Create Christmas ghosts: choir music
Created | Updated Jul 11, 2023
Create Christmas ghosts: choir music
When I turned eight, I was eligible to join the Junior Choir at my church. Not long after this, my mother became the Junior Choir Director. She took no nonsense from me, but she also kept her ears open for catchy new Christmas music. One song I remember her teaching us was "Silver bells," which was featured in the film "The lemon drop kid," in 1951. We learned it around 1957 or 1958, so it was relatively contemporary. There was a special Sunday service in December when the Junior Choir sang whatever we had been practicing all Fall. I started as a Soprano, but eventually I had to become an Alto.
As time went by, I became old enough to sing in the Senior Choir. My mother also sang in the Senior Choir, as did my father. I think I was 15 or 16 then, and my range had settled into a high tenor tessitura by then (my voice had started changing, but my high range was still there, so I had about four octaves. Not all of it was pretty....). Our church always had a Midnight service on Christmas Eve every year. The highlight of the service was the ending, when everyone in the congregation was given a lighted candle, and people would file out of the sanctuary holding the candles. The altar and organ would be adorned with poinsettias, and there would be electric candles in the windows , along with wreaths and other greenery. I remember the smell of dry air, scented with the papery oder of poinsettias and the tang of pine and spruce needles. My mother worried about someone dropping the candles and starting a fire, but somehow the worst case scenario never developed.
Sometimes the choir would be enhanced with the addition of singers from churches in nearby towns. I remember hearing some gorgeous voices and wondering how it was that they weren't famous. They were that good. With the extra singers, we could tackle Handel's "Messiah." Another song that was favored was "Joy joy joy". Here's a link to a youtube performance of this. It is not our choir, but the arrangement is the same: <LINK HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlIv8Wz5JA" TITLE="TITLE">Joy joy joy</LINK>
Groups of choir members would go around the town to sing carols for people who couldn't get out much. In later years I would be visiting my parents, and carolers would come to our door (my parents didn't get out much by then). I would usually join the carolers. In my mother's last year, when she was at a nursing home, carolers would go up and down the halls. I would join them, too.
Speaking of caroling, I used to join members of my choral society for caroling in nursing homes around Natick, Massachusetts. One time, we had finished our singing, and were in the elevator going down, when the elevator broke down. There were 16 of us plus a dog in that elevator, and we were trapped for about half an hour. Luckily, one of us had a cell phone. She dialed 911, and the fire department showed up to get us out. We were all over the firemen who rescued us, calling them heroes. Someone took a picture of us. We called ourselves the "Singing sardines" [insert picture]
People from my choral society pitched in with the December music service in the church where the society rehearsed (we got a reduced rate on the rent we paid for the rehearsal hall by doing that.) The choir director was also the organist. He loved to feature the "Messe de Minuet" by Charpentier, plus carols by John Rutter and, often, music from "The Messiah" (which by that time I often could do from memory). We would start the service by processing in, singing "See amid the winter's snow" Here's a link to a choir singing this: <LINK HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPgo-UfyJgc" TITLE="TITLE">See amid the winter's snow</LINK>
. At the end of the service we would go down from the choir loft and climb the stairs to the balcony at the rear of the church. Gosh, those steps were steep!
The organist was fond of showing off his technique. He was fond of Daquin. Here's a Daquin piece that he loved doing:
<LINK HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eddCK_cwd_U" TITLE="TITLE">Daquin Noël X Organ</LINK>
. Scholar that he was, he even found a choral version of the piece.
Time has passed, and I no longer sing in the choir, at least not regularly. I've told the new director that I might consider joining them again once the mask mandate is lifted. Unfortunately, the holiday season is when people get together, and Covid-19 cases spike, so I don't see that happening any time soon.
When I turned eight, I was eligible to join the Junior Choir at my church. Not long after this, my mother became the Junior Choir Director. She took no nonsense from me, but she also kept her ears open for catchy new Christmas music. One song I remember her teaching us was "Silver bells," which was featured in the film "The lemon drop kid," in 1951. We learned it around 1957 or 1958, so it was relatively contemporary. There was a special Sunday service in December when the Junior Choir sang whatever we had been practicing all Fall. I started as a Soprano, but eventually I had to become an Alto.
As time went by, I became old enough to sing in the Senior Choir. My mother also sang in the Senior Choir, as did my father. I think I was 15 or 16 then, and my range had settled into a high tenor tessitura by then (my voice had started changing, but my high range was still there, so I had about four octaves. Not all of it was pretty....). Our church always had a Midnight service on Christmas Eve every year. The highlight of the service was the ending, when everyone in the congregation was given a lighted candle, and people would file out of the sanctuary holding the candles. The altar and organ would be adorned with poinsettias, and there would be electric candles in the windows , along with wreaths and other greenery. I remember the smell of dry air, scented with the papery oder of poinsettias and the tang of pine and spruce needles. My mother worried about someone dropping the candles and starting a fire, but somehow the worst case scenario never developed.
Sometimes the choir would be enhanced with the addition of singers from churches in nearby towns. I remember hearing some gorgeous voices and wondering how it was that they weren't famous. They were that good. With the extra singers, we could tackle Handel's "Messiah." Another song that was favored was "Joy joy joy". Here's a link to a youtube performance of this. It is not our choir, but the arrangement is the same: <LINK HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlIv8Wz5JA" TITLE="TITLE">Joy joy joy</LINK>
Groups of choir members would go around the town to sing carols for people who couldn't get out much. In later years I would be visiting my parents, and carolers would come to our door (my parents didn't get out much by then). I would usually join the carolers. In my mother's last year, when she was at a nursing home, carolers would go up and down the halls. I would join them, too.
Speaking of caroling, I used to join members of my choral society for caroling in nursing homes around Natick, Massachusetts. One time, we had finished our singing, and were in the elevator going down, when the elevator broke down. There were 16 of us plus a dog in that elevator, and we were trapped for about half an hour. Luckily, one of us had a cell phone. She dialed 911, and the fire department showed up to get us out. We were all over the firemen who rescued us, calling them heroes. Someone took a picture of us. We called ourselves the "Singing sardines" [insert picture]
People from my choral society pitched in with the December music service in the church where the society rehearsed (we got a reduced rate on the rent we paid for the rehearsal hall by doing that.) The choir director was also the organist. He loved to feature the "Messe de Minuet" by Charpentier, plus carols by John Rutter and, often, music from "The Messiah" (which by that time I often could do from memory). We would start the service by processing in, singing "See amid the winter's snow" Here's a link to a choir singing this: <LINK HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPgo-UfyJgc" TITLE="TITLE">See amid the winter's snow</LINK>
. At the end of the service we would go down from the choir loft and climb the stairs to the balcony at the rear of the church. Gosh, those steps were steep!
The organist was fond of showing off his technique. He was fond of Daquin. Here's a Daquin piece that he loved doing:
<LINK HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eddCK_cwd_U" TITLE="TITLE">Daquin Noël X Organ</LINK>
. Scholar that he was, he even found a choral version of the piece.
Time has passed, and I no longer sing in the choir, at least not regularly. I've told the new director that I might consider joining them again once the mask mandate is lifted. Unfortunately, the holiday season is when people get together, and Covid-19 cases spike, so I don't see that happening any time soon.
