Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1141012 Composed by Melchior Franck. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Christmas,Holiday,Jazz. Score. 3 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #741265. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1141012). This is a solo piano arrangement for advanced jazz and classical pianists. It features rich jazz harmony. The sheet music includes 100% correct jazz chord symbols. Arranger Thomas Gunther about his arrangement: The original song is based on a very simple harmonic progression. In contrast, my version features advanced jazz harmonization techniques resulting in unexpected harmonic twists and turns. I recommend this arrangement for (intermediate-advanced) jazz and classical pianists alike. Jazz pianists will love the included jazz chord symbols, which help them with analyzing and memorizing the arrangement. The arrangement is also great for classical pianists who love jazz, but do not know how to create an arrangement from lead sheet. They can easily apply their classical technique and musical knowledge to my arrangement. Studying my arrangement can greatly enhance your knowledge about jazz harmony. Find out more about the arranger at ThomasGunther.com. Visit PopJazzKeys.com/Oh-Christmas-Tree to learn more about the arrangement.

Instrumental Solo - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1271184 By Billie Eilish. By Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Children,Contemporary,Film/TV. Individual part. 4 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #863576. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1271184). About the arrangement  This is pianist/arranger Thomas Gunther's beautiful and highly accurate piano solo arrangement of the 2023 Barbie Movie features Billie Eilish's song WHAT I WAS MADE FOR.  It includes even Billie's quiet humming passages.This solo piano version can be played all by itself, or with Billie's recording of the song.It is easy enough to learn for pianists that have no amazing techniqual skills, but can be challanging in different ways, as explained below. From the Arranger Thomas Gunther  The most challenging task when writing this solo piano arrangement of What I Was Made For was to notate Billie's rhythm accurately. Her melodic rhythm is very important as it supports the flow of the lyrics perfectly. Notating a singer's rhythm can unfortunately never be 100% perfect (notation is by definition quantized), but I think I got very close. An other challenge was to get the accompaniment sound like the original without stepping on the melody notes. Looking at my final version I think it is as good as it gets for a piano adaption of this highly emotional song.I really hope all you Billie Eilish fans out there will enjoy playing this arrangement! How difficult is it As mentioned earlier, the song looks simple, but to play it well there is a lot of things the pianist has to take care of. The most challenging aspect is to sustain some notes by either using clever fingering or employing the sustain pedal. Also, dynamics are really important, especially when ballancing the accompaniment against the melody. Fingering I included fingering numbers to give the pianist a starting point. But fingering is a highly subjective affaire. Every pianist should feel free to adapt her/his own fingering as see fit. Sustain pedal usage The sustain pedal usage is very important in this arrangement (I included sustain pedal markings for this very reason). For one, it helps sustaining some notes that can't be held otherwise, and of course to make the sound fuller (more cinematic). It is important to use the pedal to create a sense of space (distance). After all, the original recording uses a lot of reverb to achieve that. Chord Symbols I did not include pop chord symbols because the harmony to the the song is very simple and based around 4 diatonic chords. It would just cludder up the score. At PopJazzKeys.com/Barbie I talk a little bit about the chords.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1164828 By Judy Garland. By E.Y. Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Film/TV,Jazz,Standards. Score. 3 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #765152. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1164828). This is my (Thomas Gunther’s) Solo Piano Arrangement of Over The Rainbow. (Also see PopJazzKeys.com/Over-The-Rainbow).I believe the arrangement is suited for intermediate to advanced players. There are different technically demanding elements to it, from polyphony (which require great finger independence), to the techniques associated with the Romantic period (like the ability to work the sustain pedal, arpeggios, and playing thick chords). The video below shows me performing it (with close-up of hands and sheet music), followed by important practice tips!) WHO IS IT FOR?I think classical and jazz pianists will both love it for different reasons. Classical musicians might like to play something more contemporary with a jazzy touch. And jazz musicians might like to studying it for inspiration, or to improve their sight reading and technical skills, or simply because they love it.ABOUT THE SONG Over The Rainbow is one of my favorite classic jazz standards. Most of you might know it from the classic movie The Wizard Of Oz, for which it was actually composed (and sung by Judy Garland).I love everything about this song, it’s melody (which is so cleverly based on a descending diatonic stepwise motion during the [A] section), the harmony, and of course the lyrics that inspire us to believe there might actually be more to life than what we are experiencing day in and day out, well worth dreaming about and searching for.ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF LYRICSTo me it is important to study the lyrics of a song before I start arranging it. The lyrics guide me in my search for how I want the arrangement to impact the listener emotionally. 

Piano Solo - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1282697 By Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto. By Antonio Carlos Jobim, Norman Gimbel, and Vinicius De Moraes. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Jazz,Latin,Standards. Score. 2 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #873912. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1282697). This is my (Thomas Gunther) Piano Solo Arrangement of the famous Brazilian song The Girl From Ipanema by Antonio Carlos Jobim.The Girl From Ipanema is such a beautiful song that I thought it would be nice to write a piano solo arrangement for it, so that non-jazz pianists can play it too. This said, I am convinced that many jazz musicians will find this arrangement interesting and maybe even challenging, when performed exactly as written. It could also serve them as a blueprint for how to arrange samba tunes for solo piano.If there is one song that comes to mind when thinking about Brazilian music, it is probably this song. For most Jazz musicians it is the ultimate bossa nova standard.I truly hope you enjoy this arrangement! And should you be a piano teacher, this arrangement is a great way to introduce your students to Brazilian music, speaking from my own experience.

Piano Solo - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1325497 By Nat Cole With N. Riddle Orch. By Mel Torme and Robert Wells. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Christmas,Holiday,Jazz. Score. 4 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #913724. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1325497). Solo Piano Arrangement By Thomas GuntherThe Christmas Song is maybe the most popular Christmas Song in the USA. Some know it as Chestnuts Roasted On An Open Fire or Merry Christmas to You. The melody is absolutely beautiful, and the chord changes super interesting. I especially like Nat King Cole's version, which is in Db major. To make it easier for intermediate piano players I wrote my piano solo arrangement in C major instead. It is still challenging  enough.The sheet music will be available for purchase at 2pm Chicago time on Nov 27.About The ArrangementThe arrangement is written in jazz ballade style. It doesn't swing. I includes a fun double time improvisation section though which I made up on the spot during the second B section when I recorded the song. It is in latin style. The arrangement can be performed with or without improvisation. Should you be a jazz pianist you could use the included chord symbols to make up your own improvisation.About The Sheet MusicThe sheet music is the exact transcription of my recording, including the improvisation part. (You can listen to it and see me perform in the video below.)The sheet music contains jazz chord symbols and plentiful of articulations as well as some dynamic markings. How This Arrangement Came AboutMay arrangement is heavily based on the Nat King Cole version. I love the ballade feel and the beautiful chord substitutions he uses in the orchestration. First I simply played along with his version in Db major. This helped me to figure out the harmony. Next I start thinking about the accompaniment. Now it is time to practice it. Once I have the arrangement figured out I start recording it a few times, listen to each version, iron out the edges. Now it is time to record the entire thing. Recommendations For Learning The SongI recommend that you first listen to my performance while reading along in the sheet music. I always think about fingering and sustain pedal use at the same time when learning a song. Smart use of the sustain pedal can really make it much easier to play.Is This Arrangement For You?This solo piano arrangement is for every pianist who loves The Christmas Song. It doesn't matter would kind of pianist you are. The arrangement is certainly for intermediate pianists and up. It is also beneficial when you don't have very small hands. Some chords in the left hand require a hand span of a 10th. However, there are ways to get around that by simply rolling the notes with the help of the sustain pedal.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1148666 By Jessica Simpson. By Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Christmas,Holiday,Jazz. Score. 4 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #748800. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1148666). This is a jazz piano solo arrangement of Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Thomas Gunther for intermediate to advanced players. It is arranged in swing music style of the 40’s. It can be played as solo piano and with a rhythm section. The left hand is arranged Erroll Garner style, imitating the guitarist in a swing band. Great for small hands. It features an intro and a solo completely written out. Jazz Chord Symbols included, and 100% correct.

Piano Solo - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1323881 By Michael Buble. By Haven Gillespie and John Frederick Coots. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Blues,Christmas,Jazz. Score. 5 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #912057. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1323881). Solo Piano Arrangement By Thomas GuntherSanta Claus Is Coming To Town is another one of my favorite Christmas songs. For some reason I love playing it in a bluesy style, with some jazz voicings. The bridge is more in stride piano style.About The ArrangementThe arrangement includes different stylistic elements found in more traditional popular piano music. It definitely has a bluesy vibe, but also shows elements of jazz and stride piano.When it comes to the form I extended it by adding an intro that comes back in-between sections in form of an interlude. There is also an outro. About The Sheet MusicThe sheet music is basically a transcription of my recording. It contains jazz chord symbols and plentiful of articulations as well as some dynamic markings. My Arranging WorkflowI have different approaches for creating solo piano arrangements of songs. The one I took here is as follows. First I come up with different ideas, try them out, and after a while settle on those I like best. Once I practiced and internalized those ideas I press record and hope for the best. Before the final version is done, I record myself many times over. This gives me the opportunity to improve upon each version until I have one that I feel comfortable with.Recommendations For Learning The SongI recommend that you first listen to my performance while reading along in the sheet music. This way you get a better understanding about the phrasing and the rhythmic feel.You may want to spend a little time just vamping a few bars to get into the groove. When that feels good move on to different sections.The bridge is different in feel because it is based on stride piano rather than blues. Stride piano features big jumps in the left hand and big intervals between the outer notes (up to a 10th). Should you have difficulty in playing those big intervals (smaller hands will make this hard) you may roll the notes and use the sustain pedal.Is This Arrangement For You?This solo piano arrangement is for every pianist who would like to try playing Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town in a more bluesy-jazzy style. Dependent on what your specialty is musically speaking, you made benefit from it in different ways. Here are some examples.Classical PianistsIf you are a classical pianist who rarely listens to jazz and blues music, this arrangement might be a great way to dip your feed into more contemporary genres and styles like blues and jazz. This said, it might be quite challenging. Not from a technical point of view, but from a musical point of view. For example, swung eighth notes and accents and phrasing in blues and jazz are somewhat contrary to classical music. It's gonna be a great learning experience for sure!Jazz PianistsShould you be a jazz musician or blues musician, you may not necessarily want to play the arrangement as written note for note. Instead, you might just fall in love with some of my ideas and create your own arrangement based on those.This goes especially for the solo section. You can play my solo or use it as inspiration for your own solo. Of course experiences blues and jazz musicians will prefer to make up their own solo.I truly hope you have fun playing this arrangement! Yes.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1146744 By Thomas Gunther. By Melchior Franck�. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Christmas,Holiday,Jazz. Score. 3 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #746416. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1146744). This is my second jazz piano solo arrangement of the song, written for intermediate to advanced pianists. My arrangement features advanced jazz harmony and is written primarily in 5/4 time with a Take 5 kind of swing feel. I also composed additional sections (intro and development) including a written out solo. It is perfect for jazz and classical pianists who want to play this well known Christmas song with a jazz vibe. The arrangement features classic jazz piano techniques and blues licks. Jazz pianists will appreciate the included chord symbols that will give them a clear idea about the harmony. And classical pianists can add it to their contemporary repertory. You find more information at PopJazzKeys.com/O.

Piano Solo - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1277927 Composed by Terry Gilkyson. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Comedy,Film/TV,Jazz. Score. 2 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #869433. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1277927). About the arrangement(See also (PopJazzKeys.com/The-Bare-Necessities)This is a relatively easy to play solo piano jazz arrangement of THE BAR NECESSITIES. The song is a traditional jazz tune made famous in the Walt Disney movie THE JUNGLE BOOK. The video and audio recording I posted here features me playing the short version of my arrangement. When played as written (with all the repeats) it is almost 4 minutes long.What's cool about this arrangement is that you can easily add a bass player and even an entire rhythm section while playing it the same way as you would in a solo performance!Who this arrangement is best suited forI think everyone who likes the song except perhaps advanced jazz pianists will have fun learning and playing this arrangement. I arranged this piece originally with my younger piano students in mind, who have smaller hands than most adults. That’s why there are no large intervals or big jumps in the left hand. Something generally found in ragtime and early jazz piano styles. This means that my arrangement is perfectly suited for pianists with smaller hands. Of course pianists with large hands (like myself) can play it too (ha-ha!).I think it is also a great piece for pianists who want to familiarize themselves with playing jazz piano. And since I wrote out every note and articulation, they can play along with the recording and hopefully pick up the traditional jazz feel along the way.Although the arrangement is not very difficult, it poses several challenges for the inexperienced pianist, as explained later.How I arranged itAs I already explained above, there are no large intervals or big jumps in the left hand to be found. Instead, I focused more on polyphonic arranging techniques, in both hands. I also used guide tones and inversions.The left hand imitates the accompaniment style of a traditional jazz guitar or banjo player with added half time bass figures that are typically played by a tuba or upright bass an octave lower. Tips for how to learn this arrangementWhen I teach this song to my students I strongly recommend to them to listen to the original version and my recording a lot, rather than explaining to them how swinging eighth notes and jazz articulation work. By the way, there are a few bars where you hear me playing straight eighths on the recording (as indicated in the sheet music). I decided to add articulations so that pianists who have not a lot of experience with playing jazz will find it easier to play it with the appropriate “touch�. It's a good idea to check those out.Should you not be familiar with playing polyphonic passages with one hand, you might want to practice very slowly at first and attempt to balance the different voices appropriately. Listening to the recording will also help with discovering dynamic possibilities. I didn’t want to clutter up the sheet music with dynamic markings, so listening to the recording is really the only way to figure out what dynamics I had in mind.

Composed by Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Christmas, Film/TV, Jazz. Score. 2 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #732342. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions

Piano Solo - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1311927 Composed by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Christmas,Holiday,Spiritual. Score. 4 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #900801. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1311927). About the song and the arrangementThis is my solo piano arrangement of Let There Be Peace On Earth, one of the most powerful songs about peace ever written. I arranged it with the intermediate piano player in mind. Although is not particularly jazzy, it includes some jazz harmony and voicings. I think its beautiful melody benefits from clean voicings and an almost classical accompaniment style. Having said that, I included chord symbols so that jazz pianists can do their thing.I recommend to everyone who wants to learn it to also study the lyrics (who I didn't include with the sheet music, because it is after all a solo piano arrangement. Knowing the words will undoubtedly help with interpreting the music more adequately from an emotional point of view.About the technical aspects of this arrangementAlthough the arrangement sounds simple,  it poses several challenges. For example, it has a polyphonic element to it which requires the pianist to use the sustain pedal and make smart fingering choices. For this reason I included my suggestions for both. Please feel free to use your own.FeelThe arrangement is meant to be played very expressively. I suggest you vary the tempo and dynamics. Bringing out the melody is also very important.At last, I hope you will enjoy playing my arrangement and consider including it in your recitals. The call for peace is never a waste.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1419155 By John Lennon And The Plastic Ono Band. By John Lennon. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Pop,Singer/Songwriter. Score. 4 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #1000584. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1419155). This solo piano version is made for classically trained pianists!Imagine has always been one of my favorite pop ballads. I know classical pianists that would love to play it too. So I decided to write a piano arrangement of it that is tailored specifically towards pianists that are looking for challenging arrangements of famous pop songs notated in great detail.Although the arrangement does not look or sound very difficult at first glance, to perform it beautifully, I would expect that even more advanced pianists will have to practice it quite a bit. I can tell you that I had to put in hours of practicing before I was able to record it to my liking. Of course, I am not specialist in sight-reading music, nor am I performing classical concerts.Bottom line, should you be a pianist who would like to add a beautiful pop song to your repertory, you may want to give this arrangement a closer look.

Piano Solo - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1317916 By Brian McKnight. By Kim Gannon and Walter Kent. Arranged by Thomas Gunther. Christmas,Jazz,Latin. Score. 3 pages. Thomas Gunther Music Productions #906608. Published by Thomas Gunther Music Productions (A0.1317916). About my solo piano arrangement of I'll Be Home For ChristmasMy Solo Piano Arrangement of I'll Be Home For Christmas is written in a jazz-latin type style. I wrote it out note for note, and even included fingering and sustain pedal suggestions. I also included jazz chord symbols for those of you that either like to know what harmonies I was thinking, or want to add their own ideas based on those chords. The chords I used are pretty much based on the original harmony. When I started out arranging for solo piano I was especially curious about how to create a latin groove underneath a melody. I studied bossa and samba music as well as cuban music for that. The rumba is a great style to start with. That's also the bases for this arrangement. About the song I'll Be Home For ChristmasI have a very special relationship to this song. I first heard it after moving to the United States from Germany and spending my first Christmas in Chicago. On that Christmas Eve I was all alone for the first time, and when I turned on the radio this song came on. I don't easily cry, bad that was one of those moments when the floodgates just open up. It is such a sentimental song. And the closing lyrics I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams are just so emotional in this context.Enjoy!