Wednesday, August 15, 2007

It's Never Too Early to Play Christmas Tunes

Last night I practiced with Lorraine Goldie, Deek McCluskey, and Kenny Innis for a one-hour set that we'll perform tomorrow night at the Rocmaura Nursing Home in Saint John, NB. The practice actually went very well. We played a few really nice tunes that were unfamiliar to me.

Not too long into the practice we began to play Jingle Bells. I don't recall exactly how this came about, but I think it was Deek that started it. I joined in, then Kenny and Lorraine. Before we knew it, we were doing a full blown version of Jingle Bells. It was a lot of fun.

Did you know that according to some research I did, Jingle Bells was written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont, was originally titled One Horse Open Sleigh and was meant for a Thanksgiving program at a church in Savannah, Georgia where Pierpont was organist? Apparently, the song was so well accepted that it was again sung on Christmas day and since then became one of the most popular Christmas carols. There you have it; a little Jingle Bells trivia.

I was amazed at how much of the song (Jingle Bells) I was able to remember on the banjo. Playing it reminded me of all the fun times I had last year at the home of Ed & Becky Betts, practicing for the Bluegrass Friends Christmas party. In particular, it brought back fond memories of singing and playing our rendition of Patty Loveless's Bluegrass, White Snow.

I try not to dwell on the fact that when it came time to perform Bluegrass, White Snow at the Christmas party, it was a train wreck. There must have been 47 people on the stage. Alright, there weren't 47 people, but there were way too many for sure! I remember Harvey Arbo was standing on the extreme left edge of the stage; how he kept his balance I'll never know. I was standing to Harvey's immediate right. I remember not being able to move an inch lest Harvey get the headstock of my banjo in his forehead! Everything that could have gone wrong while trying to perform this song did in fact come to pass. We had a lot of fun practicing this tune however, and I remember doing what I thought were some really good renditions during practice. I can't wait to start playing this song again. Ed, I hope you're ready.

Once we had Jingle Bells out of our system, we continued with our normal practice. The practice went very well and I'm looking forward to playing at the nursing home. I know both the staff and the residents look forward to the entertainment provided. If nothing else, it puts a smile on their faces for a short while and that makes the effort well worth the time. I try to keep this at the center of attention, even when I know I'm not very good at playing my instrument or when I don't feel like doing it.

To end our practice we played Jingle Bells one more time. I thought I started playing Christmas tunes early last year but I think I've broken my own record this year!

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3 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Hay Mike I too enjoyed the playing of Jingle Bells last evening.It reminds me that realy Christmas is every day of our lives.We should be thankful for the fact that we are free to do these things when ever we feel like..The story behind the tune is one Ive never heard...Quite intresting... I also enjoy playing at Nursing homes .These people put as much joy in my life as I know we put into their lives...Thanks Mike for your comments... Fungus

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 7:38:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Mike ,
I don't think its ever "too early" to learn a Christmas song. I've been fooling around with "Silent Night , Away in a Manger and "What Child is This?"((actually its the "Greensleeves" version of this song in "Am" and its a little up-tempo)). the past couple of days now. I was playing "Silent Night" the other day and Irene said "It's a little early for Christmas songs" to which I replied , "Yeah , but I'm not gonna wait until Christmas Eve to try and learn a "Christmas" song. So , maybe , I'll have a couple of songs learned by the time Christmas rolls along..Newfie'Bro

Saturday, August 18, 2007 11:57:00 AM  
Blogger Michael Floyd said...

That's the attitude I like to see! Everyone waits until the week before Christmas, realizes they've left it too long and then says "oh well, maybe next year I won't wait so long." Then, next year rolls around and guess what happens?

Saturday, August 18, 2007 12:20:00 PM  

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