Dan Coates

[alzado]

Christmas is over, alas, but I did play a number of Christmas pieces this year arranged by Dan Coates.  He is quite popular as an arranger -- or at least he was.  I don't even know if he is still active.

He has some style things with his arrangements -- such as frequent 5-note chords in the right hand.  Try his arrangement of "Christmas Auld Lang Sine" sometime if you enjoy chords that fill up the right hand.

One nice thing about his Christmas pieces -- they are hard enough to be worth playing, but for casual seasonal playing a person can master them pretty well with little preparation time.  In other words, just about hard enough for the situation.

Anyone else like (or dislike) Dan Coates?

[jlh]

Christmas is over, alas, but I did play a number of Christmas pieces this year arranged by Dan Coates.  He is quite popular as an arranger -- or at least he was.  I don't even know if he is still active.

He has some style things with his arrangements -- such as frequent 5-note chords in the right hand.  Try his arrangement of "Christmas Auld Lang Sine" sometime if you enjoy chords that fill up the right hand.

One nice thing about his Christmas pieces -- they are hard enough to be worth playing, but for casual seasonal playing a person can master them pretty well with little preparation time.  In other words, just about hard enough for the situation.

Anyone else like (or dislike) Dan Coates?

I did a Christmas party gig several years ago (background music) and ended up bringing a Dan Coates book to read from.  It served the purpose and people seemed to like the arrangements.  They are sightreadable for the most part as well.