Beethoven's Birth house museum.

In Half Term, CBC and I travelled to Germany for our holiday.  CBC LOVES a nomadic holiday- a few days here and there before moving on. It's fun but does end up with lots of travel and can be more expensive. (especially when you only book the accommodation at 5am of the morning you are travelling)

Our first day, he had his Garden Design course so we didn't travel till afternoon and we were driving so after we travelled on Le Shuttle through the Eurotunnel which ended up being an hour and a half delayed, we ended up in a small town near Brussels around 10pm local time.  We stayed in a B&B which was pleasant but simple and then departed the next morning.  We drove for several hours through Belgium and then Germany and decided to stop off in Bonn as we wanted to visit Beethoven's birth house museum.

We parked in a multi-storey carpark off the main street in Bonn and walked to the museum.

Here it is.

I was SO happy to be in Germany as I hate being that tourist who doesn't speak the language or does so badly. I did A level German and adore speaking German even though I have forgotten a lot in the 26 years since I stopped speaking it regularly. It was so nice to be able to communicate in the language. CBC, who doesn't speak German, was very relieved.

You download an app to your phone that will play you audio about each exhibit which is really handy.

The museum is divided into different exhibitions and rooms.

• Beethoven perceived by his contemporaries
• Bonn in times of transition
• Work and Everyday life
• Network. Friends
• Network. Patrons
• Network. Loved ones
• The Artist and his Work
• Blow of fate

We started off in the room with images of Beethoven himself.

I loved the Beethoven bust by Franz Klein, 1812.

It was an authentic representation of the composer. He used a plaster cast of Beethoven's face.  The composer allowed the plaster cast to be taken twice after a panic the first time when he thought he mgiht suffocate.  The only part that was formed later was the eyes as these were obviously closed for the cast.

Two of his friends from the Streicher family commissioned this work of him.  They owned piano factory and they had busts of favourite composers such as Schiller and Haydn and Andreas Streicher who was also a respected composer.

This small miniature was by Christian Hornemen from 1802, Danish painter, during his stay in Vienna. He used the finest paintbrush onto ivory. This shows Beethoven, 31 year old, the first high point of his career where he was truly feeling  and perceived as successful.  He had fashionable look- he was the desired guest of every Viennese salon.   He apparently wasn't usually this well coiffed.  He was often described as being scruffy and didn't like having to dress up.!  He was fond of this small portrait. He gave this to Stefan Von Broining,  a childhood friend, as a peace offering after a fierce argument.

The most famous portrait of Beethoven.  By Joseph Stieler.  He was a highly regarded portraiture of the time.  Beethoven sat 4 times for this portrait. It was unusual for Beethoven to sit still for any length of time so this is quite special. It's the best depiction of him. This is only portrait that actually shows him composing. He holds the  Misse Solemnis score in his hand.  He had a  serious discussion with Stieler to discuss which  work and which page should be depicted.  He chose the Credo.

The forest background expresses Beethoven's love of nature. Stieler created an idealised image of Beethoven. 

For me, this portrait is the most famous image of Beethoven I know so to stand in front of it was pretty special!

The Credo depicted. Have a listen as you read on.

I was very excited to see Beethoven's viola! I didn't know he played the viola! He played this instrument from the age of 19. He was a violist with the royal court orchestra.  He was also the organist for this ensemble.  He got to know and play most of the well known  repertoire of the day through this job. He began music aged 5 with his father Johann on violin.  His father was very strict and told him off for poor playing, at least according to a family friend so it's hard to know how mcuh was true.  We know that Beethoven's first concert was aged 7 in Cologne by his dad. He began organ lessons and then violin with good teachers, sought by his father.  He also attended Elementary school but not secondary school as apparently he wasn't very good at languages or maths!

This is the parts of the organ he played at the time.

This model of the city of Bonn at this time was really interesting to look at and from a child's view, looks incredible.

One thing I loved was seeing Beethoven's manuscripts before they were copied by a copywriter for publishing.  I found it all very scruffy and hard to read so I am glad that wasn't my job!

One thing that many know about Beethoven was that he lost his hearing completely by the end of his life. This is extremely difficult for anyone this happens to. For a musician, this is and must have been utter torture. 

Here was a collection of his various ear trumpets.   The museum taught us that he tried many quirky treatments for hearing loss.  He also had conversation books where his friends would write replies to things he said.  It seems like he was very grumpy and rude!

Another score.

Here's the exterior garden.

I haven't shown you everything, just a few little highlights.

There was a lovely listening room for his Juvenilia with earphones and a lovely chill out room where there are sometimes live performances.  They played a recording of his Moonlight Sonata with a screen that highlighted the notes on the original handwritten score.

We loved the museum but were now very hungry.

We found a patisserie round the corner.

I ate this wonderful chocolate and hazelnut mousse!

Here's a massive dummy in the shop of Beethoven!

After this, CBC ended up buying one of two little souvenirs. I ended up buying a lovely little leather violin keyring in a gift shop opposite which I plan to wear on my belt as a cute little charm!  This was my only holiday souvenir.

We had a bit of a panic with the machine in the carpark as it wouldn't accept our payment but had taken the card and the money.  Curiously, it had a 'call for help' button on it. I called it and in my German, I tried to explain it had taken our money and now wouldn't give anything back!  Miraculously, they managed to make it work remotely and all fine!

It was now time to drive to Frankfurt!  We found bargain hotel in Frankfurt called Hotel Cult. We paid £46 for the night in a double room including amazing buffet breakfast. We found free parking on the street. I'm not too fond of the overly stodgy and meaty traditional German fare and I didn't want this for a whole week so I looked up something local and that night, we walked down the street to a lovely family run Vietnamese restaurant for dinner where vegetables were plentiful!

I should state something gutting I realised on the day we there.  Originally, we had been planning to stay in Darmstadt as that was near the location we needed to be the next day. I discovered that THAT very day, in DARMSTADT, was the famous German Doctor Who convention, Timelash, which I have wanted to attend for a few years and Paul McGann, the Doctor Who actor I have always wanted to meet was there.  I was literally going to be in the town on the day of this German convention! Sigh...another time.

x

Star in the Sky!

 Hello my lovely blog friends!

Sending you much love and best wishes for a blessed and peaceful Christmas.  Not too busy, not lonely, not too much, not too little but a Christmas of contentment, a Christmas of enough a Christmas of hope and light, a Christmas of knowing your worth and importance to others.  I am thankful for what I have this year, particularly in light of such a sadness and difficulties others face.

As is my annual tradition, I wrote a song for my school which I always share here as part of my Advent.

Every year, I say that it is one of my favourite traditions. I share it here not for praise, I don't share it here for comments (though any feedback or criticism is always welcome!) but for the mere act of sharing something I have created. I know that sometimes, some lyrics or music speak to individuals in the moment they are in and that is enough for me.

Last year, I had intended to write a song about the Star but it eluded me and my ode to Psalm 150 came instead.  I didn't know where this song was going when I wrote it but I intended it to start with solos of the wise men/individuals pondering the arrival of the new star and what it meant which would then segue into a slightly faster section.  This year, the fast section came to me when hoovering the house.  I then had to try and remember what I was singing and try to record it before I forgot it so I would have time to notate it at a later date and work out the piano accompaniment.  The children really liked it (in the words of N, "I cannot believe you wrote that!") and particularly all clamoured for the solos (The beginning section and the coda at the end are solos).  I wish I could have shared the recording of the children singing it (the four soloists all had such beautiful, sweet voices) but I had a bit of  a technology fail on the day and I am not sure how to get it off my iPad from the whole recording).  So instead, you have me singing it with accompaniment of Police car siren in verse 3 plus a slight mistake on the lyrics! It's not the finest recording or rendition but I hope it shows enough.

New star in the sky, what does it mean?

New star in the sky, we have all seen.

New star in the sky, what does it mean?

New star in the sky, burning bright on high,

What does it mean?

Star-light lead us,  star-light teach us,

Guide our foot-steps, be our bea- con

We'll keep faithful to this journey!

Seek the message and find the new king!

Bright star in the heav'ns for a new king,

Bright star in the heav'ns to it we sing,

Bright star in the heavn's, gifts we will bring,

Bright star in the heavn's on it we depend

For a true King.

Starlight lead us...

Great light in the realms bringing us hope,

Great light in the realms bringing us hope,

Great light in the realms bringing us hope,

Great light in the realms, you are at our helm

Bringing us hope,

Starlight lead us...

Gleaming star of joy, guiding our hearts

Gleaming star of joy, playing its part

Gleaming star of joy, we must depart

Gleaming star of joy, for a baby boy,

Guiding our hearts.

Gleaming star of joy, for a baby boy,

Guiding our hearts

(C) Music and Lyrics Copyright K.Allin 2023

If you wish to hear any previous songs, here are the links to some of them.

I worked out I've written 17 songs (as long as I've not forgotten any!) over the years though not all of them are recorded or on here.  Do you have a suggestion for an aspect of the Christmas story I should write about next year?

Much love,

Kezzie x

Sing a song of Celebration

Joy

Hope this Christmas

Love is all you need

Mary 

Feel the Christmas beat

Join in our story

Ring out the bells

Shepherds Swing

The innkeepers rant

Belated Advent 4- Sing a Song of Celebration (& bonus song)

 Greetings,

I missed writing my Sunday blog post for Advent, mainly because I was very unwell (more on that in another post) but also because I didn't have the correct software.

It's been a tradition on my blog since 2013, to share the song I have written for my children at school as one of my Advent posts. I've been writing my children at school a song each year since 2008 or 2009 as part of my Christmas preparations. It's one of my favourite traditions. Each year, I try to write a song about a different aspect of the Christmas story- there's been introduction songs, songs about Shepherds, songs about bells, songs about innkeepers, songs about wisemen (never shared on the blog), songs about Joy, songs about Hope, lullabies for the baby (not shared on the blog), songs about donkeys (not shared on the blog!)  and all sorts.

This year, I set out to write a song about the Star.  But it was just not happening. I couldn't get started on it and didn't feel inspired.

Instead, what I felt compelled to write was a song called Sing a Song of Celebration. To be honest with you, it's not my best song ever and I never quite finished it or finalised it mainly due to the fact that I don't have Sibelius music software working anymore. I used to have it on my laptop and then when my friend fixed and updated my laptop, he upgraded the software and I didn't have the disk anymore for Sibelius and CBC's laptop which I used to also use doesn't seem to work, so I never quite finished it and it's always remained a bit fluid, rough and ready. Plus, I couldn't find my music notation book when we performed it so I was kind of winging it on the piano part. Excuses, excuses but that's the way it was.

However, the kids seemed to sing it very lustily every time we sang it so I presumed I must be doing something right!

It's a Song of Joy, the lyrics written to sound a bit like a Psalm 150 but it also has in mind,the terrible events of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in its writing. I thought of the Christmas truce of 1914 and hoped and prayed.

Anyway,  I hope you enjoyed it.

Sing a song of celebration

Sing a song to welcome the son

Raise your voices in this carol

Christmas love has come again.

 

Ring the bells in lofty towers!

Play sweet flutes and sound strong horns!

Beat the drums and clash the cymbals!

Bow the violin, pluck the harps!

 

Sing a song of celebration...

Blaze you stars and glow you moon

Give your light oh glorious sun!

Light the candles, fire the lanterns

Raise your lights and show the way.

 

Sing a song of celebration...

Welcome friends and welcome family,

Share with people near and far,

Help the stranger, help the needy,

Share your warmth and love today.

Sing a song of celebration...

Calm the cannons, still the armies!

Halt your battles, stop your noise!

Now reflect on all our conflicts

Praise the peace that thinks again!

 Sing a song of celebration...

Now’s the time to make amends,

Now’s the time to show your grace,

Now’s the time to wish your foes,

Joy and peace at Christmas time.

 Sing a song of celebration...

 As a bonus, here's the song I wrote in 2011, never shared before here. I wanted a song about Caesar and his Census which led Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem. This song, entitled Census Riffs was supposed to be a narrative of the details of the Census. The verses were deliberately written with difficult, fast word play to have fun but challenging way to say the lyrics. The Chorus- composed of 4 short repeated riffs which layer on top of each other which are supposed to give the impression of the chaos of a busy Bethlehem.  Each group shifts position each time the chorus is repeated so that you get to hear each group as a solo first each time.  The kids had to learn this from memory and then from handwritten pieces of paper which I had to frantically write when the Computer and projector packed down at school last minute - they did really well. As you might notice, there are two groups that are more confident than the others! I dare you to tell me which lines are the most confident!  They also rushed a bit in the performance!

It has an incredibly easy piano part- just one repeated chord! It is intended that a primary piano pupil could play it instead.

 Census, census, census, census x10

 You must go  back to your birth town x8

 People must be counted.  x6

Caesar has decided. Take your wife and children. x4

 

  Caesar Augustus, Roman Emp’ror he decreed:

“I want to know who’s in this mighty empire that I lead,”

All in the Roman Empire obeyed.

They had to return to the town from where they hailed

 

 You must go… x10

 People must be counted.  x8

Caesar has decided X6

 Census, census x4

 

 All had to go back, to be counted in the census

(Oh by the way, Syria’s governor was called was Quirinius)

Everyone was counted 1,2,3,4, well a lot!

You can bet those dusty travel routes were chockablock!

 

People must be.counted.  X10

Caesar has decided X8

Census, census x6

You must go… x4

 

Joseph’s place of birth was the town of Bethlehem

It sounds quite unimportant but it had a mighty claim.

The town from where came David, Jewish King of highest fame.

Who’d have thought great King’s birth would happen there again.

 

Caesar has decided X10

Census, census x8

You must go… x6

People must be.counted.  X4

ALL: You must go back to your home town! (1 CLAP)

As always, I am not looking for compliments (and I am very aware that these are very simple, not polished songs. But if there is anything you like in them, then that is great! 

If you want to hear some of my songs from a few previous years (and don't feel obliged!), you can click these links to the posts:

Joy

Hope this Christmas

Love is all you need

Mary 

Feel the Christmas beat

Join in our story

Ring out the bells

Shepherds Swing

The innkeepers rant

 

A Pause for Advent: JOY!

For my Pause for Advent this year, it is a tradition now that I share a recording of my annually written Christmas song.  For me, this is a really important part of my preparation for Christmas as well as something I look forward to.  It's also important to show my pupils that teachers DO the things they ask their pupils to do. In this case, compose. It's also an offering to God for me too.

This year, I wasn't sure whether I would write one because I wasn't sure if the Christmas services at the church would be happening. I also only had limited rehearsal time and finally, the children hadn't had the chance to sing last year's Covid special- Hope this Christmas so I was planning for them to sing that.

However, the day we had the gas leak at school, I was sitting listening to John Rutter's Christmas vocal music as I was doing my work and suddenly I had the inspiration to write a song called Joy.  I'd been listening to Star Carol and an arrangement of Joy to the World, both of which are the most ebullient, uplifting Christmas carols. A couple of hours later, I had written this simple song and written it into Sibelius music software. It's very simple but the kids loved it (and learnt to sing it in 20mins).

Alas,on the recording,the piano is too loud- I had forgotten to switch off my radio microphone so it picked up the piano extra loud but hopefully you will still get the point of it:

A song expressing that excitement that it is Christmas time again and all the joy it brings.

Wishing you much love, peace and joy this Christmas.

 

Joy! I've got Joy! 

I've got Joy in my heart this Christmas time.

 Joy! I've got Joy! 

I've got Joy in my heart this Christmas time.

Let the Earth rejoice!

Angels raise your voice!

Welcome Wonderful Counsellor!

Christmas time is here once again!

Peace! I've got Peace! 

I've got Peace in my heart this Christmas time.

Peace! I've got Peace! 

I've got Peace in my heart this Christmas time.

Let the Earth bring peace.

Let all conflict cease,

Welcome Prince of Peace.

Christmas time is here once again!

Love! I've got Love! 

I've got Love in my heart this Christmas time.

Love! I've got Love! 

I've got Love in my heart this Christmas time.

Let the Earth give love,

Love sent from above.

Welcome Everlasting Father.

Christmas time is here once again.

Joy to the world and peace to all.

Joy to the world and peace to all.

Joy to the world and peace to all.

 Joy! I've got Joy! 

I've got Joy in my heart this Christmas time.

 Joy! I've got Joy! 

I've got Joy in my heart this Christmas time.

Let the Earth rejoice!

Angels raise your voice!

Welcome Wonderful Counsellor!

Christmas time is here once again!

Joy!

P.S. 

We also sang it at Church this morning (this time with guitar, bongos, drum kit... feel free to have a listen to version too- perhaps you can hear the words a bit better here?  There's a slight mistake on the timing at the start...given that we only tried it once before the service!)

Click here to hear the audiofile

Music about birds

I love birds! I've been fascinated with Bird Song for quite a few years, more so since I started teaching some bird song lesson as part of my Year 2 Music curriculum.  There are about 14 birds whose song I can recognise easily.  

Back in 2000, I went to Iceland for a 3-4 day trip. It was the most jam-packed wonderful holiday.  My Mum has an Icelandic penpal, Erla, and she worked at the Reyjavik radio station and she got tickets for us to go and see the Iceland symphony orchestra on the night we arrived in Iceland. 

It was a fantastic concert to see because it was all based on Bird Song and also included a flute concerto by Haukur Tomasson, which was brilliant for me to see as a flautist.  

Many composers, throughout the years have been fascinated by Birdsong and incorporated it into their music, as well as those I saw in that concert and I thought it would be an intriguing blog post to share some examples of less familiar, as well as more familiar music inspired by Bird song.  Some composers have used it in a stylised way, others in a more precise way, carefully transcribing and translating bird song onto instruments, others, it is a descriptive influence rather than something tangibly recognisable.

Here is a piece of music about Bird song by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara entitled Cantus Arcticus.  This piece is interesting because it has instruments imitating birds from the Arctic countries but it ALSO has recordings of these birds that play at the same time as you perform. You hear SO many different birds singing.  Rautavaara travelled very far north to Liminka in Northern Finland to record bird song in the marshlands.  This piece was in that Iceland Symphony orchestra concert and since I couldn't read the Icelandic programme, I had no idea that there would be sections of recorded birdsong where the orchestra was silent.  I was most perplexed when I heard the peeping begin.  I play this piece to my Year 2's.

I've been fortunate enough to perform this twice, which was fun as it starts with flute solos!  There are three sections

The next piece we heard in that concert was A flock descends into the Pentagonal garden by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. The composer had a vision of a single black bird leading a flock of white birds into a beautiful Japanese garden.  He was influenced by an American composer called John Cage and the piece also features pentatonic melodies- pentatonic music uses only 5 pitches.  Takemitsu is hugely influenced by nature and lots of his pieces have really evocative titles.  Perhaps this piece isn't particularly easy listening for you but there are some wonderful imaginative sounds in it.

Aside from the flute concerto, the final piece in that concert was Olivier Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques.  This French composer was utterly fascinated by Birdsong and he wrote many, many pieces based on Birdsong which he went out and transcribed from more common birds to the more exotic ones.  Oiseaux Exotiques features a solo piano as well as various wind instruments.  

I played this piece in my second year at university and played that screechy piccolo part! I remember my friend Ian playing the e flat clarinet part and he accidentally turned over 2 pages in the concert.  Luckily, I was tacet at that time and realised, so I calmly turned his page over and pointed to where we were.

Here is another  piece by the French composer, Oliver Messiaen, called Le Merle Noir- this means The Blackbird and it COPIES the song of the Blackbird , my favourite bird who actually sings LOTS of different patterns. It is for solo flute and piano and features solo sections of very fast jagged music played just by the flute and really does resemble the Blackbird.  I performed this for my 2nd year recital at university.

Onto the less modern music, easier listening perhaps.

Another French composer, Camille Saint-Saens wrote a piece about an AVIARY- this is a big cage/enclosure where lots of different birds are kept so it is supposed to sound like lots of birds twittering and singing together:   This is part of his Carnival of the animals and is very fun and fast. I performed this for the first time with my orchestra for a children's concert 2 years ago.

A relatively new composer to me, Herman Beeftink,  also wrote a piece for 3 flutes called Birds.  These are utterly charming pieces and I really can't wait to buy these to try!

The famous German composer Beethoven wrote a symphony for orchestra called The Pastoral symphony and  in one part, he gets the wind instruments (instruments you blow) to imitate bird song such as the Cuckoo and the Nightingale.  Here is the little section featuring the bird song.  This is one of the loveliest flute solos to play in the orchestral repertoire and I've been fortunate to perform it several times. You will also hear the oboe and clarinet joining in.

A Baroque composer called Gliucelli Respighi wrote a piece called The Birds for orchestra.  It is a proud sounding piece of Baroque music but listen out for the cuckoo and other birds in the music.

Another early piece of piano music is called The Cuckoo by Louis-Claude Daquin.  Can you hear the 'Cu-ckoo' repeated lots at the start?  I learnt this as a child and it is a really fun, not-too-hard piece to learn.

A modern composer from Britain called Johnathon Harvey wrote a piece called Bird concerto with Piano song which  is very clever as it uses the piano AND electronic instruments as well as a small orchestra AND 40 different recorded birdsongs.

The patriotic-sounding Romantic composer from England called Edward Elgar, beloved of the Last Night of the Proms, wrote a piece called Owls which is SUNG by a choir.  Listen out for when the choir sing, "Nothing," as this sounds like the hooting of an owl!

Perhaps one of the more famous Bird-inspired pieces is by the famous English composer, Ralph Vaughn-Williams, who wrote a piece for solo violin and orchestra called the Lark Ascending, which was supposed to imitate the sound and idea of a Lark flying free in the clear air.  Here's the opening section for solo violin- where the bird takes flight.

Finally, we are nothing without the real life musicians, our birds.  Here are some common birds and their songs- can you imitate them?

There are lots more pieces about bird song , but I thought this might be a pleasant introduction to some listening for you.

I hope you had a lovely day.

xx

Hope this Christmas (Advent at Home)

 As some of you may or may not know, every year since I have been at my school (all 14 years!), I have composed an original song for the children to sing at the church for our Christmas performance.  It's one of my favourite things I do in the year and to hear our children singing my own song always makes me very proud. As we teach the children, it is important that you learn to write for a specific audience, be that writing instructions for a recipe, a letter to your local MP, a fairy tale story for Reception children, a fanfare for a king and in this case, a Christmas song for a choir or school and I do this as an exercise to show that the learning never stops, nor does the creative process, no matter how old you are and that being a teacher is not all we are- we have skills, interests and hobbies that we do beyond the classroom.  As well as, of course, showing the children I care about them by writing something FOR THEM specifically.  

  Over the years, pretty much every aspect of the Christmas story and our performance has had a song written for it- Donkeys, Mary receiving the message, the baby sleeping, Caesar Augustus and his census, the Kings, the (swinging) shepherds, the innkeepers, the angels, the introduction part, a party song at the end, the message of Love being the best gift etc.

This year, I wanted to write a song of Hope, not aimed at telling an aspect of the Christmas story but to remind people in the year of 2020: you and all of our children and parents to have hope, stay positive, be kind, trust and never give up, no matter how hard things have been or are getting.  It was going to be a surprise that in the last week, I was going to record each class singing a section of it and then I was going to stitch it together and send it to the parents on the last day.

 

BUT, because we were having to stick to bubbles, this wasn't going to be possible so I adapted and was going to just  record it with choir this week (we learnt it last week on Tuesday but I wanted all the quarantining children to be part of the recording) .  Of course, my enforced isolation has put paid to that  and I've been unable to do that. Best laid plans and all that.

However, I still wanted to send the message of hope to all of you so I recorded myself singing and playing it.  No comments, positive or negative on the singing please, it's a little cringy (& a bit strangled cat!)  as it is intended to be sung by a large group of children for maximum impact, not by a slightly embarrassed teacher, trying to play the piano part correctly simultaneously, hoping her neighbours don't hear her!

The message is what is important- there will always be light if you keep it alive in your heart with hope.

Hope this Christmas

It’s been a hard year and we’ve found things changing too much.

It’s hard to see when the hardships and restrictions can all cease.

Times are strange and there’s sadness so

We must stay strong, keep our faith and let’s have

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

It’s been oh so hard, when we we’re lost and oh so lonely,

But we can find joy, if we try to seek it, try to let it shine,

Yes there’s fear but there’s courage, strength so

We must be kind, show our love and always:

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

Keep the hope, keep the joy, don’t give up, share your love, you’ve got to keep that

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

 

 This is part of my 'Advent at Home' post with Ang. 

A Pause for Advent 2019 #3

I've mentioned on numerous occasions that I created a tradition at my school of writing a song for Christmas for my KS2 Christmas performance. Over the last decade, I have created songs for the various parts of the nativity.  It's one of my absolute favourite Christmas traditions and I'm always really excited to do it.   It is an act of worship, writing a song for parts of this story which is so important to my faith, an act of giving and love to my children; to write a song especially for them and an act of creativity; to continue to use my skills as a composer and an act of fun- I love composing!  I would not say that these are great songs-they are very much aimed at my audience- the children and their parents but I hope that they are a different way of approaching each aspect of the Christmas story and you find something you enjoy in it or it speaks to you in some way. It's also become A Pause for Advent tradition that I share my song for one of the posts.  I'm not sharing it for praise (or indeed censure- though you are welcome to your opinions) but that the act of writing is a pause to think about a particular aspect of birth of Jesus and to use the gifts, skills or interests, whichever way you wish to look at it, to offer back.

This time last year, I heard a song called Mary did you know? which was used for the dancers for our Advent carol service at my old church.  This year we actually sang it for the carol service.  I remember thinking, "I like this song- I haven't written a song about Mary for my nativity, I will do that next year."  I even started writing some basic sketches for it in the Summer holidays this year, working out the first bit, the end and the basic accompaniment for the first bit. I recorded some of these improvisations and used these to begin typing up the notation for it into Sibelius, the music software I use.  But then I got stuck on the middle bit and abandoned it.

It came to October and I knew I had to get the song finished as I needed to be teaching it the first week back to my choir (this year, my song was a choir solo rather than the whole key stage.).
It was strange because I'd been stuck on the middle section but when I looked at the direct words from Luke's gospel, all of a sudden, I became unstuck and able to work it out.  Divine inspiration for sure!

My children learnt it really quickly and they really do sing out when singing it.
The last bit is sung as a solo by one child but alas, this recording was from when I hadn't chosen the soloist so it is all of them.
You can hear me singing it first and then you will hear my children singing it in the 2nd week of their learning it. They sing it much better now, 7 weeks on but I haven't had a chance to record them again.

Mary, you are chosen,

Mary, highly favoured,

Mary, you're the one.

Mary, be not afraid,

Mary, God with you,

Mary, chosen one.

You will be with child and give birth

To a son and name him Jesus

The son of the most high.

The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David.

And he will reign, his kingdom ever more.

Mary, the holy spirit will come upon you.

Nothing is impossible with God upon your side.

Oooh,

Oooh,

I am the Lord's servant, let it be to me as you have said.

(Words by chosen and adapted by me based on Luke's gospel. 

Melody and accompaniment by me.

Voices: Me and my children after.)

The words of this song are saying to me right now- Trust.  Trust that there is something better, that the bleakness of the past few days aren't the end, they can't be. That God is with us even at the hardest times and he calls our name and it's our choice whether we choose to hear or not. I trust, hope and pray for something better than this earthly existence.

This is my 3rd pause for Advent with Ang and co.

If you want to hear some of my songs from a few previous years (and don't feel obliged!), you can click these links to the posts:
The innkeepers rant
Feel the Christmas beat
Join in our story
Ring out the bells

Shepherds Swing

Love is all you need at Christmas time