Boans Father Christmas with a group of girls, 1930
Christmas comes but once a year and brings with it months of preparation, particulary with music. There are carols and songs to learn in choirs, schools, churches and ensembles. New music is written and the old favourites are rolled out with surprising regularity. Come and visit the State Library for all your Christmas sheet music needs. Our web site gives you a brief overview of our collection, and links to some useful web sites for further information including copyright issues.
Can you believe it’s that time of the year again? If you’re looking for Christmas music to play on your piano, flute, sax, harmonica, accordion or even that brass band that you’ve got hidden in the back shed, the State Library can probably help you. We’ve brought all our Christmas music together in one place so you can trawl through to your heart’s content. You can borrow sheet music directly from the State Library building. If you are looking for a particular song or carol, use our online Song Index to track a copy in an anthology.
Did you know that some of the most popular Christmas carols and songs have more than one tune? Lyrics such as Away in a manger, While shepherds watched, Joy to the world and O little town of Bethlehem have been set to music by different composers. Here at the State Library, our Song Index will help you find the sheet music to the version and the key you want. Just pop the title into the search box http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/search~S8/t and a list of the versions will present. Simply chose a title, click on the link, and have a look at the music to see if it’s the tune you are after. All our Christmas music is sitting cosily together for your convenience waiting to go to a happy home for the festive season. We’ve a great range, from O holy night to Grandma got run over by a reindeer. Come in, join and borrow today.
