our list of songs perfect for Earth Day from artists like John Denver, Duran Duran and Tom Jones! These songs were either written with the environment in mind or use an aspect of nature as the main theme. The “by” reference relates to a singer or musician who has performed the song.

• The Three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) by Jack Johnson
• Green, Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones
• Earth Song by Michael Jackson
• What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
• This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
• And The Green Grass Grows All Around by Traditional
• Down to Earth from Wall-E by Peter Gabriel
• Moondance by Van Morrison
• Garden Song by John Denver
• Sunshine On My Shoulders by John Denver
• Mother Earth by Neil Young and Crazy Horse
• The Flower That Shattered The Stone by John Denver
• Emergency on Planet Earth by Jamiroquai
• Planet Earth by Duran Duran
• Edelweiss from The Sound of Music
• Moon River by Henry Mancini
• Wildwood Flower by The Carter Family
• Where Have All The Flowers Gone? by The Kingston Trio
• ‘Cross The Green Mountain by Bob Dylan
• Planet Earth by Prince
• Red River Valley by Traditional
• Over the River and Through the Woods by Traditional
• River Flows In You by Yiruma
• Where The River Shannon Flows by James I. Russell
• Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller
• Mother Earth, Sister Moon by Carol Klose
• Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven

Hope you’ve enjoyed our list of songs inspired by nature, feel free to add your Earth Day song favorites in the comments below!

We invite you to check out our Easter sheet music selection, and are happy to announce that we have more new songs on the way!

If you can’t find the song you’re looking for on that page, feel free to search for it on Musicnotes.com. We add hundreds of new songs each week, so don’t be afraid to check back with us for all your sheet music needs!

Guitar Guru Coupon in Honor of our New Store!

In honor of our brand new Guitar Guru Sessions store page, we’re offering all you guitar lovers out there an exclusive two-week coupon. We’ve already given away free gift certificates through our @guitar_guru Twitter account. We’re so excited by all the great feedback we’ve received that we want to share the love with you! Here are the Guitar Guru coupon details:

Use coupon code GGUSAVE5 to save $5 on your next Guitar Guru purchase of $20 or more. Coupon expires Saturday, April 11th at midnight. One coupon per person.

Don’t forget, every month we give away a free Guitar Guru session on our free sheet music page! If you’re looking for some Guitar Guru session ideas, visit your list of favorites from previous years. We recommend browsing through your Top Guitar Guru Sessions from 2008 or even your Top Guitar Guru Sessions from 2007.

Hope you take advantage of this great coupon, and stay tuned for more updates about Guitar Guru!

Here’s our February YouPerform Contest Winner!

The voting ended and you declared Jon the winner of our Musicnotes.com YouPerform contest. We asked Jon a few questions that we’d like to share with you now. After you read his answers, be sure to watch his award-winning video! Jon performed Sonata in C Minor “Pathétique” II. Adagio Cantabile by Beethoven.

Also, we were able to get a hold of our January YouPerform contestant, and because he was the only entrant in our contest, he won! Here’s a link to our January Musicnotes.com YouPerform contest on YouTube!.

MUSICNOTES: How long have you been playing piano?

JON, Contest Winner: Eight years

MUSICNOTES:: Of all the Musicnotes Editions we offer, why did you pick this song?

JON, Contest Winner: I picked this song because of its simplistic sound but still
beautiful effect.

MUSICNOTES: If you had any advice for future contestants, what would it be?

JON, Contest Winner: Play something that you love and are motivated to master, something that is a joy for you to play.

MUSICNOTES: What are your plans for your musical future?

JON, Contest Winner: Music will continue to be a hobby and release in my future, but not
a career.

MUSICNOTES: Is Beethoven your favorite classical composer?

JON, Contest Winner: Alongside Chopin and Debussy, Beethoven ranks among my favorite
classical composers.

Don’t forget, next week we’ll open up new voting for the March Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest, and based on the entries we received we will definitely need your help! As always, if you have any questions about the contest feel free to comment on the blog or shoot us an email to musiclovers AT musicnotes DOT com.

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