The joyful sounds of Christmas are everywhere.

The joyful sounds of Christmas are everywhere.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring
Is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.” ~ Meredith Wilson, “It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas.

“Christmas in her heart”. (mixed media and collage on 6×9″ Bee Paper 140lb. watercolour paper.). This caroller, previously painted in 2016  was reproduced on posters and on tickets for our choir’s first Christmas concert (2023) since Covid.

There are many sounds associated with Christmas.

This choir girl singing in the snow was completed in 2016 just before Christmas.

I did join a choir in 2023 and found it a very rewarding activity even though it was quite challenging and took time away from my art starting with our first meetings in September.

Starting in November, Christmas music is a must in my house. This love of Christmas music was passed to me by my mother. My sons still listen to some of the corny music I introduced them to when they were children. One of my sons joined our choir this year. He quickly learned that choral singing requires many hours of practice, especially so when there are so few tenors in our choir. In fact, several women, myself included, were tenors last year. This year, I sang mostly alto.

Choir music is a sign  that Christmas is near.

This year, our concert was held last Sunday, December 15. We sang traditional songs and more than a few more contemporary songs. I had one or the other song from our repertoire in my head from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed in the weeks preceding the concert. In fact, hubby said that he woke up one night and I was singing in my sleep!

“The virtual choir would never replace live music or a real choir, but the same sort of focus and intent and esprit de corps is evident in both, and at the end of the day it seems to me a genuine artistic expression. ” Eric Whitacre.

Being in a choir definitely requires lots of focus. Eric Whitacre is the composer of one of the songs we sang at our concert – Sing Gently.

Sing Gently was written in 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic and was sung by 17,562 singers from 129 countries in the Virtual Choir. It was one of my favourite songs this year. Our choir director wanted to introduce us, as well as our audience, to new songs and I am glad she did.

We also sang Snowman by Sia which was another song that was new to me and probably many people in our audience.

Of course, we sang traditional well-loved songs  in English, French, and Latin.

May Christmas carols fill you with joy and remembrances of times past.

For those of you who celebrate – Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël.

Happy holidays!

Louise