Favorite Christmas Music for the church?

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Permalink Reply by Carl W. Carlson on October 6, 2011 at 8:38pm

Hello Dan,

I've always been very partial to "O Holy Night" ... any arrangement/style/genre.  I can be moved by it anytime of year.

 

God Bless!

 

Carl

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Permalink Reply by Lorraine Doswell on November 18, 2011 at 6:08pm

Absolutely love it, when done well and with feeling - either contemporary style or traditional. Can't stand it done 'tumpty tump' style, with no sustain on notes, what a killer. Don't hear it done alot in the UK though.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Osgood on October 7, 2011 at 7:46am

Bob Kauflin put a pretty comprehensive list together on his worshipmatters blog last year

 

http://www.worshipmatters.com/2010/11/20/songs-for-christmas-2010/

 

I love 'You bring peace' and 'What kind of throne' from here as well

http://www.resoundworship.org/songs/by_theme/christmas 

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Permalink Reply by martyn burt on October 7, 2011 at 1:43pm

Some of my favourites include:

Lord come this Christmas (Andy Park)

Christmas Offering (Paul Baloche)

Thorns in the straw (Graham Kendrick)

 

And not especially Christmas but we usually do Light of the world (Tim Hughes)

 

I would also love to do Emmanuel (Hillsongs)

 

And for those who like a choral piece I love The Shepherds Farewell (Berlioz)

 

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Permalink Reply by Dan Macaulay on November 17, 2011 at 9:54pm

Gotta jump start this conversation again - surely we're all closer to Christmas-planning now?

 

I've been a fan of "Here I Am To Worship" as a Christmas song actually.

Everyone knows it but might not have thought of it in a Christmas context.

"Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness..." etc

When you look at it through a Christmas lens its relevant and fresh all over again!

 

Also "Humble King" by Brenton Brown - awesome in Christmas context. Just awesome.

D

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Permalink Reply by Benjamin Luce on November 22, 2011 at 11:30pm

You're right... I think I'm going to use that, man.

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Permalink Reply by Lorraine Doswell on November 18, 2011 at 6:02pm

Although I am well into contemporary music, give me traditional Christmas carols anytime, the ones that have been around for centuries.

Most of them - Silent Night being an exception, as it was written for a guitar - lose their effect if played with modern instruments. Only my opinion of course.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Edey on November 19, 2011 at 1:11pm

I used to think in this same way, but when I started using some of Mannheim Steamroller's chords and arrangements, it helped a lot of the traditional carols fit in with a contemporary band setting really well.

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Permalink Reply by Lorraine Doswell on November 20, 2011 at 1:40pm

That sounds really interesting, could you tell me a little more? What/who are Mannheim Steamroller's chords?

 

Thank you. Lorraine

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Permalink Reply by Graeme Harvey on November 20, 2011 at 9:16pm

We did a folk-rock Carol service last year in Church and it went down really well - guitars, bass, drums and a flute/penny whistle along with vocals.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Edey on November 23, 2011 at 7:34am

Gasp! Christmas music would not be the same without Mannheim! lol They're an instrumental troubadour/rock group, with Chip Davis behind the creative arranging process. He often re-works the songs with simpler chord progressions that reflect more the culture of early Anglo/Saxon folk music, but amazingly these simplicities fit contemporary bands very well. He does take the arrangements off course a lot from the original melodies, but I take the bits and pieces out from the original song. I had to buy the sheet music to get most of his arrangements, but I might have a few chord charts I made up somewhere lol. Some of my favorites that I've used are:

 

Angels We Have Heard on High

Do You Year What I Hear

Bring a Torch Jeannette Isabella (Also the hymn "Love Has Come" and the MOST undersung Christmas carol as it is absolutely gorgeous).

We Three Kings

Away in a Manger

The First Noel

Hark The Herald Angels Sing

The Holly and The Ivy

 

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Permalink Reply by Greg Moore on November 29, 2011 at 6:49am

YouTube some Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music (they're a group that has been around for decades that does, among other things, very tasteful and interesting arrangements... well, just listen to them!) I would have imagined that the name Mannheim Steamroller is a humorous takeoff on "Jefferson Airplane." Actually, though, Wikipedia has an article explaining that a Mannheim Roller is a style using an ostinato bass line (see below).

To do a reasonable imitation, take a tune like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and insert a "pedal tone" between each melody note -- E E B B A G F# E D E F# G A B  becomes   E e E e B e B e A e G e F# e E e D e etc. like Bach does in the Toccata in D Minor.  I think guitar players can do that (it's easy on keyboard, and a flute player and me did a whole evening of ersatz Steamroller at a Christian coffee house, in the 80's).  Syncopate a few notes jazz-like and you have the essentials, something halfway between jazz and Bach.

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