Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord!
Music is so integral to Christmas, don’t you think? Every young child grows up learning Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. If they are in a church going family, they will learn Away in a Manger almost before they can talk. When they start school, if they are lucky, they will get to perform for their parents. Little glowing faces with Santa hats on miming his big belly jiggling like a bowl full of jelly. Parents, their eyes welling up as their little one waves enthusiastically to them from the stage.
Sunday Schools typically mount pageants and then you can see your child as little angels, or shepherds, or even the animals at the manger. I can’t tell you how often the Arabic headdress we brought back from Iraq was used for Joseph or one of the Wise Men!
As children get older these concerts become more of “a drag” and the administration tends to use them as stage hands, not performers. Unless they are in a choir or band, their time in the limelight becomes a thing of the past. It’s too bad! I won’t get on my soap box right now, but suffice it to say that music, and performing musically, can unlock so much more in a child’s brain than any other activity!
Growing up, music was all around me.
We didn’t have a TV, but the radio was frequently on. BBC mostly. (I remember listening to The Lord of the Rings being read over the air waves.) And the music in my house was always of the classical and spiritual variety. The King’s College Choir stands out in my memory. We lived just outside of Cambridge, England for many years and listening to them was always a treat. There are so many beautiful symphonies that I grew up listening too. I’ve been including the songs from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet in my process videos. I hope you’ve been enjoying them. It is by far my most favourite Christmas piece. In fact, our next sketch and layout will be dealing with that so I won’t go on about it now.
In the video below I mention my blended family. I was lucky enough to be taken in by a family from our church who were even more musical than my own parents. While mine had an appreciation for listening to music and singing, they were not musicians (my Mum was able to pick out some tunes on the piano but that was about it.) My new parents were. Don was the church pianist and has a lovely tenor voice. I remember him singing The Messiah one year. So lovely! Ina played the clarinet in the Prince George Symphony and was the church choir director.
I played the recorder until I was about 12 or 13 at which time it was replaced by the flute. I took it very seriously! Lessons, hours of practicing scales (something my eldest seems to be allergic to), and years of competing at Music Festivals. I also sang in the Elementary school choir and had the absolute honour of being a part of the children’s choir that performed for Prince Charles and Princess Diana when they visited Prince George, BC in 1986.
Have you thought about what role music plays in your family?
Do you crank the Christmas tunes as soon as the calendar flips to December? Perhaps your family loves to go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and listen to the organ and the choir sing. Do you or your children play any musical instruments? Our family puts on a annual little recital at our Christmas gathering. Do you do anything like that? Now the million dollar question … have you scrapbooked it yet?
Here’s a sketch and a process video to help you do just that.
As I mentioned in the video, I’ve got a great BONUS for you with this sketch – an image that you can import into your electronic cutting machine to give you the fun music notes you saw in my layout. If it doesn’t work then drop me an email and I’ll send you the original Silhouette file. Shh! Don’t tell anyone!
Okay, now it’s your turn. Tell your music story now!
Don’t forget to share a link to any pages you make in the comments below or over on my Facebook page. We’d all love to see your work and read your stories!
Happy Scrapping!
