When Christmas Comes to Town - Sheet Music
Who else grew up reading The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and then double checking that you could still hear the jingle bell tree ornaments every Christmas? It can't be just me, right? I remember being pretty excited when the movie came out many years ago now, and I still tend to watch it each year during December. But it was only a year or two ago that I actually got the itch to play some of the music. Inspiration is funny, sometimes it just hits you after years of enjoying a thing and you suddenly want to engage with it in a new way.
Now, being a full time piano teacher means that the majority of the arrangements I actually sit down to write tend to be with students in mind. BUT every once in a while, I'll have the itch to play a song myself, and not be able to find an arrangement that I love. Last Christmas I had that happen with the song When Christmas Comes to Town from the The Polar Express. I had just finished working on an arrangement of Believe arr. by Tom Roed from the same movie (video of that version here), and I wanted to follow it up by learning When Christmas Comes to Town. I was hoping to find something that retained the simple beauty of the two children's voices harmonizing together that would be enjoyable to just sit down and play. When I couldn't find just the right thing, I ended up playing it by ear, and this arrangement was the end result. This setting is very true to the original, with carefully chosen chord voicings to highlight some of those lovely, simple harmonies.
I learned later that this piece is on the approved list for the service that I use to publish licensed music, and so here it is out in the world! Preview of the music sheets and purchasing options are available on SheetMusicPlus.
This is my late intermediate/advanced piano solo arrangement of When Christmas Comes to Town, originally composed by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri.
If you're looking for other pieces, or just want to browse, you can see all of my sheet music for popular arrangements and original music at the Dawn's Piano sheet music store!