May Your Holidays Be Filled With Music

Imagine the winter holidays... Whether you picture boisterous children spinning the dreidel, families lighting the menorah or kwanzaa candles, or carolers walking door-to-door sharing songs of goodwill, the San Francisco Public Library has materials to make your holiday soundtrack possible.

Every holiday season the librarians at the AMR reference desk pulls a selection of holiday songbooks for you to peruse. For example, The International Book of Christmas Carols offers English, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Slavic, Italian, Spanish and Latin carols. Home For The Holidays and The Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook provide holiday favorites arranged for piano, voice and guitar. A Romantic Christmas: 30 Heart-Warming Favorites has more pop-oriented winter favorites such as "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" and "I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm." "My Dreidel," and "Chanukkah Oy Chanukkah (Come Light the Menorah)" can be found in 15 Traditional Chanukkah Favorites.

For instrumentalists, we have just received Christmas Favorites Playalongs with CD accompaniments. We have versions for flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, and violin. The Christmas Guitar Collection includes 20 songs arranged for solo fingerstyle guitar.

If you are looking for recorded holiday music, please search the catalog by song or album title, or browse subject headings like "Holidays -- Songs and Music," "Christmas Music," "Hanukkah -- Songs and music," or "Kwanzaa - Songs and Music" to review the library's musical offerings.