Matthew Arnold Stern's Blog, page 53
December 14, 2014
3. Balulalow
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols was the hardest piece of music I ever had to sing. It had unfamiliar melodies, tense and …
December 12, 2014
4. Hallelujah Chorus
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? If you sang in a choir in high school, you sang the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah. You had to. Every high school …
December 11, 2014
5. The First Noel
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? Your favorite holiday song can get you singing along. But how many songs can get you singing in harmony? “The First Noel” does …
December 8, 2014
6. Joy to the World
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? My next Top 10 favorite holiday song is “Joy to the World.” No, not that one. This one. Why would I choose the …
December 6, 2014
7. Maoz Tzur
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? Speaking of singing in different languages, this holiday song is in Hebrew, and it’s for Hanukkah. Yes, there is a Hanukkah song other than the …
December 4, 2014
8. Adeste Fideles
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? Here is a holiday song that actually is a Christmas song. I first sang this song in elementary school, and I’ve sung it in …
December 2, 2014
9. Jingle Bells
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? The typical reaction to this holiday song is, “Oh, brother! Not this one again!” (I say “holiday” because “Jingle Bells” was originally written …
December 1, 2014
10. Monotone Angel
During December, I’m posting my Top 10 favorite holiday songs. Each song has a special story or meaning behind it for me. What stories or meanings do you have for your favorite holiday songs? As a testament to my singing ability, I only had one solo in my first holiday concert at Reseda High School in …
November 29, 2014
My Top 10 Holiday Songs
I was in choirs from elementary school through high school. Some of my favorite songs were the ones we sang at holiday concerts. By “holiday,” I’m not being “War on Christmas-y.” Most of the songs are Christmas ones, but some are not. All of them have some sort of story or meaning for me — including songs that came …
November 23, 2014
The other side of gratitude
At U.S. Thanksgiving, I usually write about the importance of gratitude. This year, I’m writing about the importance of the other side of gratitude: guilt. Guilt has negative connotations, which is understandable because it can be destructive when used improperly or manipulatively. However, the right kind of guilt can be beneficial for us and the people we …
