Why choirs may choose not to sing Christmas songs

• Posted by Chris Rowbury November 6 - Filed in Choir Post - 556 views

  [The views expressed in this blog are from my personal experiences from 25 years of leading non-auditioned community choirs in the UK, as well as adult singing workshops. My focus is on teaching by ear using a repertoire of songs from traditions across the globe. Your experiences may differ from mine, so do feel free to leave a comment and let's begin a conversation! A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]

   

  'Tis the season to be jolly (apparently) and to sing Christmas carols.

   

  

   

  But some choirs choose not to include Christmas songs in their repertoire. Why might this be?
  
  I’ve written before about Why my own choirs don’t sing carols at Christmas.
  
  

  learning carols in June?

  One of the main reasons a choir might not have Christmas songs in their repertoire is that it means starting to learn them too early in the year. Some choirs might even begin their Christmas repertoire in the summer! See Christmas comes but once a year — so when to learn all the carols?
   
  There are ways to avoid this though:
  
  

  • learn very simple carol arrangements that don’t take up much rehearsal time
  • adapt some existing repertoire by changing a few lyrics here and there, or use general celebration, or thankful/grateful songs.
  • have some multi-purpose wintery songs in your repertoire
  • don’t sing any Christmas songs at all

   

  christmas is a religious holiday

  Christmas is a Christian celebration at its heart (although it’s easy to forget that these days!). Some choirs choose not to sing religious songs at all, so songs about Christmas are out.
  
  Other choirs have members from different cultures and religious backgrounds who don’t celebrate Christmas. They might decide to celebrate some, or all, of the other festivals around the same time of year.
  
  Other festivals include Hanukkah (Jewish), Kwanzaa (African-American), HumanLight (Humanist), Yule (Pagan), Yalda (Iranian), and Koliada (Slavic).
  
  Although these festivals come from different traditions, they are often subsumed into what has become known as “the holiday season.”
  
  Some choirs mount a “holiday season” or “winter season” concert and may include a variety of songs from non-Christian traditions, or choose songs that celebrate the time of year. There are many traditional songs which celebrate the winter season and darkest time of the year.
  
  Then there are other choirs who just want to escape what can become a frantic time of year and choose not to put on a concert during December at all.
  
  What does your choir do?

   

   

   

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  Chris Rowbury

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