Christmas Music
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| photo: Eric Diesel |
It so happens that I Iove Christmas music. As with
Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and Halloween, I have extensive playlists on my
music media that I have curated through years of scavenging CD bins at Amoeba
and Tower, and record bins before that. I started collecting Christmas music on
vinyl in college, with one of the Very Special Christmas compilations,
contemporary at the time, than any of us who came of age then would recognize:
The Pointer Sisters' bubbling Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Alison Moyet's
haunting Coventry Carol, Stevie Nicks's dramatic Silent Night. From there, I
discovered the pleasures of Christmas music as the sub-specialty it is. Musicians
cross their respective genres to arrive in this specialized, distinctive place
that is a genre unto itself. That gathering, that unity, are the very essence
of this holiday.
Nostalgic holidays call for nostalgic sounds from the
homefront: The Andrews Sisters, Dinah Shore, Dick Haymes -- and no holiday is
complete without Bing Crosby quavering White Christmas. During the mid-century
hi-fi boom, every popular singer churned out a holiday album, many of them now
classic. Household favorites include Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Barbra
Streisand, Peggy Lee. Rock and roll rebelled with Brenda Lee rocking around the
Christmas Tree, Chuck Berry run run running with Rudolph, Connie Francis walking
through a winter wonderland, and Elvis's blue Christmas. Christmas jazz artists
included everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Vince Guaraldi, and R&B and soul,
everyone from Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to The Supremes. There are great
compilations of these recordings to scoop up, often on the cheap, during holiday shopping. None is more delightful than the holiday perversions of calypso and
easy listening that comprise the pastiche of Christmas Lounge.
One category of Christmas ornament not discussed in the
previous column was homemade ornaments. While overall we fetishize a handmade
Christmas, often we scoff at handmade ornaments as those actually are. Amusing,
even telling, as the holidays of nostalgia were primarily handmade, and being so
was a point of pride for the household. A brass-horn candlestick, a glass
fancy from a German manufacturer, even a humble box of Christmas tinsel, were special
items from the swankerie of a department store, and were treated with honor
accordingly. Tree ornaments often were made in the home of the celebrants,
of paper and tinsel, happiness and creativity, glitter and glue.
Here is a craft for your handmade holidays: a set of
ornaments utilizing simple techniques and inexpensive supplies, modeled after
holiday album covers of yore. The designs reflect the favorite genres of
Christmas music in our urban home, but I have provided a blank template if you
want to place a graphic from your favorite genre, perhaps country, classical,
new age. Making these ornaments is a simple, fun activity that, with
supervision, is safe for children old enough to use the tools, and it provides a
merry project for a holiday craft party. Just be sure to play lots of Christmas
music, whether you like it as sugary as a Christmas cookie or as warm as a hot toddy, as you cut, paste, and create to the music of Christmas.
Click here for a free printable download of this holiday
craft.
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