Jingle Bells

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This is an arrangement of 'Jingle Bells' for grade 2 piano - great fun for Christmas.

'Jingle Bells', also known as 'One Horse Open Sleigh', is one of the best known and commonly sung secular Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and copyrighted under the title 'One Horse Open Sleigh' on September 16, 1857. The song has been translated into many languages.

When it was originally published in 1857, Pierpont's song had a different chorus melody, which was more classical, even Mozart-like. The 1857 lyrics differed slightly from those we know today. It is unknown who replaced the chorus melody and the words with those of the modern version.

Music historian James Fuld notes that the 'the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb.' However, it is commonly taken to mean a certain kind of bell.

'Jingle Bells' was the first song broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, December 16, 1965. They sent Mission Control this report:

We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...

The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of 'Jingle Bells'.

The above text is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jingle Bells".

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