Christmas At Home – Five Carols for Upper Voices
Publisher: LAH Publications
Catalogue Number: LAH 79
Year: 2022
For: SSA
Duration: 11:00
This set of carols was commissioned by Jackie Hawley for the Cantiamo Women’s Choir in 2022. The set includes:
1. Deck the Hall – Old Welsh Air
2. O Christmas Tree – trad.
3. The Christmas Waltz – Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne
4. Let it snow! – Sammy Cahn and Jule Style
5. I wonder as I wander – John Jacob Niles
Deck the hall is available as a single movement. Other single movements available upon request!
These arrangements began as a Christmas project in December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel restrictions prevented me from being with family to celebrate the holidays. I decided to write some two-part arrangements for my mother and I to sing together over Zoom. The limited technology prevented us from both singing at the same and having our sound blend together in real time, so we each took turns going on mute, which meant we would also take turns hearing both our parts at once – while I muted, I could hear my voice and my mum’s voice and it felt like singing a duet.
The collection’s title, “Christmas at Home,” is based on the idea of carols that go with experiences I and perhaps others have celebrating the season at home. Here are the carols:
1. “Deck the Hall:” The first thing I do each year is decorate my house to get into the festive spirit. This carol was the first arrangement I wrote for my 2020 project, and for this collection, I’ve kept it in its two-part version in the spirit of how these arrangements all started, including the silly inside-jokes I put in the score for a laugh. My mother and I are both mezzos, so I’ve adjusted the arrangement to be more suitable for a section of sopranos and altos.
2. “O Christmas Tree:” Decorating the tree is always a special event in my family, and usually happens well after the house decorations go up. My arrangement is inspired by the peaceful and nostalgic feeling associated with gazing at the beautiful tree once the trimming is done.
3. “The Christmas Waltz:” This is a carol that comes up on rotation in our house, and one that is less frequently performed, but so lovely! The images of frosted window panes, candles gleaming inside, candy canes on the tree, and the world falling in love feel very “at home” to me, as does my memory of my mum singing this carol!
4. “Let it snow” is all about staying inside cozy by the fire while feeling completely content about the snow falling outside.
5. “I wonder as I wander:” This final carol is the only sacred selection in the set, but a favourite of mine, and one that for me captures the magically special feeling of winter solstice. The sense of stillness and mystery in this carol really reflects how I often feel while out for wintery neighbourhood and forest walks in the dark snowy evenings.
I welcome choirs to treat these arrangements flexibly as best fits your group. I’ve endeavoured to keep the scoring as clean as possible, but you may wish to move voices around in different verses to have more singers on the melody line, use small groups, solos, or other arrangements – go for it!
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