Sleigh Ride (Anderson)

A. Well, the point of a number like "Sleigh Ride", that you could call a descriptive piece, or pictorial, is that you have to start with the idea of the rhythm and whatever it is first, in this case it's the rhythm of the sleigh bells, and these sleigh bells go chink, chink, chink, that's the regular rhythm of sleigh bells, so having done that, it's necessary to build the music around that rhythm and, of course, sleigh bells are repetitious, just bump, bump, bump and having done that, it was very natural them to write a melody that was not only in the same rhythm, but it had the same repeated notes, like - - -, and the middle section goes they're repeated notes again, you see. And, of course, the entire rhythm of the thing must, you have to go chink, chink, chink that must keep up all the way through.

Sleigh Ride (Anderson)

Opening with a pulsating string accompaniment that is underneath a prominent trumpet unison line, the sleigh takes off immediately with sleigh bells in hand. The main theme is then heard from the strings. The warm melody is joyful and triumphant, whilst remaining incredibly light. The swells in the orchestra with the melody, with the bells keeping the quick tempo moving along.

Sleigh RideGeneral informationFeature filmsDisney Sing Along Songs: Very Merry Christmas SongsShowsDinosaurs "Employee of the Month"HawkeyeAttractions and stage performancesCountry Bear Christmas SpecialChristmas in New YorkAlbumsA Family ChristmasHarborside ChristmasDisney's Family Christmas CollectionOriginal performerBoston Pops Orchestra (instrumental version)Ella FitzgeraldThe RonettesComposerLeroy AndersonLyricsMitchell ParishVideoSource"Sleigh Ride" is a traditional Christmas song composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946 and finished the work in February 1948. The original recordings were light orchestra instrumental versions. The lyrics, about riding in a sleigh and other fun wintertime activities, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. 041b061a72