Christmas Music

In about a week it will hit - non stop Christmas everywhere you turn.   Claire tells me that the stores are already decked out, so I plan not to go into any until I have no alternative.   Can't stand the Christmas commercialization.   So I won't rant about that, but instead, the good part - the music.

Yes - I like Christmas music a lot.   There is such a rich tradition of songs and tunes that is so ingrained that has come from years of listening.   Growing up in Oriskany NY, we lived right behind a restaurant, Trinkaus Manor.  The manor was a beautiful old mansion that operated as a restaurant and for years had the best Christmas light display in Upstate NY.   It was so bright my bedroom was never dark in the season.   What the Manor also did was play loud Christmas Music non-stop from dusk till about 11PM.   We had no choice but to listen in when it was lights out.    So for many of my formative years I listened to an aural barrage of Christmas songs and tunes for several hours a day from Thanksgiving until about mid-January.   At the time I hated it.

When I started playing seriously all those tunes remained in my head.   Some of the first stuff I played by ear was Christmas tunes - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, First Noel, Jolly Old St Nicholas, Joy to the World, and What Child is This.   Since I've been playing I've also been drawn into listening to acoustic covers, and Christmas music in Celtic, Old Time, Finger picking, and Cajun styling.   Can't get enough of it this time of year.   But most of all I just enjoy the heck out of playing the tunes on the mandolin and having a good time arranging them my own way.   I've done some performing of Christmas stuff and it is a blast.   People aren't used to hearing it in an acoustic setting with mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, and other acoustic instruments. 

Last year I performed accompanying a reading of the Christmas Carol and had a hand in arranging the music - one of the most enjoyable gigs I've done in a long time.  Not only was the music a blast, but my daughter Kelly did the singing and I played with three good music friends Mike Hoke, Skip Mansur, and Mike Carroll.   The recordings of our practice session were good enough to make my Ipod.

So for the next month or so I'll be driving Claire crazy playing my Christmas stuff in the music room for my own amusement.  Fun - you bet. 

Come to think of it I may have to start a Christmas Band one of these days!