Let’s Talk about Carols

I’m somewhat of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas carols. I like Christmas carols, I really do. I especially like them when other people are singing and playing them. And I don’t MIND playing them and singing them myself, it’s just that I don’t often want to because I hear so many all day long. Fifty piano students means over 100 different carols played in my living room each week multiple times, and although I love my students greatly, to be honest, a lot of those carols are not played with vigor or accuracy. I tire very quickly of going shopping and hearing holiday music. (That’s why I love Target: you can get your essentials in a calm environment without being bombarded with someone else’s choice Christmas music).

So while I don’t choose to listen to holiday music on my own or play much of it either, there are always a few particular (often more obscure) carols that I grow to love each holiday season, and one special one that sticks out by itself. In the past some of my favorites have been:

The Holly and the Ivy (the original version from the Oxford Book of Carols is AWESOME).
He is Born, the Divine Christ Child
Coventry Carol
Lo How a Rose Er Blooming
How Far is it to Bethlehem?
Jesus, Our Brother, Kind and Good
Of the Father’s Love Begotten
Once in David’s Royal City
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

And this year the winner is: Bring a Torch Jeannette Isabella. The tune is just stuck in my head all the time, and I like it being there. I’m happy other people enjoy the same traditional common carols each year, and I’m happy there are plenty of lesser known carols to go around for folks like myself.