Composer: Various
Arranged by Excier J. Rodriguez
Model: A Yuletide Christmas: Ten Christmas Carols For Two Guitars
Instrumentation: 2 guitars
50 one-sided pages
Publisher: Lyre Music Works
Yuletide Christmas: Ten Christmas Carols For Two Guitars
Luther College founded in 1861, in Decorah Iowa - which itself started as a settlement in the 1850s- remains at the center of its community of descendants of Norwegian immigrants who for over a century and a half have erected a bastion of Nordic-American culture expressed through community events like Nordic Fest, through the visual arts, pottery, quilting, religion, and -of course- music. You find everywhere evidence of these cultural connections as you cheer in a homecoming football game for the Norse, or listen to the sublime sounds of their renowned Nordic Choir, with is crystalline and flexible tone following the Northern-European singing traditions cultivated by master conductors of the stature of the late Weston Noble. It is here, at Luther, where people of all over the nation come to enjoy the Christmas at Luther celebrations at the Center for Faith and Life, a church and concert hall in one dressed in modern architecture, with impeccable capacity to project the singing voice only rivaled by the best venues in the world. During my stay at Luther Yuletide was the name given to these musical events celebrating the birth of Jesus and the opening of the Christmas season. These concerts were and still are unforgettable religious experiences in the most pure sense of the word, where performers as well as concertgoers are engulfed by their own humanity wrapped in sound, liturgy, tradition, and faith.
The arrangements in this book of Carols are based on those songs presented during these Holiday celebrations, as an attempt to honor and remember the incredible experiences I had during my short life in my Alma Mater. It is my hope that, as you perform them, you can also experience at least a small sliver of the peaceful joy of a true Luther Yuletide Christmas.
-S.D.G. Excier J. RodrÃguez
Greensleeves
Deck the Halls
The First Noel
Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel
Carol of the Bells
A La Nanita Nana
Angels We Have Heard On High
Carol of the Drum
Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful
Silent Night