Sounds of the Season

Am I rushing the season? Some folks may think so but, well, as I write this, we have about a half inch of snow on the ground and it's still coming down; Thanksgiving is just over two weeks away and, well, in this dreary time in our country's history, a little Christmas music can't hurt.

Last year I wrote a blog about how a local radio station had begun playing Christmas music 24/7 by this time (and they're doing it again), as well as a bit about my favorite types of Christmas music:

Christmas Music

So this year I thought I would write a little more in detail about my favorite music of the Season. First off, the old world Christmas music (European and American) is what I consider to be the best. As I wrote last year, this includes such well-known carols as 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,' 'Good Christian Men Rejoice,' 'Here We Come A-Wassailing,' 'Silent Night,' 'Jingle Bells,' 'The First Nowell,' 'It Came upon a Midnight Clear,' and more.
But, mixed in with these somewhat popular songs are the lesser known carols of old, the ones that, at one time, were very well-known throughout out Europe and early America, such as 'The Gloucestershire Wassail,' 'The Holly Bears a Berry,' 'A Virgin Unspotted,' 'Riu Riu Chiu,' 'The Boar's Head Carol,' 'All You That Are Good Fellows,' 'In The Bleak Mid-Winter,' 'Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella,' 'Past Three O'Clock,' 'On Christmas Night,' 'Seven Blessings of Mary,' 'Cherry Tree Carol,' 'Wexford Carol,' and so many others.

When one mixes in the known with the unknown what you get is a wonderful mix of traditional carols that you never tire of hearing, hence the reason I begin listening to the music in mid-November.


I have been collecting these once popular traditional Christmas carols for over twenty years. It began at (naturally) Greenfield Village when my girlfriend (who I eventually married) and I were there for an evening's Christmas meal at the Eagle Tavern. While waiting for the carriage to take us to the Inn, Christmas music was being piped into the room. Imagine, here we were, sitting in a shadow-filled old fashioned room, fireplace a-blaze, candles glowing, greenery placed strategically about, and a Christmas Tree decorated traditionally setting in the middle. Heard in the background were the beautiful sounds of the hammered dulcimer playing the sounds of the season - some familiar and some not so familiar. I told my date that it just didn't get any better than that. I knew I wanted to replicate the look and feel of that moment and, in order to do that, I would need to find the music they were playing.
Since I worked in a record store, I searched for anything hammered dulcimer or traditional sounding. What I found was "On This Day Earth Shall Ring," by Anne Hills and her group of vocalists. I bought it just from the description on the back cover of the album (CD's were just coming out at that time - albums were still the product of choice).
The first song was, of all things, a round called 'Christmas Is Coming.' Following this was a beautiful hammered dulcimer instrumental rendition of 'What Child Is This.'
This was a great album!


It also included a capella versions of 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlmen,' and 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas,' and wonderful instrumentals that I had not heard up until that time, such as 'Blessed Be That Maid Mary,' 'Kommet Ihr Hirten,' a medley of old carols played on a guitar.
This was a great album!
I was hooked - I had to find more. Unfortunately, it was nearing the end of the Season so it was nearly impossible to find and order any more.
The next Christmas...well, it was right after Hallowe'en, I began my search, remembering the fine LP from the previous year. This was 1984 and this instrumental group I was not familiar with put out a collection of Christmas music like no other: Mannheim Steamroller Christmas. I must admit, the first cut - a very modern sounding 'Deck the halls' turned me off. But, what followed was amazing: very pure and European sounding versions of 'We Three Kings,' Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella,' 'Wassail Wassail (Gloucestrshire Wassail),' and a modern plus a traditional rendition of 'God Rest Ye.'
Oh, man! This was so cool!!
From there, each year I began to search earnestly for more - I couldn't get enough of this stuff! I found one called "An American Christmas" by Folk Like Us, Liona Boyd's "A Guitar For Christmas," "A Victorian Christmas" by Robin Petrie - nothing but hammered dulcimer instrumentals - The Chieftains' "Bells of Dublin" (where I first discovered 'The Boar's Head Carol' and "Holly Bears a Berry') and on and on. I eventually amassed over a hundred CD's of this old world style carols - I never knew there was so much great unheard Christmas music! It was much better music, I felt, than the mostly secular tunes of the 20th century, although I do love 'Do You Hear What I Hear,' 'Little Drummer Boy,' and some of the other more contemporary songs. And, yes, I do like the secular tunes as well - "Santa Coming To Town' (but not by Bruce Springsteen - ugghhh!), 'Winter Wonderland,' 'White Christmas,' 'Tennessee Christmas' and even the Pogues "Fairy Tale of New York' and The Ramones 'Merry Christmas I Don't Want to Fight Tonight.'

But, what you will hear most often in my house are the old world carols as described above. These are the songs my kids refer to when asked about Christmas music. Of course, they usually get a resounding "HUH???" when they tell their friends what their favorites are. And I think it's pretty cool to hear my seven year old daughter sing

"The boar's head in hand bear I
Bedecked with bays and rosemary
And I pray you my masters be merry
Quot estis in convivio

Capri apri defero
reddens laudis domino"

Here are some of my favorites that can still be purchased (except for one) through Amazon.com:

. On This Day Earth Shall Ring: Songs for Christmas
Christmas by Mannheim Steamroller
The Bells of Dublin by The Chieftains
American Christmas by Folk Like Us
A Victorian Christmas by Robin Petrie
A Victorian Noel by Robin Petrie
Christmas at The Eagle Tavern by Opera Lite (Greenfield Village singers!)
Celtic Christmas by Katie McMahon
Colonial Christmas by Linda Russell
A Scottish Christmas by Bonnie Rideout
Sounds of the Season, Vol. 1 by Maggie Sansone
The Christmas Revels by Various Artists

There are so many more that I haven't listed: Madeline MacNeil, Holiday Nights by the Greenfield Village Carolers (only available through the Village), Joemy Wilson, Silently the Snow Falls, Un-Reconstructed's "Christmas 1864,"...

So when you find yourself bored and tired of the same old same old, yet you enjoy Christmas music, you might want to experiment a little on something new/old. I don;t think you'll be disappointed.



(I do not know why this blog entry has gone haywire with my font sizes. If anyone knows and can tell me, I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks.)

Christmas Music

Have yourself an old-time Christmas this year.

By now, many folks living in the Detroit area (you know, the most dangerous city), have at least caught a snippet of radio station WNIC 24/7 Christmas music format. This is where one can here 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree,' 'Jingle Bell Rock,' 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,' and 'Holly Jolly Christmas' once, and sometimes twice an hour. This is where one can listen to today's contemporary artists (Mariah Carey, et al.) kill the music you know and love or, better still, write new "Christmas songs" that sound like every other 'diva' tune out there - not Christmas-y at all.
My mother, who normally simply cannot wait for 'NIC to begin playing the Christmas tunes, ended up turning it off because she was sick of it - and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!
It's not that she's sick of Christmas music - she is tired of the same songs played over and over and over and over...she knows there is much more out there that WNIC doesn't even touch.
(To WNIC's credit, I will give them this much: a couple of years ago, they played only secular Christmas music - Santa, Rudolph, and the like - nothing sacred...not even 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' or 'Silent Night.' I sent them an email asking why. The response was that they didn't want to offend anyone, especially non-Christians. My response? If someone is playing Christmas music, chances are they are Christians - or at least celebrate the holiday - and that I doubted there were very many Jews or Muslims listening. The next year, a noticeable increase in sacred music was presented to the listening public.)
For those who know me know that I have a rather large collection of Christmas music, from the classics of Ray Conniff, Johnny Mathis, Mitch Miller, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby, to the fun rock and roll of the Drifters 'White Christmas,' Beach Boys, Elvis, and the Ventures, to the Country Christmas music of Emmylou Harris, the Judds, George Strait, Susy Boggus, Patty Loveless, and Willie Nelson, to the contemporary CD's of 'A Very Special Christmas,' and Amy Grant, to the children's music with the original Chipmuncks, 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas,' etc.
But, my very favorite Christmas music is what I call Victorian (or Old World) Christmas music. This includes artists such as Linda Russell, Robin Petrie, The Christmas Revels, Maggie Sansone, Katie McMahon, The Chieftains, Madeline MacNeal, Bonnie Rideout, and even the the early recordings of Mannheim Steamroller. These artists perform traditional Christmas music on period and traditional instruments like the hammered dulcimer, penny whistle, mountain dulcimer, and very old guitars and pianos. The vocals are as if the performers were in your living room, singing just for you.
Now, they do many popular tunes that you will know and recognize, such as 'God Rest Ye,' 'Silent Night,' 'Jingle Bells,' 'The First Nowell,' 'It Came upon a Midnight Clear,' etc. But, there are so many wonderful Christmas songs that have been forgotten about. Tunes like 'The Gloucestershire Wassail,' 'The Holly Bears a Berry,' 'A Virgin Unspotted,' 'Riu Riu Chiu,' 'The Boar's Head Carol,' 'All You That Are Good Fellows,' 'In The Bleak Mid-Winter,' 'Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella,' and countless others.
By listening to this music over the top sellers I have found myself enjoying Christmas music so much more. Why? Because I don't hear the same 10 tunes over and over and I don't get sick of it. I also know that the majority of this Old World music has a history - a much deeper history than say, Woolworth's advertisement campaign which spawned 'Rudolph.'
When my house lights are off and just the lights from our Christmas tree are glowing, the last thing I want to hear is 'Run Run Rudolph' or 'Santa's Beard.' Beautiful hammered dulcimer and fiddle with a five piece vocal quartet is the perfect soundtrack to a perfect holiday.
Pretty much all of the music I have mentioned is available on Amazon.com