CHRISTMAS MUSIC

There is a lot of music linked with Christmas. This post about some of the music associated with Christmas in the UK.

Christmas carols are songs about the religious meaning of Christmas. They are sung in churches, schools and other places. Famous carols include “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, “Away in a Manger”, “Silent Night,”, “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night”, and “Ding Dong Merrily on High.”

Many churches and schools have a carol service at Christmas. A choir sings carols, and people in the audience join in with some of them. Different people read extracts from the Bible or elsewhere to tell the story of Jesus’ birth. The most famous carol service is at King’s College, Cambridge University. The “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols” is broadcast on radio and TV in many countries on Christmas Eve. Many churches have their own version of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.

Christmas carolling is an old tradition of a group of people – perhaps a church choir – going around a neighbourhood singing Christmas carols. People would often reward them with food and drink. In more recent years, carollers have often collected money for charity and child carollers have collected money for themselves. For safety reasons it’s now unusual for children to go Christmas carolling on their own.

An ancient form of Christmas carolling is the wassail. Wassailing included not only Christmas carols but also dancing, Typically, peasants used to go to people’s houses, sing, dance and make a lot of noise.

As well as Christmas carols there are many other popular Christmas songs. These include “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”, “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Jingle Bells”.  Shops often play such songs non-stop in the weeks before, and even after, Christmas Day.

Many pop musicians record songs specifically for Christmas, and each year people in the UK try to guess which song will become the Christmas Number 1 – topping the singles chart on Christmas Day. Recent successes have included “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, “Last Christmas” by Wham! and “Sausage Rolls For Everyone” by LadBaby featuring Ed Sheeran and Elton John.

Photo by Artem Podrez

Many musicians present concerts of Christmas music. Folk musicians sing traditional versions of carol and other songs, jazz musicians play jazzed-up versions on popular Christmas songs, and orchestras and choirs perform compositions such as Handel’s “Messiah”. Many people associate brass bands with Christmas, and Christmas concerts by brass bands are often very popular.

This is one of a series of posts about Christmas traditions in the UK. Here are some links to previous posts:

THE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS – Graham’s Grammar

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS – Graham’s Grammar

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS – Graham’s Grammar

CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT IN THE UK – Graham’s Grammar

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