7 The "c" word part 2: Singing Carols

Now that we are well into the Festive season I feel that I can now say the word "Christmas" without a sense of panic. As a music teacher in a huge school that caters for pupils from the age of 4-18 there are plenty of carol concerts and services to keep me busy at the moment. Four this week, four last week, two next week...

The most positive thing about having a choir involved in several of these performances is that it gives them the chance to perform the music more than once. Usually, for the non-professional performer, you rehearse a piece for months then perform it only once. You get an amazing adrenalin rush at the thought of this one off gig but you also have in the back of your mind the thought that you only get one shot at getting it right and that all depends on one performance.

One of the great things about going on tour with an amateur orchestra or choir is that the performances get tighter yet more relaxed. By the end of even a short 3 concert tour you feel relaxed enough to enjoy the performance and, as a conductor, to really work the performers eg by using rubato and so on, safe in the knowledge that everyone knows the music well enough to move with you. As a performer you get to know the music very well and start to enjoy performing without being a slave to the dots on the page.

The same is true of the Christmas season if you happen to be performing at several events. The choir I run also had to deal with having two different conductors with very different interpretations of the music involved.

The other thing which performances at this time of the year bring to the fore is performing in different cicumstances to very different audiences. In the past fortnight my choir have sung at a church service, a church concert and a private dinner and have done so with great professionalism (average age 15). They've adapted to the differing occasions - solemn, solemn yet light hearted, light hearted yet potentially very pompous - and to the differing acoustics but all the time singing music they have got to know well. The final time they sing this repertoire together, at a huge carol service, they will be relaxed enough to enjoy the performance and experienced enough to deliver a great performance.

So, despite all my usual "bah humbug" at this time of year there is such a lot to be said for singing carols in concerts, services, out and about carol singing and so on. Rehearsals are fine. Performances are great. Several performances over several occasions in varying locations can really bring a group of performers close to their peak.

Obviously I'll be cursing Christmas music once again in October 2010 but, until then, let's hear it for the Green and Orange books!!!!!!!

1 The "C" Word

In September I cannot mention the "C" word...the festive period in December...the time of midwinter celebration...you know what I'm on about?  I like "that time of year" as much as anyone else and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the music involved, well, some of it.  Its just that for me and folk like me (ie music teachers) it starts in August when we need to start rehearsing for it.  I'm lucky that I usually manage to put it off until about mid October - ie in a week when I go back after half term -  but its always there nagging in the background or lurking somewhere in the music department.  Sleigh bells, cheesy slushy string arrangements, chestnuts roasting...from early October onward on TV (I have already seen a Christmas "C-word" ad on TV.  1st week of October)...at least supermarkets have the decency these days to go overboard about Halloween so at least you get "The Monster Mash" or similar for the last week of October.




But then it will be wall to wall jollity with the occasional piece of slow fluff for grandma.  To be fair to all the songwriters of the 30s-50s at least their songs had some sense of longevity and were well constructed (OK, Slade are OK too).  But then last year even Status Quo did one...


How the mighty have fallen.

A few years ago I was asked to present an assembly to our entire senior school (1200 11-18 year olds in a hall) about carols and then produce a cheesy "sing-along" backing track.  I'm sure they were fascinated (not) by the historical perspective of the carol as a celebratory song sung to a circle dance and so on.  Well, maybe not. They at least sang with gusto for a change.  Still, the cheesy backing had all manner of sleigh bells and jingly synth sounds and I'm really quite ashamed of it.

However, we at least have the doyen (however it is spelled and whatever it means) of popular song composers to cut through to the heart of the matter.  All power to Tom Lehrer's elbow!