There is much more to Sleigh Ride than a strong melody, sleigh bells, whip cracks and a horse whinny. Note that Sleigh Ride is not merely a song. The vocal version has always been much more popular than the instrumental version. Parish's lyrics certainly contributed to the popularity of "Sleigh Ride". The two men became friends in the process. Parish wrote lyrics to numerous other Anderson compositions. Leroy was impressed with Mitchell Parish and was satisfied that the lyrics that Parish had written were good. Normally a lyricist would collaborate with the composer and often would choose the title. He had a reputation for being able to write very good lyrics for an existing composition. Mitchell Parish had written the lyrics for "Stardust" and other songs. The publisher thought that lyrics would help to make the piece more popular. Mills Music suggested to Leroy that a lyricist be hired to write lyrics for "Sleigh Ride". After they receive the downbeat to start together, most orchestras can play "Sleigh Ride" perfectly without a conductor. The horse whinny is also occasionally omitted in some performances and recordings which suffer from the omission.Īs many times as "Sleigh Ride" is performed, audiences never tire of it. While some orchestral versions omit the whipcrack, possibly because their percussionist does not have one, the horse whinny has become a technique that every student of the trumpet must learn. The whipcrack and horse whinny bring the piece to an end. Trombonists who have played in a school football "pep" band recognize Anderson's nod at about "2:40" to his days arranging for the Harvard Band. Next Anderson repeats the theme of the first part or "A-section" and introduces a signature "jazz element" featuring the trumpets and trombones. The middle section is where the whipcrack is introduced. Realizing that it was not strong enough to serve as a beginning, Anderson made this the middle part to "Sleigh Ride" and created the stronger melodic themes that "bracket" the middle section. Temple blocks create the sound of the horse's hooves through this middle part, which was the music Anderson originally came up with in the summer of 1946. The second part or "B-section" changes from B♭ to G. The main theme is established by Anderson with a melody that can only be described as cheerful. Lyrics by Mitchell Parish were added in 1950.Īfter the introduction which features the horns, the first part or "A-section" of "Sleigh Ride" starts out with the steady rhythm of sleigh bells set in B♭. Sleigh Ride was first performed on in Symphony Hall, Boston as an extra at a Pops concert conducted by Arthur Fiedler. I finally worked out a satisfactory main theme, introduction and coda and finished the orchestra score on February 10, 1948. I had felt that the original theme of Sleigh Ride was not strong enough to start the number but would make a good middle section. "Sleigh Ride" is in "Rondo form" - Introduction/A/B/A/Coda. And "Sleigh Ride", I remember, was just an idea because, it was just a pictorial thing, it wasn't necessarily Christmas music, and it was written during the heat wave." Actually, I first came here in 1946 you may remember there was a housing shortage then, and my mother-in-law was living up here, had a cottage that was vacant, so since we had no other place to go, we packed our 14-month old daughter, plus the upright piano, and came on up here to Woodbury, and during that first summer that we were here, I started "Fiddle-Faddle", I didn't finish that until the following winter, and "Sleigh Ride" and "Serenata". "Sleigh Ride" was one of the first things I wrote when I got out of the Army and moved up here to Woodbury, Connecticut.
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