Why does it seem that planning for Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year. A local gift store is already selling ornaments.
Am requesting any advice on interesting obscure christmas music, or not so obscure christmas tunes/carols/music done in interesting ways that would work for the Box. From an ensemble standpoint, there may be a fiddle, flute/whistle, a drum, and a showboat piano player.
I'd am focusing on something quiet that might have a bit of movement to it. from an instrumentation priority standpoint, I have listed the avaliable instruments from highest to lowest preference for involvement.
Any suggestions appreciated. Any links to youtube vids or links to recordings greatly appreciated.
Well if it’s ITM tunes you require. Search the Tunes list here for Christmassy titles.
e.g. Christmas, snow, presents, baby boy Jesus, Santa Claus, reindeers, trees, puddings, enforced tedium, turkey, Morecombe and Wise Christmas Special, Noel, whatever Gaelic for Christmas is et cetera…
(I just checked, there are 22 tunes with “Christmas” in their name…) http://www.thesession.org/tunes/index/search?name=christmas&type_id=&mode_id=
If it’s Christmas tunes you require; Think of a corny old Christmas tune, arrange it for your box and play it!
e.g. White Christmas, the Slade one, Phil Spector’s famous album, Cliff Richard, all the Christian churchy type tunes including carols, Nat “King” Cole, Rolf Harris et cetera…
(or search for downloads of these tunes or tabs or music/ midi et cetera et cetera- there must be hundreds of thousands of Christmassy music things on the ‘net!) http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=christmas+tunes&meta=
I was looking for some prettier stuff that was not 'high church? or more traditional music.
I can get the Nat king cole, Sleigh ride, Mommy being intimitate with SC, Reindeer running over Grandma and things like that by going to the shopping mall I do those on my Piano accordion for the parties I end up doing after the Christmas parades. Little different goal on this request.
Marty- I have the Sansone album. It was one of my starting points. Very nice collection. thanks
Maggie Sansone also has another great Christmas album called Ancient Noels, which contains some even more obscure tunes. You should be able to find them at MaggiesMusic.com
I also find the big C a hassle. That's why I am trying to get my music part in order-First things First. Keeping my priorities straight.
Also, I have a couple of organized gigs that I need t o get my tunes in.....otherwise I am doomed to several evenings of corporate swill and endless Mel Torme. B flat seventh with an added 9th anyone?
The Dordan album Kenny posted is an excellent one, really fine playing, doesn't have the "we are doing this because it sells, not because we like it" feel that you get on some Christmas albums.
There is a nice tune (I think it is Shetland) called Christmas Day in the Morning, which you could search out.
My favorite Irish carol is the Wexford Carol, although with all its accidentals, it is not suited for all instruments. The way The Voice Squad harmonized it sends chills down my spine.
And there is a lovely A minor Irish carol whose name translates as "That Night in Bethlehem," that works well on the box with chords throughout--wonderfully mournful, perfectly evokes the feeling of a homeless family trapped in a stable, whose child is arriving before the wedding--a reminder of how humbly the savior arrived, and reminding us that the holiday is not all angelic hosts and triumph and Kings.
Al
I started with Wexford yesterday. Learned it on whistle a couple of weeks ago and it has alot of really nice overtones. One recording I found followed an air phrasing with almost a driving Kerry style block chord arrangement suspending the Cs and Gs on a Gbass. Trying to find an authoritative version of the music is tough though since everyone seems to do it differently.
Do you have the Gaelic on "That night..."? I would like to track it down. Sounds exactly what I am looking for on one of the slots I am trying to fill.
zippy, I did a little poking around, and the Gaelic is "Don Oiche Ud I MBeithil," I first learned it from the little tutorial book that came with my Clarke whistle years ago, but have since heard a number of settings of it. Beware--when searching for it through Google, I found one version of it in A major, which is NOT correct, and sounded hideous on the midi!
Christmas should be abolished, there is a suggestion. The god Mammon is worshiped enough as it is.
In May, yes May, I got an e-mail at work about the "team" Christmas dinner. Now they know I refuse to pay £30 for a meal that cost £5 the day before, and the day after, but they sent it to me, and then I got intpo trouble for throwing my computer out of the window.
Christmas in December is bad enough, the twelve days, but the 302 days of Christmas is not to be tolerated.
I could do well if the gross exchanging of gifts and godawful endless loop shopping center Christmas music were outlawed. I suppose I would allow the playing of the St. Bernard Chorus singing Jingle Bells. (some one has to have heard that gem- woof, woof, woof...woof woof woof....woof woof woof woof yap)
With my powers of persuasion, I have talked our music nazi....um....I mean music director into a pretty traditional tune with fiddle and flute sight unseen
Maybe I should sell used cars or real estate on a rock in the north sea
Let me check out the link. Now I have to put something together!
One of my favorite Christmas tunes is Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming. It is a hymn, but not one you hear very often. I heard for the first time last Christmas, and I love it! Simple tune, but very pretty IMO.
Lotsa great early (Medieval/ren) music with a Christmas theme. The vocal quarter Anonymous 4 has a great album with some tunes that work well for Irish instruments.
There was only ever one GREAT Christmas song, which included the line "Happy Christmas me ar#e, I'd rather be dead".
Very apt. At most times TV sells us that we should all be having fun at the weekend, do not let it interfere with work, but Christmas is sold as the greatest time of your life. When it turns out not to be, is it any wonder there are so many suicides at this time of the year.
And I hate being ripped off and "mugged" in shops, pubs, restaurants and the rest.
Christ Child Lullaby is a really nice tune too--similar to One Night in Bethlehem, very haunting and beautiful. I think it's maybe Scottish? When I figure out how, I'll try to post it on here someplace. Good luck with the search...and merry Christmas?
The well known carols "Angels from the realms of glory" and "Ding dong merrily on high" have tunes which were originally dance tunes. Try them as a set considerably faster than they would be played for singing and i think you'll have fun. They sound good on most instruments . We've also used "God rest ye merry, gentlemen" , but slower than usually sung, as a jazz-come-kletmer tune with a walking bass line. "In the bleak midwinter" can be played as a very haunting slow air.
All these tunes have the benefit of being at least slightly familiar to many, and ears prick up when they are heard in a different context.
Bye now
Keith
Indeed, bod, the only good thing about christmas is The Pogues. Have you got your tickets for The Nugent Hall on 22nd Dec? As for the rest of it........stuff it up your ar5es.....capitalist rip off in the extreme.....lets celebrate the birthday of some fictional tosser from 2000 years ago, give me a break. How many of you remembered that yesterday was the 40th anniversary of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's brutal murder? Not many, I'd guess.
"Christmas Day I'da Moarnin'" - which is the tune Al was referring to - is a Shetland "listening" tune, [ as opposed to dance tune, before anybody asks ]. Micho's jig is a completely different tune.
Hello "strayaway".
You are perfectly entitled to your views, but I have to point out that if by "fictional tosser" you refer to Jesus of Nazareth, there is plenty of contemporaneous written evidence (and I'm not referring to the Bible) to support the contention that he was indeed very non-fictional. Anything further to that is, of course, a matter of faith.
I agree entirely about the "capitalist rip-off" that seems to lie behind a lot of what passes for Christmas celebration nowadays. But I am still very much looking forward to our session nearest to Christmas where it has become obligatory for us to bash through "Fairytale of New York"!
Oh yes, and I did remember Che's birthday too!
Bye now
Keith
Che's murder, actually! Just to point out, I am not anti-christian or anti any other faith, for that matter. I have never seen any concrete evidence that the person known as jesus of Nazareth ever existed in the commonly portrayed form i.e. the son of an all powerful god in a mythical utopia called heaven. If this is your belief, I respect that. If it brings you happiness and comfort, good on you, enjoy it. I guess that this is not the proper forum to discuss such things so, remember the injustices carried out in the name of god and try to put them right.
I have a CD with different celtic style tunes. One of my favorites is a set with Ding Dong Merrily on High and St. Anne's Reel done at a fairly fast tempo. It's one of my favorite tunes on the whole CD.
The later postings certainly demonstrate what a diverse and philosophical bunch us musicians are :-0
I'll leave the theology for another day. As a Church musician, I always try do demonstrate my ecumenicalism because I have played services for Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopaleans, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Churches of God in Christ and schismatic catholics. Only thing I haven't done yet is a Bar Mitzvah.
I appreciate the thoughts. Actually some of the suggestions give me some nice opportunities to string together a couple of very nice traditional tunes as a counterpoint to the normal high church palaver that will be lined up with the Choir. (herself-aka my wife, aka 'She who must be obeyed') sings in the choir which is how I got roped into this one
Somebody give me chapter and verse as to the whereabouts of CONTEMPORARY written evidence as to the existence of Jesus Bar-Joseph, and I'll read it with interest. All Christian writing is post-Pauline conversion, ie a minimum of 15-20 years post Crucifixion, the Gospels much later still. On the other hand, much of what he actually said, as opposed to the later misinterpretations, is a very good guide as to how to live with your fellow persons in peace and amity.
Personally I think that Christmas should be banned in all ways to any non-demonstrably practising Christian. I'll be happy to fall back on Yule and other pagan rites, even though I attend a meeting for worship most Sundays.
And, Santa, don't forget that 5-course 'zouki......
Christmas, under a different name, was clebrated on 25th December for years and years and centuries before, with an outstanding freak of good luck, JC was born on the same day.
And JC and Che had a lot in common. Both socialists, both murdered, and both with Irish ancestry.
Christmas suggestions requested
Christmas suggestions requested
Why does it seem that planning for Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year. A local gift store is already selling ornaments.
Am requesting any advice on interesting obscure christmas music, or not so obscure christmas tunes/carols/music done in interesting ways that would work for the Box. From an ensemble standpoint, there may be a fiddle, flute/whistle, a drum, and a showboat piano player.
I'd am focusing on something quiet that might have a bit of movement to it. from an instrumentation priority standpoint, I have listed the avaliable instruments from highest to lowest preference for involvement.
Any suggestions appreciated. Any links to youtube vids or links to recordings greatly appreciated.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by zippydw
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Well if it’s ITM tunes you require. Search the Tunes list here for Christmassy titles.
e.g. Christmas, snow, presents, baby boy Jesus, Santa Claus, reindeers, trees, puddings, enforced tedium, turkey, Morecombe and Wise Christmas Special, Noel, whatever Gaelic for Christmas is et cetera…
(I just checked, there are 22 tunes with “Christmas” in their name…)
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/index/search?name=christmas&type_id=&mode_id=
If it’s Christmas tunes you require; Think of a corny old Christmas tune, arrange it for your box and play it!
e.g. White Christmas, the Slade one, Phil Spector’s famous album, Cliff Richard, all the Christian churchy type tunes including carols, Nat “King” Cole, Rolf Harris et cetera…
(or search for downloads of these tunes or tabs or music/ midi et cetera et cetera- there must be hundreds of thousands of Christmassy music things on the ‘net!)
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=christmas+tunes&meta=
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by yhaalhouse
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
I'll have a Davy Stuart 5-course 'zouki, Santa, please.
Oh, sorry, that wasn't what you were asking.....
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Maggie Sansone has a great Christmas album, I think called A Scottish Christmas. It has some great obscure (and a few not so obscure) tunes on it.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by MartySmith
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
I was looking for some prettier stuff that was not 'high church? or more traditional music.
I can get the Nat king cole, Sleigh ride, Mommy being intimitate with SC, Reindeer running over Grandma and things like that by going to the shopping mall
I do those on my Piano accordion for the parties I end up doing after the Christmas parades. Little different goal on this request.
Marty- I have the Sansone album. It was one of my starting points. Very nice collection. thanks
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by zippydw
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Maggie Sansone also has another great Christmas album called Ancient Noels, which contains some even more obscure tunes. You should be able to find them at MaggiesMusic.com
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by Jiml
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Forget about the 'C' word until December starts! You'll know when that is, the Easter eggs will start appearing in the shops.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by Wurzel
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Don't like Christmas much - but I do like the Christmas Eve Reel !
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by Tarrantella
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1839
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by Kenny
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
"The Oxford Book of Carols" ~ many have been put to various ends, including dance tunes... It is a fabulous book and collection. I miss mine...
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Someone played "Christmas Eve" this past Sunday and someone else exclaimed "Oh no! Not yet! I haven't even gotten Halloween costumes for the kids!"
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
I also find the big C a hassle. That's why I am trying to get my music part in order-First things First. Keeping my priorities straight.
Also, I have a couple of organized gigs that I need t o get my tunes in.....otherwise I am doomed to several evenings of corporate swill and endless Mel Torme. B flat seventh with an added 9th anyone?
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by zippydw
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
The Dordan album Kenny posted is an excellent one, really fine playing, doesn't have the "we are doing this because it sells, not because we like it" feel that you get on some Christmas albums.
There is a nice tune (I think it is Shetland) called Christmas Day in the Morning, which you could search out.
My favorite Irish carol is the Wexford Carol, although with all its accidentals, it is not suited for all instruments. The way The Voice Squad harmonized it sends chills down my spine.
And there is a lovely A minor Irish carol whose name translates as "That Night in Bethlehem," that works well on the box with chords throughout--wonderfully mournful, perfectly evokes the feeling of a homeless family trapped in a stable, whose child is arriving before the wedding--a reminder of how humbly the savior arrived, and reminding us that the holiday is not all angelic hosts and triumph and Kings.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Al
I started with Wexford yesterday. Learned it on whistle a couple of weeks ago and it has alot of really nice overtones. One recording I found followed an air phrasing with almost a driving Kerry style block chord arrangement suspending the Cs and Gs on a Gbass. Trying to find an authoritative version of the music is tough though since everyone seems to do it differently.
Do you have the Gaelic on "That night..."? I would like to track it down. Sounds exactly what I am looking for on one of the slots I am trying to fill.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by zippydw
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
zippy, I did a little poking around, and the Gaelic is "Don Oiche Ud I MBeithil," I first learned it from the little tutorial book that came with my Clarke whistle years ago, but have since heard a number of settings of it. Beware--when searching for it through Google, I found one version of it in A major, which is NOT correct, and sounded hideous on the midi!
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Christmas should be abolished, there is a suggestion. The god Mammon is worshiped enough as it is.
In May, yes May, I got an e-mail at work about the "team" Christmas dinner. Now they know I refuse to pay £30 for a meal that cost £5 the day before, and the day after, but they sent it to me, and then I got intpo trouble for throwing my computer out of the window.
Christmas in December is bad enough, the twelve days, but the 302 days of Christmas is not to be tolerated.
Hasta la siempre victoria.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Or Bliss, rather than abolish the holiday, one could strip away all the layers that have been added by merchants over the years, and we would all be a lot better off!
Here is a nice setting of Don Oiche Ud I MBeithil:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Nollaig-Reaganta-MP3-Download/10820140.html?fref=150051
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Forget Christmas. Try a little Klezmer! Fiddles (sometimes a clarinet - not Irish) but accordian/box would work well.
Happy Hanukkah.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by grumblingoldwoman
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Thanks
I could do well if the gross exchanging of gifts and godawful endless loop shopping center Christmas music were outlawed. I suppose I would allow the playing of the St. Bernard Chorus singing Jingle Bells. (some one has to have heard that gem- woof, woof, woof...woof woof woof....woof woof woof woof yap)
With my powers of persuasion, I have talked our music nazi....um....I mean music director into a pretty traditional tune with fiddle and flute sight unseen
Maybe I should sell used cars or real estate on a rock in the north sea
Let me check out the link. Now I have to put something together!
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by zippydw
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
One of my favorite Christmas tunes is Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming. It is a hymn, but not one you hear very often. I heard for the first time last Christmas, and I love it! Simple tune, but very pretty IMO.
Sara
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by Celtic Lass
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Lotsa great early (Medieval/ren) music with a Christmas theme. The vocal quarter Anonymous 4 has a great album with some tunes that work well for Irish instruments.
# Posted on October 9th 2007 by wormdiet
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
There was only ever one GREAT Christmas song, which included the line "Happy Christmas me ar#e, I'd rather be dead".
Very apt. At most times TV sells us that we should all be having fun at the weekend, do not let it interfere with work, but Christmas is sold as the greatest time of your life. When it turns out not to be, is it any wonder there are so many suicides at this time of the year.
And I hate being ripped off and "mugged" in shops, pubs, restaurants and the rest.
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Christ Child Lullaby is a really nice tune too--similar to One Night in Bethlehem, very haunting and beautiful. I think it's maybe Scottish? When I figure out how, I'll try to post it on here someplace. Good luck with the search...and merry Christmas?
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by mellow yellow
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
The well known carols "Angels from the realms of glory" and "Ding dong merrily on high" have tunes which were originally dance tunes. Try them as a set considerably faster than they would be played for singing and i think you'll have fun. They sound good on most instruments . We've also used "God rest ye merry, gentlemen" , but slower than usually sung, as a jazz-come-kletmer tune with a walking bass line. "In the bleak midwinter" can be played as a very haunting slow air.
All these tunes have the benefit of being at least slightly familiar to many, and ears prick up when they are heard in a different context.
Bye now
Keith
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by ocarolan
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
micko russel plays and sings christmas day in the morning its a jig.
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by Saint
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Indeed, bod, the only good thing about christmas is The Pogues. Have you got your tickets for The Nugent Hall on 22nd Dec? As for the rest of it........stuff it up your ar5es.....capitalist rip off in the extreme.....lets celebrate the birthday of some fictional tosser from 2000 years ago, give me a break. How many of you remembered that yesterday was the 40th anniversary of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's brutal murder? Not many, I'd guess.
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by strayaway
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
"Christmas Day I'da Moarnin'" - which is the tune Al was referring to - is a Shetland "listening" tune, [ as opposed to dance tune, before anybody asks ]. Micho's jig is a completely different tune.
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by Kenny
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Hello "strayaway".
You are perfectly entitled to your views, but I have to point out that if by "fictional tosser" you refer to Jesus of Nazareth, there is plenty of contemporaneous written evidence (and I'm not referring to the Bible) to support the contention that he was indeed very non-fictional. Anything further to that is, of course, a matter of faith.
I agree entirely about the "capitalist rip-off" that seems to lie behind a lot of what passes for Christmas celebration nowadays. But I am still very much looking forward to our session nearest to Christmas where it has become obligatory for us to bash through "Fairytale of New York"!
Oh yes, and I did remember Che's birthday too!
Bye now
Keith
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by ocarolan
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Che's murder, actually! Just to point out, I am not anti-christian or anti any other faith, for that matter. I have never seen any concrete evidence that the person known as jesus of Nazareth ever existed in the commonly portrayed form i.e. the son of an all powerful god in a mythical utopia called heaven. If this is your belief, I respect that. If it brings you happiness and comfort, good on you, enjoy it. I guess that this is not the proper forum to discuss such things so, remember the injustices carried out in the name of god and try to put them right.
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by strayaway
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
I have a CD with different celtic style tunes. One of my favorites is a set with Ding Dong Merrily on High and St. Anne's Reel done at a fairly fast tempo. It's one of my favorite tunes on the whole CD.
Sara
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by Celtic Lass
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
http://www.rzim.org/slice/slicetran.php?sliceid=1082
http://www.knowgodpersonally.org/page.php?page=WasJesusARealPerson
Sara
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by Celtic Lass
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
I do a mean "Little Drummer Boy" with obvious percussive accompaniment; though I'm a bit old for it.
btw strayaway: Reference to a "fictional tosser" in any context is hardly respectful of anything.
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by RockyRoader
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
The later postings certainly demonstrate what a diverse and philosophical bunch us musicians are :-0
I'll leave the theology for another day. As a Church musician, I always try do demonstrate my ecumenicalism because I have played services for Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopaleans, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Churches of God in Christ and schismatic catholics. Only thing I haven't done yet is a Bar Mitzvah.
I appreciate the thoughts. Actually some of the suggestions give me some nice opportunities to string together a couple of very nice traditional tunes as a counterpoint to the normal high church palaver that will be lined up with the Choir. (herself-aka my wife, aka 'She who must be obeyed') sings in the choir which is how I got roped into this one
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by zippydw
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Somebody give me chapter and verse as to the whereabouts of CONTEMPORARY written evidence as to the existence of Jesus Bar-Joseph, and I'll read it with interest. All Christian writing is post-Pauline conversion, ie a minimum of 15-20 years post Crucifixion, the Gospels much later still. On the other hand, much of what he actually said, as opposed to the later misinterpretations, is a very good guide as to how to live with your fellow persons in peace and amity.
Personally I think that Christmas should be banned in all ways to any non-demonstrably practising Christian. I'll be happy to fall back on Yule and other pagan rites, even though I attend a meeting for worship most Sundays.
And, Santa, don't forget that 5-course 'zouki......
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
Christmas, under a different name, was clebrated on 25th December for years and years and centuries before, with an outstanding freak of good luck, JC was born on the same day.
And JC and Che had a lot in common. Both socialists, both murdered, and both with Irish ancestry.
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Christmas suggestions requested
BB
That first reference is not to the too-well traveled joke in the States regarding JC's bachelor status, is it?
# Posted on October 10th 2007 by zippydw