Here We Come A-Caroling
I meant to post about this earlier, but last Saturday my church choir had its annual Christmas party, and it was fabulous :) A few hours before the party, my friend Grace came over and we baked chocolate chip cookies (the ready-made-dough variety, which has always been my favorite). Surprisingly, we managed to bake a whole small tub of dough, and got about 35 cookies baked in less than an hour. I should do this more often, it's so simple! But then, there aren't that many occasions that justify baking 35 chocolate chip cookies at one go.
It had been cold and rainy all day, and by the time we left the outside temperature was below freezing, but luckily the roads had dried up enough that we didn't have any problems with ice. And the people who hosted it have such an absolutely lovely house! It's a classic Pittsburgh house, older, lots of dark wood, thick dark banisters, stained glass windows, etc.
I really love hanging out with the choir folks. Not least of which because any choir party inevitably devolves into music-making. It doesn't hurt that whoever hosts the Christmas party every year invariably has at least a piano in their house, if not a baby grand. And there was a sweet baby grand at Bob's house (since he actually is a composer, and has written some of the music the choir sings). He also had stacks of caroling books, so not too long after everyone had gotten their food into their tummies, a few people got into a group and started doing a capella versions of a few of the songs we've been doing lately. Soon we all gathered around the piano, passed out caroling books and started singing Christmas carols. Ken, our organist, played only a couple of songs, but one of them was "Do You Hear What I Hear?" which is his wife Lisa's favorite carol (and one of mine, too!). She directed us, holding up a poster with a shortened form of the lyrics so we'd know what to sing, when, and most of us instinctively fell into parts and made up harmonies that actually sounded quite lovely together :) I enjoy doing things like that! And "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is pretty easy to create a harmony for.
So there was lots of singing, and various people traded off playing on the piano (there are many good piano players, unsurprisingly, in our choir). There were also a few songs performed without singing, as they were instrumental arrangements intended to be played as solos or duets on the piano, and they were quite lovely, too. Nancy had brought her violin and Bob pulled out his cello (which he is only just beginning to learn to play), and they did a duet; Nancy also accompanied a couple of piano pieces. Even I managed to snag the piano for a little bit, but having barely touched a piano in months, I kept to a couple of slower pieces, including "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I did well enough, though, and got a few compliments :)
Speaking of which, I am now the proud owner of a book of Christmas music for the piano, and another one is on its way to me now :) I will be extremely Christmas-ful, and when I go home to Albany for the holidays I will be able to play my merry little heart out!
Also, I need a Christmas icon...
It had been cold and rainy all day, and by the time we left the outside temperature was below freezing, but luckily the roads had dried up enough that we didn't have any problems with ice. And the people who hosted it have such an absolutely lovely house! It's a classic Pittsburgh house, older, lots of dark wood, thick dark banisters, stained glass windows, etc.
I really love hanging out with the choir folks. Not least of which because any choir party inevitably devolves into music-making. It doesn't hurt that whoever hosts the Christmas party every year invariably has at least a piano in their house, if not a baby grand. And there was a sweet baby grand at Bob's house (since he actually is a composer, and has written some of the music the choir sings). He also had stacks of caroling books, so not too long after everyone had gotten their food into their tummies, a few people got into a group and started doing a capella versions of a few of the songs we've been doing lately. Soon we all gathered around the piano, passed out caroling books and started singing Christmas carols. Ken, our organist, played only a couple of songs, but one of them was "Do You Hear What I Hear?" which is his wife Lisa's favorite carol (and one of mine, too!). She directed us, holding up a poster with a shortened form of the lyrics so we'd know what to sing, when, and most of us instinctively fell into parts and made up harmonies that actually sounded quite lovely together :) I enjoy doing things like that! And "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is pretty easy to create a harmony for.
So there was lots of singing, and various people traded off playing on the piano (there are many good piano players, unsurprisingly, in our choir). There were also a few songs performed without singing, as they were instrumental arrangements intended to be played as solos or duets on the piano, and they were quite lovely, too. Nancy had brought her violin and Bob pulled out his cello (which he is only just beginning to learn to play), and they did a duet; Nancy also accompanied a couple of piano pieces. Even I managed to snag the piano for a little bit, but having barely touched a piano in months, I kept to a couple of slower pieces, including "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I did well enough, though, and got a few compliments :)
Speaking of which, I am now the proud owner of a book of Christmas music for the piano, and another one is on its way to me now :) I will be extremely Christmas-ful, and when I go home to Albany for the holidays I will be able to play my merry little heart out!
Also, I need a Christmas icon...