Christmas Musical Traditions

 

Tomoko grew up in Japan, and celebrated Christmas because her family was Christian. Now Christmas is Japan is more popular and more commercialized. One contemporary Christmas activity that Tomoko would approve of is the performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, especially its “Ode to Joy” section, which is often sung in German.  Following are Christmas holiday traditions around the world.

Ethiopians dress in white as they attend church at Christmas dawn where why they see their priests dressed up, and the attendees dance and play musical instruments.

Jamaican radio stations start playing reggae-style and international Christmas carols as early as October. Their Christmas festivities include African-inspired Junkanoo, during which time the Jamaicans dance in masquerade costumes.

Colombian families sing religious Christmas carols called villancicos accompanied by simple percussion instruments. Children sing and play instruments at Novenas, which are religious gatherings during the holiday.

Because Uruguay celebrates Christmas during their summer time, the people there hold open-air music festivals.

Australia also celebrates Christmas in their summer season, and their Santa is often seen surfing – singing parodies of traditional carols. In contrast, the country's annual “Carols by Candlelight” concert is a charity appeal for Vision Australia.

Christmasland in New Taipei City includes a parade carnival and a Christmas Eve concert.

The whole Kastoria community participates in a Christmas time Dionysian revelry, which features folk melodies.

Christmas music can be heard as early as September 1 in the Philippines.

A week before Christmas Welsh people sing caneuon pygain: long sermons in song from the 17^th century, based on folk music, that tell about Christ's entire life. The songs feature close harmonies and were traditionally sung before dawn only by men.

Shopping is a popular Christmas activity in Singapore. In those shopping malls, caroling and concerts are frequently heard.

Outside their homes. Assyrian families make Christmas bonfires out of thorn bushes, and sing psalms as the thorns burn to ashes.

On Christmas eve in Denmark families sign carols and hymns around the tree, and dance around the house.

In Germany Protestant churches hold a Christmas eve service called Christvesper, which includes favorite Christmas carols and festive music for pianos and organs. Very traditional carols from the Latin school are also sung. Christmas eve in Germany, Austria, England, and the Czech Republic also features families lighting their trees and singing carols. In Bulgaria boy carolers visit neighborhoods starting at midnight.

Venezuelans carol from house to house, where they received food and drinks. In their Andes the carolers carry baby Jesus's image. House to house caroling also happens in Pakistan. In return for the singing, the families donate to the caroling choirs and their churches. Poland also features neighborhood caroling on Christmas eve. Romania takes caroling to a higher level. While children sing carols form house to house throughout the Christmas seasons, the first day of Christmas sees carolers parading through the village with a start depicting Bible stories.

Christmas in Japan

 

Tomoko grew up in Japan, and celebrated Christmas because her family was Christian. Now Christmas is Japan is more popular and more commercialized. Here are some of the ways that people in Japan currently celebrate this holiday.

In Japanese Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Meri Kurisumasu', written in the two Japanese scripts like this; Hiragana: めりーくりすます; Katakana: メリークリスマス. Santa is known as サンタさん、サンタクロース / Santa-san (Mr Santa) or サンタクロース / Santa-Kurosu (Santa Claus).

Even though Japan celebrates several holidays, Christmas is not a national holiday. Schools often take a New Year break so December 25 often is included in those closed days. During this time, many families in Japan like to visit Tokyo Disneyland to see the holiday decorations and parades. More generally, Japanese public areas create displays of lights and have seasonal lighting events.  Japan also hosts Christmas markers throughout the country. Children often have parties with games and dancing, and will eat decorated sponge cake, but they usually get only one gift at Christmas.  For adults, Christmas Eve is considered the most romantic day of the year; it is their Valentine’s Day equivalent. And what is the favorite Japanese Christmas meal? Kentucky Fried Chicken!

One Christmas activity that Tomoko would approve of is the performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, especially its “Ode to Joy” section, which is often sung in German.  

Christmas on the Piano

 

Some of Tomoko’s favorite composers wrote Christmas music for the piano.

Liszt, for example, composed a suite of twelve pieces: Weihnachsbaum (Christmas tree). Several of the pieces are based on traditional Christmas carols. He dedicated this work to his first grandchild Daniela von Bülow, who was born on Christmas Eve. This suite was first performed on Christmas Day, 1881, in Daniela’s hotel room in Rome.

Another composer who was inspired was Bartok, who heard regional traditional Romanian carols, called colinde, and transformed them into two series of piano pieces totaling 30 works.

It is not surprising that Cesar Franck composed four Christmas piano pieces. He was a major French Romantic composer and music teacher. In his thirties he became the organist for the Basilica of Sty. Clotilde in Paris, a position he held until he died in 1890. One of his most famous compositions was the communion anthem “Panis Angelicus,”  but he also wrote a set of four piano pieces specifically for Christmas, again based on traditional carols: “Christmas Carol from Anjou,” “Now Tell Us, Gentle Mary,” “Old Christmas Carol,” and “Whence Comes This Rush of Wings?”

Christmas traditions also inspired composers, such as Berlioz. In 1844 he composed “Rustic Serenade to the Virgin on the Theme of the Roman Pifferari” for the melodium organ, which was invented by an organ builder friend of his. The inspiration came from his time in Rome. While he did not enjoy Rome itself or think much of the music from there, he was impressed with the traditional oboe called a pifferi. The pifferari were rural wandering musicians who performed devout concerts before images of the Virgin Mary.

Another Christmas tradition moved Schumann. His miniature piano composition “Knecht Ruprecht” refers to St. Nicholas’s attendant. This character was a wild country foundling whom St. Nicholas raised, and helps give out presents – or punishments to naughty children. Schumann’s piece is part of his Album for the Young collection, written in 1848.

Mendelssohn also wrote piano works for children. His Opus 72, 6 Kinderstücke (Children’s Pieces), was original not tied to the holiday, but the 1847 English edition of the work was named Six Christmas Pieces.  He wrote this opus specifically for children and adapted his style to children’s musical development (e.g., using fewer accidentals and more familiar time signatures). At the time of this composition, Mendelssohn and his wife lived with a relative who had seven children.

Especially as Tomoko enjoys her grandson Kai, she may well be playing some of these Christmas pieces for him.

 

Piano Christmas Music and Tomoko

 

Tomoko grew up in a Christian household, and remembers her mother listening to religious music, including Christmas hymns. Tomoko served as a piano accompanist for her Protestant high school choruses, and accompanied church choirs in college.

 

Many classical composers created Christmas music for the piano. Here is a beginning list.

• v  Romanian Christmas Carols by Bartok
• v  Rustic Serenade To The Virgin by Berlioz
• v  Rose Is Gently Blooming by Brahms
• v  Noel by Daquin
• v  Swiss Noel by Daquin
• v  Christmas Carol From Anjou by Franck
• v  Now Tell Us Gentle Mary by Franck
• v  Old Christmas Carol by Franck
• v  Whence Comes This Rush Of Wing by Franck
• v  Let Our Gladness Know No End by Fuhrer
• v  Christmas Chimes by Gade
• v  Christmas Tree by Gade
• v  Les Pifferari Italian Pipers by Gounod
• v  Sussex Mummers Christmas Carol by Grainger
• v  Pifa by Handel
• v  Christmas Song Christ Is Born by Liszt
• v  Shepherds At The Manger In Dulci Jubilo by Liszt
• v  Happiness At Christmas by Mendelssohn
• v  Christmas Gift by Paine
• v  Around The Christmas Tree by Raff
• v  Children Playing Around The Ch by Rebikov
• v  Music Box Gift by Rebikov
• v  Silent Night by Reger
• v  Christmas Sonatina by Reinecke
• v  Sonata Pastorale by Scarlatti
• v  Knecht Ruprecht by Schumann
• v  Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky

 

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Holiday time is performance time

It’s Christmas time, which is also performance time. The holidays are a time to celebrate, and they offer a wonderful opportunity to perform seasonal music.

Piano recitals at this time of year remain, at their heart, a high-stakes experience for both the music student as well as the teacher.

The ideal performance is memorized because it enables the performer to focus on interpretation; the basics of hitting the right notes have been internalized. Not that memorization is easy. When asked, “How do you memorize a piece of music?”, Tomoko replied , “It is like building a house, You build on the foundation. The hardest part is the starting stage. You have to persevere. You can’t be impatient. You must repeat, making sure that you play the right note so that your hand muscles will remember where to touch the keys. Don’t listen to the quality of the music at that point. If you continue with discipline, one day you will find that it’s done: you’ve memorized the piece.”

Next comes the process of analyzing the piece. Tomoko states that each piece has a number of elements that need to be considered: tone quality, articulation, rhythmic sense, phrasing, flow, and feeling. As Tomoko teaches her students she shows them these elements, typically giving them a good and a bad example, and asking them to choose. She trust her students to tell the difference, especially since she carefully selects the examples to scaffold critical analytical skills.

Just as she uses a building metaphor to describe memorizing, Tomoko applies that metaphor to developing the recital program. As the impresario for her students’ recitals, Tomoko loves the programming aspects, and chooses pieces to showcase each student’s ability, wherever they are on the performance spectrum. She puts together the program with a clear path in mind, and then matches the details, preparing all the music. Tomoko sees herself as a designer and fashioner of the musical program.

It takes up to four months to get ready for the recital. Students need time to memorize well, and they can’t peak too early. By the time of the performance, everyone is excited: the students, the parents, and Tomoko herself. The recital is stimulating, like a good game; all the students try their best. Recitals are not the time to criticize but rather a time to celebrate, like the holidays.

Tomoko has performed admirably for decades at recitals, and her recordings show her at recital level. Enjoy the season by choosing from her rich collection of CDs. Go to http://www.tomokohagiwara.com/recordings.html.
It’s a good way to start the year too.