Christmas Tunes

I have re-recorded this Christmas carol, which has always been my favorite. Merry Christmas to all!

Jairo, that's just perfect! Every note is played just as it should be.

Beautiful arrangement and super playing, Jairo. Lovely mix of the instruments too.

Very tasteful dynamic tremolo, Jairo. Amazing.

Thanks for the fine contributions of Regina and Bertram as well as of Christian.

Excellent Jairo, couldn’t be better. Well done.
So when are you going to publish your Christmas CD?

Muchas gracias guys for such kind words! The only ones qualified for a CD in these parts are you Simon, Bertram and John Kelly ...

Just the right amount of tremolo, very tasteful playing!

Thanks for the seasonal offerings so far this year -- all sounding great! Like Dennis, I also have not had a chance to head back to Germany this year. So, here is one of the best-known German carols, Süßer die Glocken nie klingen ("The Bells Never Sound Sweeter"). Chords taken from a children's songbook. They also had a harmony line which I used in a previous recording, but for this live video the harmony felt superfluous to the pure simplicity of tune and arrangement.

Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin
[And of course Youtube claims it's copyrighted -- off to file another dispute.]

Thanks for these, Christian and Jairo.
Martin, there is a moving ingredient of minimalistic beauty in your rendition, and you're right, no further orchestra is needed. Sorry to hear the protection racket robots strike again, how ridiculous is that?

Thanks, Bertram. The Youtube thing happens all the time, but when it's an obvious public domain tune such as this one the claimants never respond to the dispute, so after four weeks the copyright notice gets removed. This is one of those songs that's deeply impressed upon anybody growing up in Germany, so it's just a matter of playing along with the tune in my head.

Martin

ANother very seasonal offering, Martin. Fine arrangement and playing.

O Tannenbaum, an arrangement for two mandolins.

Nice gentle version thanks Martin. I really like the tone of your mandolin in this one. Do you often get copyright claims?
I feel like trying this one just to see if I will get a claim too.

Jairo, very professional sounding recording, and I like the photograph of the dog.
In general I actually know dogs quite well, but with this breed of dog I really have no idea what they are thinking!

The photo of the pug is to remember one that we had that illuminated our house for 16 years, and that after 3 years of death we still remember fondly. I was quite amused by your comment, because our pug was called Simon.

Two German Weihnachtslieder! Martin does a tune in 6/8 time with a great sounding mandolin and a nicely played tenor guitar accompaniment. Bravo!
Oh Tannenbaum I always avoided. The chords change irregularily, it's no fun playin along. But an arrangement for two mandolins does the trick. Bravo!

Lovely arrangement, Jairo. Well played too.

There's something very special about a German Christmas, which I'm really missing this year. The songs are an important part of that. You have created two very nice recordings here, Martin and Jairo. I especially liked listening to Süßer die Glocken... on mandolin. It's easier to appreciate the melody on mandolin than to sing it (at least for male voices), so the instrumental version has a lot of merit despite the lovely lyrics.

Thanks, all!

Dennis: Yes, I agree that "Süßer die Glocken" is hard to sing, especially for male voices. It's that sudden octave jump in the middle.
Simon: It's pretty predictable that there will be a copyright claim if I record a "famous" tune, regardless of whether modern or ancient, as the Youtube system will invariably match it with some commercially released recording. These claims always go away though when I appeal them. Of course, some claims are fair enough when I record a modern tune -- there the frustration is that I can't tell the system in advance that this is a copyrighted tune, so please send any royalties/ad revenue to the composer. I have to rely on their system recognising the composition which it sometimes does and sometimes not.

Here is another German Christmas carol, with a rather international history:

Tochter Zion, freue dich

The tune to this German Christmas carol is Händel's "See The Conquering Hero Comes" from Judas Maccabaeus, adapted for Christmas with German lyrics by Friedrich Heinrich Ranke in 1826, and then adapted back into English as the Easter hymn "Thine Be The Glory". As my version is instrumental, these different titles and lyrics don't matter here.

Harmonies and chord changes adapted from the same German children's songbook as for my previous carol.

Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin

After all those German carols, here is an Italian one:

Tu scendi dalle stelle

This Italian Christmas carol was written in 1732 by Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787). I'm playing it as an instrumental on mandolin, with accompaniment on second mandolin, tenor guitar and mandocello, using a mandolin quartet arrangement by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, which she uploaded here on the Cafe in 2014 -- we've been playing it ever since:

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...i-Dalle-Stelle

Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



Martin

I can't believe how active this group is at the moment! I thought I'd caught up, went away for a day and a bit, and now find more than a dozen threads updated again! Martin, you're on a roll with your Christmas recordings. Tochter Zion is another favourite of mine, and your tremolo is just perfect here. I don't think I've heard the Italian melody before, but it's very nice, too.

I was worried that everything else going on wouldn't allow me enough time to record a Christmas tune, but I managed to get it done with just one day to spare. In a relatively recent change of plan, I decided that the ideal song for this particular year would be "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen" ("Lo, how a rose e'er blooming"). We all need an extra portion of hope this year, for all sorts of reasons.

Very nice Dennis,
-and the playing too!

It is good to hear you again, Gelsenbury, beautiful song.

Nice work, Dennis. Does the appearance of this thread mean, the Chistmas Season is officially opened? So I'm going to start the row of Carols for 2021 with an Ukrainian one: Dobry vechir tobi, (Good evening to you):

Sounds like the season is officially open, Christian. Thank you for introducing me to a Ukrainian Carol, which I enjoyed.

I think Simon started the Christmas season by commenting on my year-old video! Listening back to it, I can see that this was before I realised that the reed on my cornamuse was broken and made it sound harsh. With an unusual and unfamiliar instrument, I didn't know the difference.

Anyway, Simon's timing is good because Advent has indeed started. It's nice to see Christian start this year's round of seasonal music with this beautiful Ukrainian carol. You play it with sensitivity and excellent tone, as usual.

Lovely playing as usual and thanks for this new (to me) tune, Christian.
It’s so good to hear all this melodic diversity.

Quite different from the usual Christmas fare, Christian, and a new one to me too. Your style and sound are almost instantly identifiable on your postings, one of the great things about the SAW Group; we all approach our tunes in our own ways.

Very pretty Christian! A beautiful start for the 2021 season!

(Keech banjo not kettle drums, and I had intended to begin posting tunes on the 1st of December)

https://youtu.be/rgEPGjB2rpU

It sounds like a Branle and it sounds great!

Thanks Frithjof, it is a Branle! But you knew, of course. Hey, I’d like to record and post twelve Christmas tunes before the 24 December if you’re interested?
Anyone else too? Very simple French medieval style format…? Or a lot of us together?

From Wiki:
Ding Dong Merrily on High" is a Christmas carol.
The tune first appeared as a secular dance tune known under the title "Branle de l'Official"[1][2] in Orchésographie, a dance book written by the French cleric, composer and writer Jehan Tabourot (1519–1593).

The words are by the English composer George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934), and the carol was first published in 1924 in his The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons. Woodward took an interest in church bell ringing, which no doubt aided him in writing it. Woodward was the author of several carol books, including Songs of Syon and The Cowley Carol Book. The macaronic style is characteristic of Woodward’s delight in archaic poetry. Charles Wood harmonised the tune when it was published with Woodward's text in The Cambridge Carol Book. More recently, Sir David Willcocks made an arrangement for the second book of Carols for Choirs.

X:1
T:Ding Dong Merrily on High (Branle de l'officiel)
L:1/8
M:2/2
K:C
V:1
c2 c2 dcBA | G6 G2 | A2 c2 c2 B2 | c4 c4 ::
g3 f efge | f3 e defd | e3 d cdec | d3 c BcdB |
c3 B ABcA | B3 A G2 G2 | A2 c2 c2 B2 | c4 c4 :|
V:2
"C" E3 E"F" FEDC |"G" B,DGE FEED |"F" CDEF"G" G2- GF |"C" EDEF E2 G,2 ::
"C" e3 d cdec |"G" d3 c BcdB |"Am" c3 B ABcA |"E" B3 A ^GABG |
"F" A3 G FGAF |"G" GAGF"C" E2 E2 |"F" FG A2"G" G2 F2 |"C" E4 E4 :|

Nicely done, Simon.

I seem to have somehow not kept up properly with this thread... Fine playing, all!

Simon, that's a very cool sound you've got there, your arrangement combined with the drone, it's like being in a time warp to a different era, nice!

Simon wrote: "I'd like to record and post twelve Christmas tunes before the 24 December...
Anyone else too? Very simple French medieval style format…? Or a lot of us together?"

Sounds interesting. And quite ambitious! I've never played French tunes though and am not familiar with the parameters or the subleties of what's required. Unrelated to that, I do have an obscure Christmas ragtime tune I'm working on, but I doubt I could get it ready in time for this year's Christmas.

- Jess

The arrangement for 3 mandolins and backing track are by Jay Buckey.

This is so jolly and fun first thing in the morning- a bouncy and delightful rendition. Thanks Jairo.

Nice one Jairo, I like the jazzy feeling.

Thanks Ginny, my Keech banjo is an added bonus!

A big thanks to all who liked my version of the Ukrainian "A good day to you" and a big WOW! to Simon and Jairo!
Simon's tune really comes to life when the Keech banjo starts, and Jairo surprises with jazzy phrasing.
If we keep posting a Christmas tune each day, we'll have a real advent calendar.
I have prepared a more traditional Carol for today: God rest ye merry Gentlemen

Well, since Christmas carol season has officially opened, one more contribution of my own ... excuse the abrupt end of the track, but I use a Jay Buckey backing track and then a banjo break follows...



Simon y Christian excelentes!

Lovely tune Jairo, well played!

HERE’S A CHRISTMAS TUNEBOOK FROM PAUL HARDY, HAPPY FESTIVE SEASON!
https://pghardy.net/tunebooks/pgh_xmas_tunebook.abc

Time for another Christmas tune on this second sunday of Advent, this time a song that seems to be very popular in Finnland: Varpunen jouluaamuna by Otto Kotilainen. There are lots of versions on Youtube of this song based on a poem about a sparrow on Christmas morning.

As Christian has said, yesterday was the second advent and I have just returned from a short trip to Germany where I've dosed up on Christmas markets and brought back some decent Lebkuchen, Spekulatius and Printen.

Here is my first seasonal recording of the year, a set of two carols, both with roots in renaissance dance tunes and both arranged by Evelyn Tiffany-Castilgioni for contra dance band performance.

Ding Dong Merrily On High/Deck The Halls Jig

The tune of Ding Dong Merrily On High was originally a French renaissance dance tune, "Branle de l'Official" by Thoinot Arbeau (1520-1595). "Deck The Halls" is based on a Welsh traditional tune, "Nos Galan", first collected in 1794 but likely to date to the 16th century.

My arrangements for both tunes are from "Evelyn's Big Book for Mandolins 2015" (available from Amazon, but also available free in the first of the five books of "A Winter's Tale" she has posted here on the Cafe - Link). Evelyn has emphasised the dance character, and has also adapted "Deck The Halls" to a jig. It makes for a lively dance set.

1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


https://youtu.be/q0kYfw67-3w

Martin

This thread has grown enormously over the years. I looked, but I couldn't find any other versions of "The Christmas Song" - so here it is:



Solos: Epiphone Sheraton, Silver Angel mandolin, Blueridge dreadnought. Rhythm: Fender Telecaster. Bass: Fender Jazz Bass. Drums: Spitfire Audio percussion samples.

Beautifully played with all those instruments, David. Interesting graphics !

Nice cover…though I can’t claim to understand the graphics (from my first viewing).

It's just a snowy biome in Minecraft. You do all play Minecraft, don't you?

Beautiful arrangement David! Believe it or not I play Minecraft (my grandson got me into it!) So I recognized it right away. I only play in creative mode because I don't need monsters chasing me all over the place. I like building things. Happy Holidays everyone!

Sorry OldSausage (David)…I’m afraid Minecraft has passed me by (along with 99% of all other such games!).

Great playing as usual and nice tune David, and thanks for the Minecraft vid, there’s nothing like walking around while it’s snowing in Minecraft, except walking around while it’s snowing.
-I have lots of memories playing with the family at Christmas, some not so good but most of them very good, we learned a lot about human behaviour, especially our own idiosyncrasies! I’m wondering when a psychologist will use it for psychological profiling...

Michael you just need someone in your game (Grandma) to have more than 35 experience points (you protect them) in a fortified mining village.
Then the whole team (family) gets all sorts of armour and horrible weapons!
Set the game to ‘dangerous’ and then you all go out together in the desert at night with torches and axes -lots of fun!

-my thing is villagers and rivers. Ok, that’s it.

Jairo, Christian, Martin, and David, very nice versions! The videogame footage was an interesting change of pace, although I'm not familiar with the game. I do have a sort-of retro Linux game on my phone though, and you're giving me ideas.

- Jess

Nice version of Ding Dong Merrily On High, Martin. I didn't know it has French origins.
Great multi instrument show, David. I like he sound of the Epiphone Sheraton.