Count Your Blessings

This cheerful, fun arrangement opens with snatches of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, then quickly moves to Edwin O. Excell's time-honored hymn tune. Repeated eighth notes, with ample use of thumb damps and martellatos, give the music drive and bounce. In the second verse, syncopated treble patterns above the bass melody continue the happy mood, just as looking at all God's blessings brings continual joy to our lives. Again borrowing from Tchaikovsky, the piece closes with an accelerando of flashy eighth note chords.