[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]
“Hark the herald angels sing”. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. Slade’s “Merry Christmas everybody”. “White Christmas” on TV. Midnight mass at the local church.
For many people Christmas is the only time of year that they sing or go to see a choir perform. But singing is not just for Christmas, it’s for life!
Songs are everywhere at Christmas: in coffee shops, in clothes shops, on buses, in the street, on the radio. It’s the one time of year when we know pretty much every song we hear. The one time of year that has so many songs written specially for it.
And (often despite ourselves) we join in – either out loud or in our heads.
We’ve heard these songs so many times that we know the tunes inside out and all the words. It feels great to be in step with the rest of the world and to be sharing the joy.
Some of us never, ever go to a choral concert, but we do go to midnight mass once a year, or our kids’ nativity play, or the local choir’s Christmas extravaganza. And we love it!
But rather like the Christmas tree baubles that are put away in a box to gather dust for the rest of the year, when the New Year arrives (after a final drunken rendition of Auld Lang Syne), we lock our singing voices away and let them lie rusting until we dust them off in a year’s time.
Why??!!
I’ve seen the light in people’s eyes and the huge smiles on their faces when they join in with Christmas carols. Why not sing like all the time?
Join your local choir, learn a few new songs (it’s not hard) and then you’ll have even more opportunities to sing with others.
Or if joining in is not your thing, then go to more live singing concerts. There are plenty of them around ranging from rock choirs through formal classical choral societies to world music choirs and songs from the shows. Something for everyone and not just at Christmas (and not all religious).
Make singing your New Year’s resolution for 2015. You’ll not regret it.
PS. Since you’re reading this already, you may not need convincing! So why not pass it on to people who need more singing in their lives? You know it makes sense.
Chris Rowbury
website: chrisrowbury.com
blog: blog.chrisrowbury.com
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