Alex West Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 OK, I'll try again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animaterra Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Another wonderful recording of the Kris Kringle song, complete with concertina, is on "Hail, Smiling Morn" by John Roberts, Tony Barrand, et al as part of their Nowell Sing We Clear recordings. You can see the lyrics here: http://www.goldenhindmusic.com/ I'm delighted that I'll be seeing John, Tony and the gang this Friday in Dublin, NH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lildogturpy Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Al, lucky fellow you don't live in the politically correct New England area. Were I to even entertain leading a group of children in a few Christmas Carols outside of our wonderful "backward" Milford, I would be shone the door. In fact a few folks here at my college have questioned the wisdom of playing Victorian era carols on my concertina before the traditional reading of Dicken's A Christmas Carol. "Holiday Tree"... indeed! "Holiday Songs"...indeed! Bah, Humbug! The children will be thrilled Al. Maybe a friend could go along with a mini cam and tape the session? There was a piece on CBC radio about the guy from Newfoundland who donated the Christmas tree for Boston. He was very upset because the city would not call it a Christmas tree but called it a Holiday tree instead. This just seem rediculous to me - how many other faiths have a tree to celebrate a holiday at this time of year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted December 12, 2005 Author Share Posted December 12, 2005 If your good, Father Holiday will leave your Holiday presents under the Holiday tree on Holiday Day,near to the Holiday Holly and Mistletoe. Have a nice Holiday holiday. Alan Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Harrison Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Hi Al............I did what you suggested last week.My wife teachs a grade 3 class (8yrs) and asked me to come in , sing some carols and play some music. I decided to take along a large button accordion (Hohner Oeverture) and a small one (Castignari Lily)..............they loved the sound etc .I took accordions rather than concertina simply due to song accompaniment needs...........most songs I sing are in F or C plus Jingle Bells in G. Her school is a high needs school (85% of all kids there have had some Child Welfare intervention).Their response is just so positive...none of them had seen an accordion before let alone seen one played. It turned out they really didn't know any carols as such, just Christmas songs.......Rudolph the red etc, Here Comes Santa-Claus,Frosty the Snow -Man.They did know Silent Night,which they bellowed at top volume with enthusiasm !! The only odd thing was that they kept asking, insistently for Deck the Halls............which I didn't have on my play list. I said at the end we'd do it ( to their huge joy) and then I realized why. At the end they don't sing they usual words but " Set the teachers hair on fire, Fa La La etc" .........they thought this was SO funny we did it three times more !! I loved it, they loved it, their teacher loved it and the Principal came down from her office to see what all the noise was..........I told the kids how proud I was of them ! You're right Al................take any chance you can get to go into schools and play.Children are so interested to see live music.Here in Ontario ( as I'm else-where in the world) music has been cut from the curriculum and regular teachers have to teach it............... Wassail Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 (edited) ...take any chance you can get to go into schools and play.Children are so interested to see live music.Here in Ontario ( as I'm else-where in the world) music has been cut from the curriculum and regular teachers have to teach it............... Wassail Robin Man, I'm glad you said that Robin! I've been teaching a course for would-be elementary educators with a colleague which is designed to facilitate employing art and music in the classroom to enchance subject matter (sorry for the professorial b.s.) My every class meeting chant (besides the Dies Irae intoned before handing out the final) is for them to seek out folks in their community who play music, all types. Perhaps their children are in the classroom. In most cases musicians would love a chance to share their joy with children. Unfortunately, I fear this required course may be used as an attempt to undermine the music and art teacher. Bottom line administrators are always looking for something on the cheap. To circumvent this I stress coordination with the in school music and art teachers. At any rate, volunteer. In most cases you will be welcomed with open arms. p.s. I'm glad I moved on from post 666. Not cool in the Christmas season! Edited December 12, 2005 by Mark Evans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Booth Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Mark: When I went through my Ed. Courses at the local College the required class for music instruction was a 6-week course. We were taught (?) the flats and sharps in all major keys, the rudiments of theory, a swift glance at transposition and were expected to sight read and play a song on the piano-all in 6 weeks! I've been underwhelmed by theory ever since. In the long run, though, I've had a lot of fun taking the 2nd hand Bastari to school and playing whilst ushering the kids into the building in the morning before school. The response is teriffic, the kids love the size and sound and beg to play it, which I'm more than happy to let them do. Who knows what will come of it? Lots of fun and goodwill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 (edited) If your good, Father Holiday will leave your Holiday presents under the Holiday tree on Holiday Day,near to the Holiday Holly and Mistletoe.Have a nice Holiday holiday. A funny sort of protest, since the word "holiday" is just a slurred form of "Holy Day", in spite of ifs modern religion-neutral usage. And after all, those (not you, Alan) who are more concerned about what it's named than about its associations with peace, love, tolerance, humility, generosity, etc. aren't really observing it with "Christian" hearts. I myself was raised a Christian, but in my family the explicitly religious celebration of the day was confined to church. We had a Christmas tree -- not a "Holiday tree" -- for the Christmas holiday, but no manger scenes or bible reading at home, even though my parents were deeply religious. We sang "Christmas" carols, of which some mentioned Christ and some didn't. "Christmas" was primarily the name of a particular celebrated day, not in itself a declaration of religious intent any more than calling July 4th a "holiday". (Yeah, I know that some folks display a religious-style fervor with regard to the fireworks, but I don't think that's really "Christian".) After all, we didn't pronounce the "Christ" part of it the same way as when speaking his name by itself. In Denmark we have Christmas and a Christmas holiday -- which has similar Christian and social/cultural associations -- though I don't believe that either our word for Christmas (jul, pronounced "yule", and not capitalized) or for holiday (ferie, pronounced "ferry-uh") has any religious derivation. I'm not particularly religious myself, but I'll gladly sing a religious song with a good tune and what I consider a positive message, whether or not it's a Christmas song or at Christmas time. Not just Christian songs, either; there are some beautiful non-Christian religious songs with equally inspiring messages. But I think it's ironic at the moment to see news reports that religous "fundamentalists" in the US are loudly complaining that the crass commercial side of Christmas is not using "Christian" labels to sell its goods and philosophy. What is it? Do they feel their own message is so weak that they'll lose religious market share if they don't hitch a ride on the mass market bandwagon? Sing, folks. Sing and play wherever and whenever you can. Any text you like. Spread joy! Edited December 12, 2005 by JimLucas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 p.s. I'm glad I moved on from post 666. Not cool in the Christmas season! Silly superstition. You shoulda turned it over and waited for the Millenium! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cream-T Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 <big snip> ... though I don't believe that either our word for Christmas (jul, pronounced "yule", and not capitalized) or for holiday (ferie, pronounced "ferry-uh") has any religious derivation. Wandering off-topic for a moment, please allow me a reply to your comment: It may not have any Christian derivation, but Yule has certainly a religious context. It is a name for the Winter Solstice festival, which was celebrated long before Christmas. In fact, the Christians have based their winter festival not accidentally on this time of the year. Quite a few of what you will recognise as "Christmas" traditions are also of pagan origin - the Yule log, holly, mistletoe, to name but a few. If you want to see how important the Winter Solstice was to our ancestors, check out some of the stone circles in Denmark, I'd be very surprised if you didn't find at least some that are aligned to the sunset on the Winter Solstice. The best known example of an ancient monument with this alignment is of course Stonehenge. A merry Yuletide to you all! And now I go back to concertina practice, in order to make up for the off-topic post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 If you want to see how important the Winter Solstice was to our ancestors, check out some of the stone circles in Denmark, I'd be very surprised if you didn't find at least some that are aligned to the sunset on the Winter Solstice. The best known example of an ancient monument with this alignment is of course Stonehenge. The Anasasi were also very big on the Winter Solstice and their version of Stonehenge is in present day Colorado. Still very accurate. Cartoon I recieved today, funny....almost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Cartoon I recieved today, funny....almost I think it's time we put the X back into Xmas! ... Yes, we should move election day to December 25! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 (edited) Mark: When I went through my Ed. Courses at the local College the required class for music instruction was a 6-week course. We were taught (?) the flats and sharps in all major keys, the rudiments of theory, a swift glance at transposition and were expected to sight read and play a song on the piano-all in 6 weeks! I've been underwhelmed by theory ever since. I must agree with you Robert. Theory and forcing the young dears to play a tune on a recorder is a "suggested" part of the curriculum. Let Academic Freedom Ring Baby! Out with the useless and in with the applicable. We establish a langugage to discribe music, talk about universal structures and discuss a historical context within which to approach (in their minds) arcane musical genre (professorial b.s. again...sorry) and how it has developed and spawned musical descendants. I bring in me buddies who talk about their instruments and musical addictions and I force them to experience live music performances...like Seanma. Oh, I'm a mean ole crab I am. For some you'd think I was forcing them to drink poison. My course motto is the opening line to Cotton Eyed Joe: Where'd ja' come from, where'd ja' go, where'd ja' come from Cotton Eyed Joe. When it's over they'll know what a free reed instrument is and a hurdy-gurdy. Edited December 13, 2005 by Mark Evans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted December 12, 2005 Author Share Posted December 12, 2005 Great work Robin,thanks for letting me know. My bit for the children is on Wednesday,I have half the School (The tinies) in the Assembly Hall and the other half straight after(the slightly largers). I have a vague master plan and I will see how it goes. One question I would like to ask of you all is that most of my playing for carols is either in Bp or in G, but this is for adults, are the children OK in these keys? I will let you all know how it goes. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Both keys will work out very well. It's going to be great Al. They'll remember it forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted December 12, 2005 Author Share Posted December 12, 2005 Thanks Mark. I am thinking of doing The Twelve Days of Xmas with the children. I have had great fun with this every year by picking out groups to stand up and sing each verse(each day of the twelve) and of course individuals to do a solo(this will be a teacher) and when sung, sit down. I play this at normal speed until the run down from the twelth and then speed up.This is a great way to finish and always gets a great cheer.Let us hope it works this time. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex West Posted December 13, 2005 Share Posted December 13, 2005 Here goes again with the MP3 of Christmas Tree (Kris Kringle) Alex West Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex West Posted December 13, 2005 Share Posted December 13, 2005 Sorry about this, you must think I'm just teasing. I haven't got broadband at home and the file crashed after less than a third had made it to the post. If any of you are still with me, I'll try again from work when I can get the mp3 onto a memory stick Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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