It’s group lesson week in my studio… our last group week before Christmas! A couple of my groups have been working on chord analysis skills this semester, and so this month I thought it would be fun for us to do a little Christmas-themed review. Many familiar Christmas carols can be played with only a few simple diatonic chords, so they’re perfect for analysis exercises!
You’ll find these two new chord analysis worksheets on the Theory Sheets page:
"O Christmas Tree" Analysis Worksheet
"Deck the Halls" Analysis Worksheet
The O Christmas Tree worksheet asks students to spell and identify I, IV, V and V7 chords in the key of D Major. Deck the Halls requires students to spell and identify I, IV, V, V7, ii and vi chords in B-flat Major.
Wow, great idea! I can’t wait to try this out with my students. Any chance you’d consider making more of these with non-Christmas tunes? This is a great worksheet idea for year-round!
Thanks, Joy! I probably will be doing some more of these this spring – I’ve got several students who will be doing analysis like this on annual theory exams in March. It’s on my to-do list for Christmas break!!
Great idea to use songs which are already familiar and well-liked to sneak in some theory. Being able to quickly analyze chords at sight makes such a big difference when it comes to sight-readings, and also with memorization. Thanks for taking the time to create this resource for us!
- Luke Bartolomeo
- Repertoire Review, a weekly podcast featuring music for intermediate level piano students.