That old Christmassy feeling once again

My Most Unforgettable Christmas Songs - Because some Christmas songs hold a special place in my heart. Waxing nostalgic here.

History of Some Well-loved Christmas Carols - Do You Know How Your Christmas Carols Came About?

Christmas Carols and the Victorian Era - Some of our favorite Christmas carols were either written or revised during the Victorian era. We owe the Victorians a debt of gratitude for their contribution to the music that's such an important part of our Christmas celebration today.

The Nostalgia of Victorian-Inspired Christmas Cards - Victorian art is synonymous to opulence, timeless beauty and nostalgia. Its style holds a timeless charm especially when used in items pertaining to the Christmas celebration.

Practical Guidelines on Gift Giving - It pays to plan ahead in order to avoid the burned-out feeling of the Christmas paranoia. Due to this, sometimes we tend to forget to enjoy the reason for the celebration. Throughout the years, I have applied three basic rules in my gift giving practices.

The Inspiring Story Behind the Song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - From a depressed widower father to a millionaire, how did Rudolph change the life of Robert "Bob" May?

Jingle Bells Was Inspired by a Drag Race

During the snowy winters of mid-19th century Boston, young men would engage themselves in a sleigh race between Medford and Malden squares. With this, James Pierpont captured the thrill of the race in his "One Horse Open Sleigh," written around 1950.
Pierpont was something of a rogue. He abandoned his family several times, joined the Confederate army against his father's wishes, and after his first wife died, he left behind his children to take another wife who was already pregnant with his child. With this inmind, two of the lesser known verses of the song that eventually became known as "Jingle Bells" take on a sly meaning:
A day or two ago, I thought I'd take a ride. And soon Miss Fannie Bright Was seated by my side. The horse was lean and lank; Misfortune seemed his lot, He got into a drifted bank, And there, we got upsot.
Now the ground is white, Go it while you're young. Take the girls tonight And sing this sleighing song; Just bet a bob-tailed bay Two-forty as his speed. Hitch him to an open sleigh And crack, you'll take the lead.
In 1857, after being sung by a choir during a Thanksgiving church service in Medford, the song caught up around New England, then spread southwards. By the late 19th century, James Pierpont's jaunty tune was the best known carol in the country.
With its simple, repetitive melody, "Jingle Bells" is usually the first Christmas song that kids learn to sing. It's right up there with the A-B-C's as a basic building block of our education.
And to think it all began with a drag race.

Step Into The Music

On Music appreciation and personal involvement

Music can be inspired by "steps"-- the action of the feet, like walk, hop, run, dance and march in the literal and psychomotor definition of the word, "step." In the more profound context, to step into the music means to involve one’s self in that wonderful realm of sound and emotion.
Apart from the sound that is heard when produced through the physical action of the fingers, arms or the parts of the body, true music comes from within the performer’s inner persona — translating notes on paper from an intellectual experience, permeating from the mind to the soul, then delivered to the audience who will experience music with the performer through different senses and feelings. It is then that one has stepped "into" the music.
It is a communal experience which gives one a greater appreciation for the art of music and movement, it’s physical and artistic demands on musicians, and the love for the craft instilled in every hardworking musician.
In this manner, Music can bring great joy and fullfillment to the lives of people.

Music Classified

Folk, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Twentienth Century, Modern, and Pop Music

Folk Music
The folk music of a culture is music that is passed down from one generation to the next, often without writing it down. It includes many different kinds of music: lullabies and children's singing games, tunes that everyone enjoys singing together or dancing to, songs for celebrations, ceremonies, and holidays. Folk music can gradually change as it gets passed along. Usually nobody remembers who originally wrote it, or who changed it, and there may be more than one version of it around. Since ancient times, folk music has been the music of ordinary people, not the ruling class or professional musicians. In every culture, children learned and remembered the music that everyone enjoyed the most, and the music that was important to their traditions and ceremonies.

Baroque Music
Extravagant, ornamented, fancy, irregular... These are all adjectives that describe the music of the Baroque period- a period in which the art and architecture in the world was also very ornate and fancy. The Baroque Era brought monumental changes to instrumental music. During this time, instrumental music became just as important as vocal music both in quality and quantity, as many new developments occurred in the instrumental world.
Keyboard music for the harpsichord was also a focus of compositions- there were many composers of the time that were amazing keyboardists. Bach was an example of a master composer of the Baroque who wrote very fancy-sounding keyboard music.

Classical Music
Music of the Classical period was also very structured and emotions were controlled. It was tuneful and simple.

The Classical period wanted balance and contrast. This was achieved using form. Music was not to be too loud or too soft, too fast or too slow. Nothing was done in the extreme. Control was more important than strong emotions.

The sonata and the symphony were the popular musical forms during this time.
Famous composers during this time included Mozart and Beethoven. The classical period ended when Beethoven died in 1827.


Romantic Music
Romanticism aspires to transcend immediate times or occasions, to reach back into the past and forward into the future. As against the classic ideals of order, equilibrium, control, and perfection within acknowledged limits, Romanticism cherishes freedom, movement, passion, and endless pursuit of the unattainable. It is this aspect which, perhaps, gives music of the Romantic Era its sense of longing, and heightened emotions. This impatience of limits leads to a breaking down of distinctions. The personality of the artists tends to become merged with the work of art; classical clarity is replaced by a certain intentional obscurity, definite statement by suggestion, allusion, or symbol. "Its incomparable power of suggestion which works on the mind directly, without the mediation of words, made it the dominant art, the one most representative of the 19th century".
In the Romantic era, music acquired poetic or philosophical meaning. Antiquity, folklore, history and exotic cultures were examined as possible sources of inspiration.


Twentieth Century MusicWith the coming of the 20th century, another evolution in the musical world emerged. While some of the early 20th century music can be seen as extensions of the late Romantic style, much of the music in this period can be seen as a rebellion. Composers did not look to build on what was standard but again created music freely and used sounds that went against the current grain. Twentieth century music can be described as being more refined, vague in form, delicate, and having a mysterious atmosphere.

Modern/ Pop Music
In the late 1950's that the idea of using tape to create a stand alone artistic work became more and more prevalent. However, it was with the studio recordings of the Beatles where the full use of multi-track recording and layering became common to popular music. The creation of this recording process transformed pop music.
The term pop music can refer to a specific kind of popular music. Popular music is also a general term for any type of music that is or has been a top seller. This includes most types of rock music and many kinds of jazz.