Sick of Christmas music, yet? I am.

And yet...

I had this gig last week, and have all this music practiced up, and now I feel like I'm all dressed up with no place to go! So, I thought I'd record a few tunes to make a little "Christmas card CD" for family and friends.

Part of that work is tuning the piano. Some of you know that I've been learning to tune in my, umm, spare time. "The Mighty Lester" is not an easy piano to tune--being a cheap spinet with strings riddled with these things called "false beats." Anyway, I'm using an electronic tuning device to give me half a chance. Even then, I still can't produce an entirely clean unison, and some of these notes still sound pretty sour. I am not discouraged, however. My tech (and mentor) is scheduled a week from today, and I will keep tuning until he gets here in hopes that I can get it right by then, and he will walk in the door and say, "That's not my temperament," and I will say, "I did the best I could," which will be true, and he will proceed to help me to listen better and then he will fix my mistakes in time for me to put the music to use, somehow.

Anyway, that's the story of this little practice recording. It's "Silver Bells," by Livingston and Evans, arranged by Phillip Keveren as found in the Hal Leonard publication Jingle Jazz: 17 Christmas standards with a touch of cool. There's not a bum one in the bunch, imho. I love this book!

"Silver Bells" -- Keveren arr.

Anyway, as BachMach2 might say, "It's a good take." At least, it has some nice qualities to it, or I wouldn't be sharing it with you. I recorded it with my little Tascam DP-004 digital recorder using the internal condesor mics. If you catch the hum in the leader, it's the refrigerator, the washing machine and the dryer. Sorry. I wasn't shooting for a studio quality recording, yesterday--just tuning assessment. Also, sorry about the page turn.

--Andy

very nice Andy! A Merry Christmas to you!

Forrest

btw, the trick about not being sick of Christmas music is...

work where there is no canned music (check)
ride your bicycle where you need to go and leave the earbuds at home (check)
attend a Unitarian church (check)*
leave the TV off (check)

Therefore, your rendition of Silver Bells was a flash to my youth, and a welcome nostalgic respite. :-)

Forrest

I *did* sing and play a song at my Unitarian Church this past Sunday, but it's not one you'll hear in the mall :-)

Tim Minchin: White Wine in the Sun

I took your list, and checked it twice. Just tryin' to help...

HO-HO-HO!!!

And while I would not follow Tim Minchin into spiritual battle, I find that his sense of the absurd resonates with me much of the time. Plus, his music is just so darned good! Thanks for sharing the link to "White Wine in the Sun." Maybe when you set up to record, you can share your rendition with us! I imagine that your Sunday performance was heartfelt and well received.

Thanks for listening, Forrest! I'm glad you've been able to insulate yourself from the Christmas din and that this humble 'carols at the spinet' version of "Silver Bells" worked for you!

--Andy

Very pretty, Andy! I'm so glad you posted this--it's one of my favorite Christmas carols!

I'm not sick of Christmas music yet--I love it! I love this time of year. Have a very merry Christmas!

Kathy

Thanks, Kathy! I also worked up that George Shearing "Silver Bells" arrangement you shared with me. Maybe after my piano is really tuned, I'll record it, too!

Andy, that's great! I can't wait to hear it! Yes, please do record it and share!
Kathy

I don't get sick of Christmas music. Nice take! A thousand times more enjoyable than most other "nice takes".

LOL! Thanks, Damon! I started practicing for this Christmas gig in early September, and four hours worth of music is a lot to prepare. Well, you know! I sensed that my wife was getting tired of hearing Christmas music in early October, so I tried to practice when she was out of the house. I just realized, though, that I don't seem to be tired of playing these tunes and puzzling out how to play them better than I did before...

So, upon further reflection, I think what I am sick of is the playlist on the local "All Christmas Music All The Time" light rock station. It's in the air everywhere you go in town. They start the format at 12 midnight at the end of Thanksgiving Day, and go back to their normal format at 12 midnight when Christmas Day is done. My daughter loves it, so it's on at home a lot, and it seems to be piped through every shop and waiting room in town, too. I get tired of hearing the same handful of renditions over and over and over again. You would think that, with a good half-century of recorded music to choose from, someone could broaden the playlist a little. I mean, didn't anybody else besides the Jackson 5 sing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"? And do we have to hear it once every two hours?

I used to clean toilets and vacuum and such at that radio station twice a week at a time in my life when I was cobbling together light janitorial work for a living (hey, I'm not proud. A job is a job). One week, in mid-December, somebody posted a notice on the door that said, "This year, due to the overwhelming popularity of the 24/7 Christmas music format, 'All Christmas Music All The Time' will continue through Easter."

Aaauugh!!!