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| Bells and carols [message #37635] |
Sun, 19 December 2010 20:30  |
 b_twin_1
Messages: 2593
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Bells and carols
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37639 is a reply to message #37635 ] |
Mon, 20 December 2010 00:35  |
EMoon
Messages: 663
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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I finally made it back to church (after the virus that ate my lungs) today, and we sang a Vaughan-Williams anthem for the offertory and someone else's at Communion (and I would tell you which, but my music bag's in the car because I was too exhausted to bring it in, and my memory is shot, so...) They are both lovely pieces--the Vaughan-Williams more melting; the other rather spritely.
Having not sung seriously since I got sick, I decided my job was pronouncing the words very clearly (all the right "r" rolls, all the correct final consonants crisply inserted, all the vowel sounds tall and clean) because I didn't trust much else. We started with only three altos, and let's just say that not one of us is the perfect alto (we have a perfect alto, but she didn't stay for the second service.) Neither of them likes to stand next to the sopranos. I have no problem standing next to the sopranos (except for one we used to have, whose voice was so incredibly gorgeous that I could get lost in it and forget time and space.) But with so few altos, I needed to contribute volume and color and that became difficult when trying to walk and sing. Not enough air there.
But I should do OK for the late service Christmas Eve. We'll have many more singers, and I can (maybe) discipline myself not to go all out on the hymns and save it for the anthems. (Not a chance, actually: "O Come, All Ye Faithful" with brass and organ sends my adrenalin through the roof.
E
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37642 is a reply to message #37640 ] |
Mon, 20 December 2010 01:17 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2728
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| librarykat wrote on Sun, 19 December 2010 23:36 |
Our Christmas Eve service is based on the nine lessons and carols, but of course our hymns are all out of the Lutheran Worship hymnal, so all familiar. And everyone sings. That's the thing about most Lutheran churches, at least the ones I've attended throughout my life - individual churches may or may not have choirs, but the congregation sings all the hymns. And the one time of year you can count on more people in the congregation actually singing is Christmas.
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Lutheran churches have such a strong tradition of congregational singing--I didn't know this until we moved here to Minnesota, where Lutheran congregations and colleges are thick on the ground. MN public radio's classical station carries the Christmas choral programs of at least four Lutheran colleges, all of which have multiple choirs full of good singers. It's great!
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37643 is a reply to message #37635 ] |
Mon, 20 December 2010 02:19 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2728
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
Senior Member |
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Your vile weather has been in the news here. Getting WINTER instead of winter is not fun anywhere, unless maybe you're ten years old and get out of school and have a sled or toboggan and a handy hill. And don't have to shovel snow.
Of course you may see the bright side if it gets you out of a visit to the dentist. 
My guys are almost entirely in agreement with the hellhounds about this winter. "Almost" because Teddy, at two, is willing to bound through the snow and look for lumps of ice to play with until his feet get cold. This may change, though, if tomorrow's probable storm dumps its possible eight MORE inches of snow on us, which would make the depth on the ground close to shoulder height on a Dane. No one is being cooperative about outdoor photos, but I'd want to get a picture of that.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37652 is a reply to message #37643 ] |
Mon, 20 December 2010 20:16 |
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| Diane in MN wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 02:19 |
My guys are almost entirely in agreement with the hellhounds about this winter. "Almost" because Teddy, at two, is willing to bound through the snow and look for lumps of ice to play with until his feet get cold. This may change, though, if tomorrow's probable storm dumps its possible eight MORE inches of snow on us, which would make the depth on the ground close to shoulder height on a Dane. No one is being cooperative about outdoor photos, but I'd want to get a picture of that.
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They never are cooperative about outdoor photos when it is really deep. Of course, who has time for photos when there is forty inches of guaranteed backache to heave out of the driveway? This is the best I've ever managed...
[Updated on: Mon, 20 December 2010 20:23] by Moderator
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37656 is a reply to message #37635 ] |
Mon, 20 December 2010 23:05 |
skating librarian
Messages: 570
Registered: October 2008
Location: Vermont |
Senior Member |
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[url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4490]
Yes, I love the carols, but I'd like to share something a bit different. This is my Christmas singing tradition ... a combination of British and American songs sung by two Englishmen and two Vermonters. Our community and the local neo-pagan network fills the largest local theater and we sing along whenever they let us. One year when they didn't sing the song with which they had always closed, the audience took over and sang it for them.
I wish the Kennedy Center had a complete performance, but this is terrific and serves as an excellent sampler. Thank goodness Nowell Sing We Clear has made CDs so that as they change the offerings one can still go back to old favorites.
"Winning a war is like winning an earthquake" Jeanette Rankin
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37665 is a reply to message #37663 ] |
Tue, 21 December 2010 05:15 |
aperry1027
Messages: 17
Registered: December 2010
Location: Portland Or |
Junior Member |
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| b_twin_1 wrote on Tue, 21 December 2010 00:26 |
| librarykat wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 23:41 |
| claning wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 13:44 |
Wow, it's impressive that you have a congregation that sings. No church I've ever been part of* can say that. My old choir director used to tell the congregation that if they didn't sing, the "sing-ometer" would go off and drop them all into the cellar. It made them laugh, and it helped, some 
*None of them Lutheran, though.
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I think singing is bred into us. I find it terribly odd when I visit a non-Lutheran service and no one sings except the choir.
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Wow. I've never been in a church where no-one sings.... Certainly not here in Australia (in *any* denomination).
The worst part about tunes that I don't know (carols or otherwise) is when no-one else in the congregation knows them either. That's when I hope I have the hymnal with the melody line printed!!
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I haven't either. I was raised Catholic, and they all sing at least part of all the songs too. It's the only part of attending mass that I miss.
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37667 is a reply to message #37665 ] |
Tue, 21 December 2010 09:37 |
jaccairn
Messages: 152
Registered: November 2008
Location: Kent |
Senior Member |
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| aperry1027 wrote on Tue, 21 December 2010 10:15 |
| b_twin_1 wrote on Tue, 21 December 2010 00:26 |
| librarykat wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 23:41 |
| claning wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 13:44 |
Wow, it's impressive that you have a congregation that sings. No church I've ever been part of* can say that. My old choir director used to tell the congregation that if they didn't sing, the "sing-ometer" would go off and drop them all into the cellar. It made them laugh, and it helped, some
*None of them Lutheran, though.
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I think singing is bred into us. I find it terribly odd when I visit a non-Lutheran service and no one sings except the choir.
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Wow. I've never been in a church where no-one sings.... Certainly not here in Australia (in *any* denomination).
The worst part about tunes that I don't know (carols or otherwise) is when no-one else in the congregation knows them either. That's when I hope I have the hymnal with the melody line printed!!
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I haven't either. I was raised Catholic, and they all sing at least part of all the songs too. It's the only part of attending mass that I miss.
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Those at my church join in enthusiastically all the familliar hymns, though you are expected to know the tunes as most hymn books only have the words. It can get a bit strange when you don't recognise the words but when the organ starts you know the tune but aren't quite sure how to fit the words in. The last verse tends to sound the best as you adapt to it.
[Updated on: Tue, 21 December 2010 09:38]
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37669 is a reply to message #37667 ] |
Tue, 21 December 2010 13:13 |
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Fake Frenchie
Messages: 505
Registered: November 2008
Location: France |
Senior Member |
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| jaccairn wrote on Tue, 21 December 2010 15:37 |
| aperry1027 wrote on Tue, 21 December 2010 10:15 |
| b_twin_1 wrote on Tue, 21 December 2010 00:26 |
| librarykat wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 23:41 |
| claning wrote on Mon, 20 December 2010 13:44 |
Wow, it's impressive that you have a congregation that sings. No church I've ever been part of* can say that. My old choir director used to tell the congregation that if they didn't sing, the "sing-ometer" would go off and drop them all into the cellar. It made them laugh, and it helped, some
*None of them Lutheran, though.
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I think singing is bred into us. I find it terribly odd when I visit a non-Lutheran service and no one sings except the choir.
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Wow. I've never been in a church where no-one sings.... Certainly not here in Australia (in *any* denomination).
The worst part about tunes that I don't know (carols or otherwise) is when no-one else in the congregation knows them either. That's when I hope I have the hymnal with the melody line printed!!
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I haven't either. I was raised Catholic, and they all sing at least part of all the songs too. It's the only part of attending mass that I miss.
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Those at my church join in enthusiastically all the familliar hymns, though you are expected to know the tunes as most hymn books only have the words. It can get a bit strange when you don't recognise the words but when the organ starts you know the tune but aren't quite sure how to fit the words in. The last verse tends to sound the best as you adapt to it.
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I was raised Baptist, and every church that I attended the congregation sang.
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 Re: Bells and carols [message #37681 is a reply to message #37635 ] |
Wed, 22 December 2010 01:57 |
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danceswithpahis
Messages: 380
Registered: October 2008 |
Senior Member |
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The churches I've attended have always had people sing too; of course, one of the things I choose a church by is the music, so that may have something to do with it. http://robinmckinleysblog.com/forum/images/message_icons/ico n7.gif
My current church has a useful habit of teaching new songs by having the worship team (or someone else who knows the song) get up in front and sing the verse, have everyone else sing after them, sing it again, do the same with the chorus, and so on, until people sort of know it. If they're thinking ahead, they also do that song a few more times that month so we can really learn it.
Christmas is the best time for music, too; so many wonderful songs, some going back hundreds of years (like "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", although I recognize that that is technically an Advent song), all over the place. Our local classical station plays a great selection of Christmas songs; it's a good station anyway, but the last week or two I've been glued to it any time I get in the car.
"Oh good! My dog found the chainsaw!"
-- Lilo ("Lilo and Stitch")
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37687 is a reply to message #37672 ] |
Wed, 22 December 2010 13:34 |
claning
Messages: 266
Registered: February 2010
Location: California |
Senior Member |
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I was both amused and touched to hear some rather odd carolers touring the neighborhood last night. They were clearly working from whatever tunes and words they could remember (some "la la la" filled in here and there), and they weren't too successful at staying together or in key. It was also decidedly peculiar to hear "Angels we have heard on high" sung to the tune of "Hark the herald angels sing," and then when they got to "Hark the herald angels sing" they didn't really seem to have a clue what tune to sing THAT to.
After a carol or three they crowded up onto my front porch and rang the doorbell, so I opened the door. It turns out they were from the halfway house (for people with mental illness) across the street from me. They offered me a plate of home-made Christmas cookies: I said no thanks to the cookies (watching my weight) but told them I really appreciated the singing.
They ended with the by-now traditional "We wish you a Merry Christmas" which (fortunately) is almost impossible to confuse with anything else.
People singing their hearts out despite paralyzing shyness and other mental disabilities is really heart-warming: in a case like this, the notes that come out don't really matter.
O Chris Laning <claning@igc.org> - Davis, California
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37688 is a reply to message #37681 ] |
Wed, 22 December 2010 13:45 |
claning
Messages: 266
Registered: February 2010
Location: California |
Senior Member |
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| danceswithpahis wrote on Wed, 22 December 2010 01:57 |
Our local classical station plays a great selection of Christmas songs; it's a good station anyway, but the last week or two I've been glued to it any time I get in the car.
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I'm still recovering from years of having a co-worker who simply could not imagine anyone not wanting to hear Christmas music all day every day from the Monday after Thanksgiving through Christmas break.
Most years she simply tuned her radio to the local All Christmas All the Time station and turned it up loud enough for everyone to hear. (Granted, one year she chose the local religious station, which was somewhat better, or at least less familiar.)
From my point of view, listening to Christmas music all day was made much worse by the fact that the All Christmas station had a playlist of maybe 60 or 70 songs total. So we heard everything at least three or four times a day. Every day.
Gems from their collection included:
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Christmas Don't Be Late (by the Chipmunks, God help us)
Jingle Bells
White Christmas
Sleigh Ride ("Just hear those sleigh bells jinglin', ring ting tinglin' too..."
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Jingle Bell Rock
It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Wonderful Christmastime
Little Drummer Boy
.... well, you get the idea.
Now I'm working at home in blessed silence.
O Chris Laning <claning@igc.org> - Davis, California
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37717 is a reply to message #37692 ] |
Thu, 23 December 2010 13:05 |
claning
Messages: 266
Registered: February 2010
Location: California |
Senior Member |
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| Black Bear wrote on Wed, 22 December 2010 15:33 |
Welcome to the experience of working in retail (or in a museum) at holiday time. If I ever hear "little drummer boy" again, it will be too soon. I'm relieved at least that "Do They Know It's Christmas" has not made the playlist at my current place of work.
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(shudder) Thank goodness.
O Chris Laning <claning@igc.org> - Davis, California
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37755 is a reply to message #37635 ] |
Fri, 24 December 2010 03:30 |
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danceswithpahis
Messages: 380
Registered: October 2008 |
Senior Member |
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I do understand about the annoyance of hearing Christmas music nonstop for a month (I should perhaps add here that I drive very little, only 2 or maybe 3 days a week for 40 minutes a day, so when I was glued to my radio it wasn't for that long). In the interests of Pollyanna-ism (does this apply to songs as well?) I won't describe my personal least favorite songs. I will say, though, that what I like about the classical station is that it has such a wide variety. Instead of playing the same songs over and over, it plays songs from all around the world, from different eras and styles, sometimes one song alone, sometimes a medley, with voice or with instruments, by orchestras and choirs from around the world. I haven't heard the same version of any song twice, and except for some of the more popular Christmas hymns (O Come All Ye Faithful, for example, or Silent Night) I haven't even heard the same song more than once. But yes, I'm sick of some of the more commercial songs that play over and over for a month.
On a related sidenote, I must confess I like the cheekiness of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". It's hard to imagine going to someone's house and singing to them, "So bring us a figgy pudding... and bring it RIGHT NOW... We won't go until we get some... so bring it RIGHT NOW." This song always makes me laugh.
[Updated on: Fri, 24 December 2010 03:31]
"Oh good! My dog found the chainsaw!"
-- Lilo ("Lilo and Stitch")
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| Re: Bells and carols [message #37763 is a reply to message #37755 ] |
Fri, 24 December 2010 12:56 |
claning
Messages: 266
Registered: February 2010
Location: California |
Senior Member |
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I have always liked the more obscure carols -- especially the older English ones (I'm a historian, can you tell? ) but also things like the Huron Carol ('Twas in the moon of wintertime...) and other less-well-known stuff.
Favorites include the Sans Day Carol and the Kentucky version of "Wassail, Wassail, All over the town". The latter was recorded by the Christmas Revels (great source of Christmas music!) and it's a hoot and a half. I used to have a tape that had the English version and the Kentucky version back to back. The English version is in 3/4 time: Kentucky transforms it into a 4/4 BANJO piece (!) and there's one crucial difference in the lyrics. Where the English version says "Our bowl it is made of the good apple tree, with a wassailing bowl we'll sing to thee," the Kentucky version says "The cup it is made of the wild oak tree, and the ale it is made in KEN-tuck-EE!"
O Chris Laning <claning@igc.org> - Davis, California
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