Let me introduce myself. My name is Arnold (Arnie) Harris, and this is my 38th year as Music Director of the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA, the oldest school for the Blind and Visually impaired in America.
In that role I coordinate musical events and direct two audition-based choruses, the Secondary Program Chorus and the Chamber Singers. I also teach lessons on any wind, brass, string or percussion instrument a student would like to learn. And, very central to my work here, I am also a composer and arranger for chorus. In my years here I have written many SATB (accompanied and unaccompanied by piano) arrangements of choral music for the Holiday seasons of Christmas and Chanukah, and I also have a varied repertoire of arrangements for spring concerts. You will find many of them on my website.
A major thrust of my composing is to create new melodies and harmonic arrangements of many of the beloved Holiday lyrics for Christmas and Chanukah. These have proven to be refreshing for both choruses and audiences as the lyrics are presented in a fresh, new light. The arrangements are very melodic and quite singable. My choruses at Perkins have done all of them over the years, as have many high school, college, community and church choirs.
So as you visit ArnoldHarrisMusic.com, you will find new holiday arrangements in English, Spanish, Catalan, Barbershop style, Hebrew and Yiddish of traditional lyrics, and also discover many fun and engaging arrangements of the American Songbook. Each song has an MP3 and a perusal score for your browsing. There is also an easy way to order the songs for your groups.
Thanks for any time you spend with music, I am hopeful you will find arrangements for you, and your choruses and audiences to enjoy at any time of year.