# Christmas Music



## maxiogee

*It's time for some seasonal snow*

A news item on our national TV station this evening reported that a new European record for carol singing had been set in a sports stadium in the middle of the country.

"Nothing too remarkable there," you might think, "why is Tony bringing this to our attention here?"
The clip they played, available at the bottom of this page, has them singing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" - which is very Christmassy alright, but it isn't what we used to regard as a "carol".

Do you get carol-singers in your neighbourhood?
Do they sing "carols" or any old stuff which is 'seasonal'?
Do those in the southern hemisphere get into the whole 'snow' thing - "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" etc.?


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## KaRiNe_Fr

There is no real "carol" in the south of France, even if "Jésus est né en provence,  entre Avignon et Les Saintes-Maries (*)" ... 

 (*) Jesus was born in provence between Avignon and Les Saintes-Maries (de la mer). This is part of the lyrics of a well known old song...


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## gaer

maxiogee said:


> *It's time for some seasonal snow*





maxiogee said:


> A news item on our national TV station this evening reported that a new European record for carol singing had been set in a sports stadium in the middle of the country.
> 
> "Nothing too remarkable there," you might think, "why is Tony bringing this to our attention here?"
> The clip they played, available at the bottom of this page, has them singing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" - which is very Christmassy alright, but it isn't what we used to regard as a "carol".
> 
> Do you get carol-singers in your neighbourhood?
> Do they sing "carols" or any old stuff which is 'seasonal'?
> Do those in the southern hemisphere get into the whole 'snow' thing - "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" etc.?


Here's what interests me as a person who is asked to give out music at this time of year to people learning to play an instrument:

_In the meadow we can build a snowman,_
_Then pretend that he is Parson Brown_

"Parso Brown" is the only connection to either religion or Christmas in "Winter Wonderland".

"Jingle Bells", the song my adult and young students ask to learn more than any other "tune", makes no mention of Christmas or religion.


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## Sallyb36

They sing any seasonal stuff, and I use the word sing very loosely!


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## danielfranco

And taking a riff out of Sally's sig, they even sing (kind of) "Happy Xmas (War is over)" by Lennon, as if he had been one of the three magi 'round the manger, or something. I mean, it's not supposed to be a carol, right?


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## ireney

North hemisphere here but south enough for no snow to appear in our Christmas carols 
Carol singers come around in the morning of Xmass day, New Year's Day and Epiphany singing the traditional tunes of Christmas and expecting money in return for waking you up  after relentlesssly ringing your doorbell/buzzer and executing the Xmas carols brutally (and I really hate that money part by the way, especially since I have never seen kids whose clothes don't make it clear that they come from well-off families)


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## danielfranco

Wow, they beg for alms, do they? That's a bit much, I would think. Over here we just stuff them with some stale fruitcake (boss' office present, bastard) and pass around a flask of some rather spiked eggnog and hope nobody gets tipsy enough to go oopsy-daisy on the ice-patched sidewalk.


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## ireney

The funny thing is that traditionally we used to give foodstuff to kids singing the carols since the tradition started when  foodstuff and sweets were precious and well-off kids would never sing the carols outside their own home (it's always kiddies so alcohol is out) but in modern days it is considered "cheap" for some reason to follow the tradition by giving sweets to the brats kids who "follow" the tradition. So they mangle the tradition and then you can see them standing in a corner  discussing about how many more people they have to torture sing the carols to to get the new game for X or whatever.

And of course there's always the fear that a bully will waylay some of them to take their earnings. 

Needless to say I barricade myself in my home and feel nostalgic about my parents' home where it was possible to turn the doorbells off.


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## TimeHP

During Christmas days I just listen to much more jazz cds. A lot of Louis Armstrong, Duke Elllington, Ella Fitzgerald and some Benny Goodman. I also listen to a lot of Beethoven and Mozart. I can't explain why, but this is what I feel my Christmas music.
I keep to listen a lot of pop music too, but in some way rock and pop aren't so 'natalizi' as classical and jazz music.

About carols.
Sometimes in some streets of the centre Christmas carols are played and some schools have their Christmas concerts with little children singing Christmas songs. It's always a bit touching for me, with some tears in my eyes (Lol).

Ciao


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## AnnieF

We don't get many carol singers these days where I live, though there was a bunch round on Friday evening - two quick choruses of "We wish you a Merry Christmas ... figgy pudding etc " and they were ringing the doorbell!

My all-time favourite, that always makes me feel really Christmassy, is hearing the Salvation Army playing traditional carols in the town square.  It always gives me a good, warm feeling inside!

And no, "Jingle Bells" may be a Christmas song, but it ain't no carol!


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## Poetic Device

In my area (or where I used to live in Brooklyn) we never see carolers on the street/sidewalk, let alone door-to-door.  However, this past week I decided to go holiday shopping for my neighbours at three in the morning (Savvy refused to sleep so we went for a little ride) I saw an older gentleman playing a banjo on the sidewalk and singing *Hark the Harold Angel Sing*.  It was the coolest thing that I have ever seen.  Does that constitute as caroling?


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## Estiben

Poetic Device said:


> I saw an older gentleman playing a banjo on the sidewalk and singing *Hark the Harold Angel Sing*. It was the coolest thing that I have ever seen. Does that constitute as caroling?


 No cabe duda! Definitely, even if he didn't sing well.


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## Maja

maxiogee said:


> Do you get carol-singers in your neighbourhood?
> Do they sing "carols" or any old stuff which is 'seasonal'?


We don't have that custom in Serbia. 

Little curiosity: we celebrate Christmas on Jan 7th as our  Church honors the Julian calendar.


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## Etcetera

In "good old days", Christmas carols were very popular in Russia. And not only carols, but also short folk songs called колядки. Children used to sing them, moving from house to house (in countryside - do you remember I am speaking of old, pre-revolutionary Russia?), and the people to whom they sang gave them Christmas presents. 
A nice custom. Unfortunately, totally vanished by now.


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## PianoMan

Etcetera said:


> short folk songs called колядки.


Pronounced: Kolyadki?

Well, anyway, we never do much carroling in the U.S. anymore, but it's almost guaranteed that a good handful of radio stations will be devoted to Christmas carols for an entire month prior.  Especially in California, I think carroling was not nearly as popular as in the Midwest, even when it was more common.


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## Poetic Device

God I wish that there was a station that played Chanukkah music (not to be anti-Christmas because I celebrate both).


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## ElaineG

The other day, outside my office there was a Mitzvah Tank (a trailer sent around the city by the Lubavitchers to encourage Jews to be more observant) driving around playing Hanukkah "carols".  It was cute.


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## TrentinaNE

gaer said:


> Here's what interests me as a person who is asked to give out music at this time of year to people learning to play an instrument:
> 
> _In the meadow we can build a snowman,_
> _Then pretend that he is Parson Brown_
> 
> "Parson Brown" is the only connection to either religion or Christmas in "Winter Wonderland".


And it's changed to "and pretend that he's a circus clown" in some recordings. Though I suspect that's because fewer and fewer people know what "parson" means these days, as opposed to their being offended by it.  

Elaine, my husband and I encountered a Mitzvah Tank in Times Square after Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral (about 1:30 a.m. on Christmas Day) several years ago. It was surreal!


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## mytwolangs

danielfranco said:


> Wow, they beg for alms, do they? That's a bit much, I would think. Over here we just stuff them with some stale fruitcake (boss' office present, bastard)


 
Giving anyone a fruitcake is just cruel.

In my parts we do not have carolers. I live in a huge city. I don't think our locals would be impressed.

Slightly off - I have not been tortured with that "12 days of x-mas" song in about 10 years. This proves there is a God.


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## PianoMan

I sympathize with one's want for a Hanukkah station, being Jewish myself.  But I think it would eliminate all the dignity in the holiday if we had that.  Just looks like we're trying too hard, kinda tacky.


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## ElaineG

PianoMan said:


> I sympathize with one's want for a Hanukkah station, being Jewish myself. But I think it would eliminate all the dignity in the holiday if we had that. Just looks like we're trying too hard, kinda tacky.


 
Hanukkah's over, but next year try this.  One would hope it's something more dignified than round the clock Adam Sandler!


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## Etcetera

PianoMan said:


> Pronounced: Kolyadki?


Yes. The stress falls on the second syllable.


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## Poetic Device

ElaineG said:


> Hanukkah's over, but next year try this. One would hope it's something more dignified than round the clock Adam Sandler!


 
Cool, cool.  Thanks a lot.  And also, I never thought it to be tacky to want your religion/holiday recognized, though I 100% understandwhat you are talking about.


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## Nunty

In the Old City of Jerusalem, there is a tradition of going around to old people's homes at the beginning of Advent, singing and offering food. Here are some photos.


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## Poetic Device

I heard on the radio this song "Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire" instead of "Chestnuts roasting on an Open Fire". Does any other country have things like that?


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## calembourde

maxiogee said:


> Do those in the southern hemisphere get into the whole 'snow' thing - "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" etc.?



It's not at all uncommon to hear 'Walking in a Winter Wonderland' and 'Jingle Bells' in New Zealand at Christmas time. People don't even seem to notice that those songs have no connection with Christmas whatsoever. 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas' is also common, but at least that one mentions Christmas. We decorate the windows with fake snow from spray cans. A couple of years ago it snowed somewhere in the South Island a few days before Christmas, but that's not the norm for the middle of summer.

There's an ad for a tyre company featuring the 'Winter Wonderland' song which was played the last few Christmases I was in New Zealand.

I have never had anyone come around singing carols either in NZ or here in Switzerland (where I have only been for one Christmas), though. I did have a group of kids come around on Halloween last year and sing a song though, despite the fact that as far as I know Halloween is an American tradition and it doesn't generally include singing.


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## Victoria32

maxiogee said:


> *It's time for some seasonal snow*
> 
> A news item on our national TV station this evening reported that a new European record for carol singing had been set in a sports stadium in the middle of the country.
> 
> "Nothing too remarkable there," you might think, "why is Tony bringing this to our attention here?"
> The clip they played, available at the bottom of this page, has them singing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" - which is very Christmassy alright, but it isn't what we used to regard as a "carol".
> 
> Do you get carol-singers in your neighbourhood?
> Do they sing "carols" or any old stuff which is 'seasonal'?
> Do those in the southern hemisphere get into the whole 'snow' thing - "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" etc.?


Oh yes! All the wintery songs are everywhere, as Calembourde says... Nary a religious one, in what has proudly proclaimed itself the most secular country in the world! 



calembourde said:


> A couple of years ago it snowed somewhere in the South Island a few days before Christmas, but that's not the norm for the middle of summer.


It was predicted for this Christmas, although a friend in the South Island told me that it hadn't actually snowed - at least where he was. It is horribly cold here though for "summer"...


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