Monday, December 20, 2021

Posts from Christmas past – part one

I thought I’d do a round-up of posts I’ve made over the years which are relevant in some way to Christmas.

Here is part one. Part two follows next week.


Singing is for life, not just for Christmas

“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!

Read more …


Get your family singing this Christmas – turn off the TV!

Fed up with the family slumped in front of the TV every Christmas and not communicating?

Then turn off the TV and start singing!

Read more …


10 tips to get the whole family singing this Christmas

’Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la … Instead of slumping in front of the TV this Christmas, why not get the whole family singing?

Here are some tips for creating the perfect Christmas family sing-along.

Read more …


Putting your house in order (or, how to clear up after a busy choir season)

The choir season is over and the holidays are here. If your workspace is anything like mine, you’ll have sheet music scattered over the floor, piles of random notes from choir sessions, possible songs for the new season, CDs out of their cases, and various other flotsam and jetsam liberally sprinkled around the room.

photo by Jeffrey Beall

Time to get things sorted!

Read more …


“Christmas carols are dying out” – but are they really?

There have been two articles in the UK national press this week, one bemoaning the fact that we don’t sing Christmas carols together as much as we used to, and the other celebrating the thriving culture of pub Christmas carols in Yorkshire.


The truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Let’s look at the evidence.

Read more …


Busily doing nothing – 5 reasons why downtime is important for singers and choir leaders

Feel like you’re on a treadmill? Constantly learning and practising and planning but never arriving? Not enough time to catch your breath between concerts?

photo by Roger Gordon

Then you need some downtime! That is, time spent doing things completely unrelated to singing and choirs. Here’s why.

Read more …


Ideal presents for the choir leader in your life [humorous]

It’s that time of year again (in case you haven’t noticed). The magazines are full of Christmas present ideas, but they always seem to miss out choir leaders.

photo by asenat29

So here are some perfect presents for any choir leaders in your life (hint, hint!).

Read more …


Easy Christmas carol arrangements for choirs and audiences

If you’re anything like me, you leave everything to the last minute.

In which case, you might be short of simple arrangements for your Christmas concert. Well, I’m here to help!

Read more …


Find new songs for the winter and festive season

It’s the time of year when many choirs roll out their familiar winter repertoire. Whether it be Christmas carols or Hanukkah songs, they tend to be the same old favourites.

But what if you want to try something different? Here are some resources for discovering new songs for the winter festivals.

Read more …


 

Merry Christmas to all my readers — I love you all, and thanks for reading!!

 

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Chris Rowbury


Website: chrisrowbury.com

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Chris Rowbury


 

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Website: chrisrowbury.com

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Twitter: Twitter.com/ChrisRowbury

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