Away in a manger

The flavour of this arrangement is very “Disney”, with some twists at the ends of verses, and sweeping harmonic shifts. Dynamics are key – especially the slightly unexpected soft ending.

The opening section switches things around from the usual choir/accompanist relationship – the piano has the tune, in single notes, while the choir sings the accompaniment. In the first proper verse, which is mainly unison for the choir, it can be effective to encourage the audience to join in, before the choir go off in unusual directions for the transition into the second verse!