Marching into Christmas song

It's time for my Annual song sharing!

I don't know if there is any one new out there reading this blog but in case you are new, I have a Christmas tradition that every year, I compose a new Christmas song for my school Christmas carol service.  I made a list of all the songs I have written this year and there are 19! So next year will be my big 20th special! I need some new inspiration for lyrics and subject matter as I have got many aspects of the Christmas story covered but I'm not worried. Something always comes to mind!

This year, I decided I wanted to write a song for the younger children. Out of the carols/songs I have written, only 3 of them have been written for the younger children (FYI, these songs are: 5 little snowflakes for Foundation Stage, Christmas, Christmas for Year 1-2 and Caesar wants a census for Year 3-4.  This year, I decided to pen a piece for Years 3-4 choir.  Last year, we sang a very simple song called See the Star of Bethlehem which is a very simple round.  I got the children to march from the back of the church to the front and they loved it.  So, I decided I wanted a Marching song.  Immediately, I decided that it would be called Marching into Christmas and would introduce all those who travelled to Bethlehem for the nativity- Mary and Joseph, Shepherds, Wise Men and also include the prophets who foretold Bethlehem.  In the end, rather than doing anything particularly clever, noteworthy or interesting with the structure, it is a simple Verse-chorus structure  with a very simple coda added.  It needed to have a strong beat, be in simple 2/4 time and the children would march to the chorus.

I came up with the first 2 lines on holiday in Belgium

I then got stuck for a while and worked out the first verse the 2nd week back

The third week, I worked out the other lyrics and the piano part for the chorus and at the last minute, wrote the verses.

When we first taught it to the kids, they seemed to like the chorus but the words seemed a bit tricky for them.

However, they returned a week later full of enthusiasm and seemed to get it. The children who struggled with reading (I had 2 SEND 1:1 children in choir and a few who struggle with reading) and they really engaged with the chorus and marching so I was glad to have made the chorus the way it was.

Here they are singing it. It's a little bit rough and ready but I hope you can hear the enthusiasm!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

Searching for the new King promised long ago,

Let us join them boldly, joyful in our hearts,

Anyone is welcome, evermore!

1. Prophecies were made first, they foresaw Bethlehem,

Teaching the Messiah was born in Bethlehem,

The birthplace of King David, the place where he'd be found,

Come along and seek him, come and seek that king!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

2. Mary then and Joseph, seeking Bethlehem, 

Made their way so humbly on from Nazareth,

Travelling for the census at the time of birth,

Everyone was searching, searching for that place!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

3.  Shepherds from the fields were sent by heavenly hosts

They obeyed the summons, to greet the new born King,

Bringing gifts of lambs, they hurried on their way.

Everyone was welcome, welcome in that place!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

4. Wise men next they journeyed, following a star,

travelling from the East, they travelled from afar

First they sought King Herod, his scribes they told the way,

Everyone was welcome, welcome, come and see!

Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

Searching for the new King promised long ago,

Let us join them boldly, joyful in our hearts,

Anyone is welcome, 

EVERYONE is welcome, 

You are all most welcome,

Evermore!

Bonus for anyone who plays the piano or fancies a sing along, here's a little play along video of it

Here are songs from previous years:

Star in the Sky

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

This year, we also resang 2 songs which have never appeared on blog before, From the East  and Caesar wants a census so let me know if you fancy me sharing those?

xx

Advent 3: A lovely weekend full of joy!

 

This has been a weekend of Joy!

Friday night, was our School Christmas fair.  Apart from getting jaw ache from all the smiling, it was a great occasion. I was on the Raffle with a colleague from Year 2 and we had a lovely sitting down job outside the main hall so much cooler and less noisy plus a lot of the tickets had been sold in advance so we weren't mobbed.  I had a 5 minute break to go and have a go at the Snack tombola and managed to get 3 winning tickets out of my 4 so came out with multi-packs of crisps! 

At the end, I went to go and have a look at the grotto.  Last year, my Headteacher and his partner had turned the library into a complete Winter Wonderland with a snowy trail and I thought nothing could top it.  Well, this year, it was Santa's workshop and it was truly, breathtakingly astounding!

The amount of effort put into it (it has been planned throughout the year) was amazing and it is such an beautiful thing for our children.   It filled me and my Year 2(different one) friend with joy as we looked around.

As we left, she and I arranged to meet for dinner next week which is lovely! I am grateful for her!

CBC and I got home and went straight out to dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant. We really enjoyed it!

On Saturday, CBC and I headed to East London for a very exciting event.  It was a concert on music by my A'level music teacher.  Earlier in the year, I mentioned that we recorded his 3 Christmas cantatas written for pupils at the school in the 1980's. We all had such a wonderful time that we wanted to perform together so our teacher, John Garner, organised a concert entirely of his music. We arrived for a rehearsal and sang and rehearsed our songs. The church was freezing but luckily, I am experienced in Cold Church Concerts so I was well wrapped up in cashmere and fluff!

In the break, CBC and I went out to a Turkish restaurant with 3 of my 6th form friends and another girl. A lovely thing was CBC actually was at university with one of my friends (but we didn't meet through her!) and it was the first time he'd seen her since university! We had a fun time and then got changed.

The concert was wonderful! The choir of around 50-60 comprised of students of his from the 1980's up to the 2010's.  We sang the 3 cantatas we recorded back in May as well as the world premiere of a version of While Shepherds watched their flocks.  In addition, there were several small group and solo items- all carols composed by John.   The concert was so special.  My heart soared with utter euphoria at the beauty of the occasion, of the music and of nostalgia and feeling the love that so many people had and have for this inspirational teacher.

This morning, I got up for church at 8.40am and managed to arrive at church, showered and dressed by around 9.05am!!

It was a beautiful service.  We truly sang our hearts out and everyone felt blessed and touched by the service.

I was looking at the pretty floral displays and saw this tiny figure to the right.

I saw three things from this figure.

The finger is looking up expectantly.  I think expectation, hope and looking up towards Heaven and the light of God is the absolute joy of Advent.  In looking up and seeking hope, we look forward to the joy of Christmas, the fulfilment of our dreams.  But also, I see the figure holding out this bird as if to set it free.  Sometimes, we are holding onto things which we need to let go of. Worries, things we do wrong, bad habits, looking back, trying to fit in.  Sometimes we need to set ourselves, others, things or feelings free.  

I also saw that the bird is a dove. As well as letting go of things, we do need to strive for peace in the best way we can.  Sometimes, that means having to swallow pride and be the bigger person or make sacrifice.

Also, the simple beauty of this figure- I LOVE all the trappings of Christmas, but sometimes, a bit of simplicity is refreshing.

After the service, I downed 3 cups of tea as they were (SHOCK!) going to be chucked down the sink, and cycled home full of joy. The day was bright, the air was warm and I was glad.

When I came home from church, CBC was getting ready to go cycling.  I ate a pastry CBC had bought me the previous day, made myself more tea and then put some washing up and then I looked at our Christmas tree, Chrissie. 

Chrissie lives in a pot in the garden and had been brought in the previous weekend by CBC but had been sitting naked apart from 2 small mice decorations.

I decided that I was going to decorate the tree. Brace yourselves for the fact that this is the first time I have been in charge of decorating a tree. As children, my Mum would decorate it and we weren't allowed to look until it was done. Then mum got a fibre optic one which she didn't want decorations on. Then I didn't have one when I lived alone.  And then, when CBC and I have had a tree, he was always in charge of decorating it and I helped on 2 occasions. Other years, he had stronger opinions on decorations so as someone who hadn't really ever decorated a tree, I just let him! Yes, this was the first time I have ever put lights on a tree.

And here it is!  The lights are a bit messy. I had no idea how you do it! At the moment, it is just sitting on our back door mat...not sure if it will end up on a table in a slightly less wonky position.

Special shot out to Ang Almond for the beautiful handmade Christmas jumper on a hanger she sent to me as a present along with which I'll post about soon.  It's so cute! You can buy them reduced in her amazing website https://www.thirtyonethirteen.net/

Christmas Jumper decorations

As I tidied up our very messy house and decorated the tree and sorted washing, I watched The Holiday.  I also carried on making origami stars.  

CBC got back from cycling and then we drove to our friend Nath's house. He had invite us round for a Christmas get together.  He had prepared a beautiful banquet buffet of food. I felt SO bad for him as he had invited friends round last night AND other friends along with us today and....except for us, everyone else had forgotten about it and didn't turn up!!! So he had prepared all this food and cleaned and tidied.  There was enough for 19 people! He was very gracious about it but it seemed so rude that EVERYONE had forgotten!  We had a lovely time, ate loads, watched a Christmas film and then came home!

This is the final week of school. As I write, I am not totally 100% certain that the church is ready for our carol service on Tuesday due to over-running building works. I hope and pray it is! Please can you too!

Much love to you!

xx

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

Riu Riu Chiu from the Monkees

 In CBC's Carol service, we sang a Spanish carol called Riu Ritu Chiu.   

I only had a quick chance to look at it before the service so it was a bit nerve-wracking singing it as I was sightreading in bass clef and reading Spanish words I had no idea how to pronounce.

I happened to google it to see if I could listen to it and I found that it was sung by one my mum's favourite bands, The Monkees as part of their Christmas show in 1967.  They sang it unaccompanied by instruments in harmony.

The origin of the song sometimes has been attributed to one Mateo Flecha who died in 1553 (Renaissance era)  although some have described it as anonymous.  

It was really effective in the carol service

It's quite exciting to discover a new Christmas carol/song I did not know!

xx

Bethlehem Down

 I have sung many carols and Christmas hymns over the years.

When I was in my 20's, I asked our dear family friend, Auntie Norma what her favourite carol was.

She replied, "Bethlehem Down."  I went to look for it and learnt it.  One of our Midnight services, I sang this as a solo.  Oh, how I miss being at midnight communion on Christmas eve at that church. I was at my childhood church for my 2 school carol services yesterday for our first carol service actually to parents since 2019. It was a joy!  All the children were allowed to go, the children behaved very well and sang really excellently.  I was so surprised how good they sounded, especially Year 5-6 who really sang wonderfully!  Many parents came to watch and seemed very pleased and delighted with the performance. In the evening, I went to London to perform Holst's Planets suite with Orchestra of the City.  It was wonderful. I played the 4th flute part which has a wonderful alto flute part in Neptune. I finish off the whole piece with a solo played ever so quietly. What a privilege!

Anyway,back to the point, I went to go and listen to Bethlehem Down again

When He is King we will give him the King's gifts,
Myrrh for its sweetness, and gold for a crown,
"Beautiful robes", said the young girl to Joseph
Fair with her first-born on Bethlehem Down.

Bethlehem Down is full of the starlight
Winds for the spices, and stars for the gold,
Mary for sleep, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.

When He is King they will clothe Him in grave-sheets,
Myrrh for embalming, and wood for a crown,
He that lies now in the white arms of Mary
Sleeping so lightly on Bethlehem Down.

Here He has peace and a short while for dreaming,
Close-huddled oxen to keep Him from cold,
Mary for love, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.

Such beautiful lyrics by Bruce Blunt and music by Peter Warlock.  The carol was composed in 1927.  I really like it because it has medieval modality (this means it is based on a particular set of notes used within the Medieval era as well as using more modern Chromatic notes and the melody is varied.  

I hope you enjoy it too.

xx

sdsds

Advent 1: Hope

 I don't know about you, but the coming of Christmas, for me, is about Hope! Hope that the darkness will end, hope that something better is on the way, hope that I will see my family soon, hope that I will make it to the end of the term with my voice and help intact.

The first Sunday of Advent has always been about Hope.  The hope of the prophets that salvation was on its way, hope that what and who they had been waiting for, the Messiah, was coming as was foretold, hope in their Lord and saviour.

In a time and a world which feels very dark, I cling to that hope and that promise!

I thought I'd share one of my  Pause for Advent posts from 2016 which I thought was quite helpful:

Sometimes, it feels like things go wrong in December.  Everyone is tired and moody and longing for a break. The days are dark, long and gloomy.  We shiver around radiators, we long for light and hope.
It seems when things aren't going merrily at Christmas, life seems even harder. It feels personal. It feels like everyone else is rejoicing, being merry.

I remember when I was 22 and my boyfriend of 2.5 years split up with me 2 weeks before Christmas. EVERYTHING felt really hard that year. All my household was happy. Everything felt hard and new.  I remember keeping a brave face for everyone but it was really difficult. And all that was, was a break up from my boyfriend, imagine that it was a divorce, death, redundancy, cancer diagnosis- the outlook would have been bleaker.

Or it might be that you are teacher, particularly one dealing with pastoral care, it seems that the pupils are doing their utmost to get in trouble, argue, be nasty to each other, finding the SAME old issues keep coming up and don't seem to be resolved, you doubt yourself, wonder if you can keep doing this job, feel helpless or like giving up.

For all it is the most wonderful time of the year, folks can be generally mean and nasty to each other.
Imagine the family member left at home whilst the rest of the family are out playing, having fun, one can feel forsaken. One can imagine horrors and things going on that aren't true. I feel that sometimes, if the devil can find a chink in our armour, finds our insecurities, he plays on those, exasperates those fears and doubts and blows these up in our mind.

Or the anxiety of knowing you want to provide a wonderful time for your family, but the sheer fact that the sums won't add up and there's no money to pay for it.

Facing a first Christmas without a loved one. I am going to the carol service at my old church tonight and automatically started thinking of dropping in on Norma on my way there and remembering she is no longer with us.

I had started to think about writing this, about Christmas sometimes being difficult and then I saw Ang's Pause for Advent and discovered she had written about something similar.

She shared this wonderful poem which sums it up so evocatively:

Let the bells jingle but make time for tears to fall.

Eat, drink and be merry but do not go hungry in that inner place.

Rest, reflect and remember, Be true to yourself.

Many of us can't play happy families at this time of year.

December is for a difficult diagnosis as well as dreaming of a white Christmas

December is for divorce as well as decorations.

December is for death and dying as well as discos and dancing.

December is for distances that separate us from people,

even those in the same room.

Disappointment in December is especially hard to bear.

Sometimes the light no longer shines in the darkness.

The desolation swallows us up and we die a little.

Yet a kindly word, a bird in flight, a tree alive with hoar and hips

can drown out despair and kindle determination to move on.

Dig down deeper than the tinsel to the place where hope is found.

Maybe, just maybe, the flickering flame will be fanned gentle into fire.

And then when all is lost, all we have is hope.  A friend who is still up when you phone to share your doubts; a fellow teacher who understands the difficulty; a hug or the reassurance that all is not lost.
For me, Christmas is about hope. Christ came to bring hope to the world and for me personally.  I know that if all felt lost, he would be there for me.

There is HOPE at Christmas. A light in the darkness.

Love, peace and hope to you this year, whatever you are dealing with..

xxx

Guess the Christmas song-knitted edition

 Hi there,

There's a lovely charity shop near me that has a bench outside.  Every so often, the bench gets yarnbombed! 

Last Christmas, it was decorated with a patchwork of knitted scenes which depicted different Christmas carols.

Which ones can you spot?

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

 

11 little Advent poems

I saw these wonderful resources from Engage Worship. They are 11 tiny Advent poems  from  24 Tiny Advent Poems by Amy Scott Robinson which I saw on Instagram.  They are really beautiful, little thought-provoking poems.

Ah, I do get this wonderful sense of hushed awe and anticipation in Advent and all these really convey that.  I love Advent even more than I enjoy family celebrations! The anticipation is such a joy but of course, you can't just have the anticipation without meeting that or He who you anticipate.

Sending you love today!

xx