Ol’ school

Posted on December 7, 2017 Updated on December 6, 2017

When I was learning how to play piano, I want to learn songs that others could enjoy. This included many Christmas songs. I wanted that image of people gathering around while he played a fun tune and singing along.

That’s what today’s song reminds me of. It was one of the first Dog’s I learned how to play because the key and Melody were very simple.

Jolly old Saint Nicholas

Since I do not hear this often…I’m going to enclose the song here. Maybe one of you will learn it and have new memories to share

Saint Nicholas

Posted on December 6, 2017 Updated on December 6, 2017

Today is the feast of st. Nicholas…the inspiration for Santa Claus.  Saint Nicholas was known for giving gifts is not only the patron saints of kids but also of brewers!

So in honor of the red suite white bearded guy…today’s song is:

Santa Claus is coming to town

My favorite version of this song is Bruce Springsteen’s Rock ‘n’ roll version. It just gives you that upbeat feeling that you get when something exciting is about to happen. I absolutely love it. Also, the cartoon named after this song is in the same animation as “Rudolph the red nose reindeer”, a Christmas classic.

I wish I had more to say…as Saint Nicholas history is extremely interesting. But when you have a child, Blogs get short.

5 Golden…nope, not this time

Posted on December 5, 2017 Updated on December 4, 2017

Not a song about the 12 days of Christmas. Not yet. Actually. I didn’t include that song because there will be a series of blogs for the 12 days of christmas. Anyways…

I decided to stick with my theme right now of traditional church hymns. Usually these are my favorite christmas songs because they have unique harmonies and can involve soloists or choirs singing amazing renditions.

#5 The First Noel

Now if anyone has played those games where you try guessing obscure names of Christmas Carols–Noel is a symnomn for Christmas.

I always like this song because it starts with the shepherds in the fields. It’s just a different perspective then starting in the manager. It’s the gradual movement of angels announcing the birth to coming to the Child.

Advent comes like this…small, soft yet is a big deal.

Number 4–there’s never enough room

Posted on December 4, 2017 Updated on November 30, 2017

So originally i set up before blogging what songs I would look into for the 25 days of Christmas music. For today I had written “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” A song that gets a lot of bad rap for being about men remembering Christ is there to protect them. But as I was searching for the photo image of the previous song–it got me thinking. I didnt have Handle’s “Messiah” which includes songs like the Hallelujah Chorus” and probably my favorite classical piece “For Unto Us a Child is Born.”

I don’t think i’m going to get into much — for it is a great work of music and people have written research papers on the music i’m sure of it.  However, I decided to do a simple search and found this: 5 Things you Didn’t know About Handel’s Messiah

It’s a great article. I originally thought this was mostly about Jesus’ birth and more of a christmas collection. But I now also remember always singing the song at Easter in our Methodist church which explains why I was always confused about the flaslh mobs of the piece in shoppings malls. Also– standing while the Hallelujah chorus may be questioned.

While I love posting images of the songs and interpretations of the msuic, I thought I would leave this one with a video. Trust me–you want to watch this one:

3/25 Christmas Songs

Posted on December 3, 2017 Updated on November 30, 2017

Welcome to the First Sunday of Advent!–finally. This year, all of advent is in December. Typically the last sunday in november starts the new church calendar and the advent season, but 2017 decided it needed to be different one last time.

So in honor of advent starting– I decided to pick a song that most reminded me of the sunday’s first them: HOPE. Yep-thank you church sunday school but I remember how each advent sunday had a theme–from the songs to the bible verses and so on.

#3 – O Come O Come Emmanuel.

Advent is about preparing yourself for the birth of Christmas. Now-I dont want to get into a historical poli-religious argument about the time of year and how no snow would be on the ground and what not. I get that–honestly I do. But the song still can hold meaning even if it portrays a winter image. And a song can still bring emotional and a sense of waiting and wonderment while we wait for the Christ child.

The phrase ” o Come or Come Emmanuel” appears to also have literary significance and used to help those focus in on the coming Christmas season (see this site .) I thought how it is similar to Hebrew poetry and stressing phrases or parallels by repeating “O….”

The only thing I have to say about this one is I HATE when this one gets mondernized. It’s an old hymn. Probably the oldest Christmas hymn. And I think it should be solidfied as such. Adding electronics and pop star singing is just frusrtating. There’s a very where its just a simple female voice with a guitar. I like that. Or trans-siberian orchestra with no vocals and just guitar. It’s all good that way to me.

Here’s the first verse. Enjoy yourselves!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
9th-Century Latin hymn

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.