Stories & Songs - Christmas Edition! | Christmas Choral Music

A couple weeks ago, my dad and sister and I had the blessing of singing in our church choir's Christmas cantata. Our director put together a program of several choral pieces interspersed with Scripture readings. We had about 20 choir members and a 7-piece orchestra, and though our performance wasn't on as grand a scale as those in the videos below, it was beautiful nonetheless.



Our program began with Dan Forrest's magnificent arrangement of O Come, All Ye Faithful. This particular video features several different high school and college choirs from south Mississippi - they performed it last year. We loved singing it and wish we could do it again!



We also sang three of Mack Wilberg's arrangements! Fum, Fum, Fum was fun to perform but difficult to learn - the time signature changes multiple times starting at 0:36, and the rhythm in the the bass and alto parts was tricky.



Away in a Manger - such a beautiful, peaceful song. We sang it again on Christmas Eve.



I Saw Three Ships - oh, and we thought Fum, Fum, Fum! was hard to learn! Goodness gracious. We called this one "The Beast". The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, of which Mack Wilberg is the director, performed it at an even faster tempo than we did (and ours was still fast!). At 2:14 all four parts begin going up the scale chromatically in half-steps and thirds (sorry! #theorynerdprobs) and it was incredibly difficult to sing the right notes, on pitch, with the correct rhythm. Needless to say, we felt like we could conquer the world when we finally learned it!

Also, side note: I got to play the glockenspiel at 1:16! That was new experience for me, but a fun one. Our choir director asked me less than a month before the performance, "Hey, can you play the glockenspiel part?" "Sure! Um...remind me...what is a glockenspiel?" "Oh, it's like a small xylophone. You know how to play the piano, so you can play it." "Okay...!?" "I won't be able to get a spare set for you to practice on before the dress rehearsal, so you'll have only one day to practice." No pressure, right?! Thankfully, he actually was able to get a spare set, so I had a few days to make sure I had my part down. It wasn't too hard, but with only two handbells ringing while I was playing (at first), the sound was so exposed. If I made a mistake, I knew the whole congregation would hear it!



Earlier in Advent, we sang this breathtaking arrangement of Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming by Jan Sandström. We didn't have enough choir members to have voices sing the "Oooo" part, so our pianist played that on the organ. We stood in the foyer of the church and it was incredible to hear all of our voices echo in that room and into the sanctuary.



Several times now, we've enjoyed hearing another nearby church choir perform at Christmas, and they always begin their program with this gorgeous arrangement of Of the Father's Love Begotten by Paul Wohlgemuth. I could listen to it a dozen times in a row and not get tired of it!

For the love of music, and in celebration of the birth of our Savior,
Rebekah

Stories & Songs - Christmas Edition! | BYU Vocal Point

So...y'all remember a series of Christmas Edition Stories & Songs posts from last year? {Here they are}

I haven't happened upon a lot of new Christmas music since then, but I have become a big fan of BYU Vocal Point...and they sing some really wonderful arrangements of Christmas songs. If you like a capella music, and you like Christmas, you'll enjoy these videos:

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen

12 Days of Christmas

I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas

For the love of music, and in celebration of the birth of our Savior!

Rebekah