7 Facts About Christmas Carols You didn’t Know

We are 2 weeks away from Christmas and it is the festive season everybody waits for. Decorations in every house, jolly emotions and the time when Christmas Carols become the main music. In this blog, for a change, instead of discussing music, instruments or performances, is going to giving you some really cool facts about Christmas Carols to put you in a jolly mood! So here are your 7 Christmas Carol facts:

1. Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles.

2. The word Carol originally meant to dance to something.

3. Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived.

4. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches!

5. Before carol singing in public became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called ‘Waits’. These were bands of people led by important local leaders (such as council leaders) who had the only power in the towns and villages to take money from the public (if others did this, they were sometimes charged as beggars!). They were called ‘Waits’ because they only sang on Christmas Eve (This was sometimes known as ‘watch night’ or ‘wait night’ because of the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them.), when the Christmas celebrations began.

6. New carols services were created and became popular, as did the custom of singing carols in the streets. Both of these customs are still popular today! One of the most popular types of Carols services are Carols by Candlelight services. At this service, the church is only lit by candlelight and it feels very Christmassy! Carols by Candlelight services are held in countries all over the world.

7. What is the most common sound that remind you of Christmas? It is that subtle ringing of bells that goes on forever and are very well used in a lot of Carols. Those instrument are called “Sleigh Bells” and are known to be used by every Santa Claus.

Interesting, isn’t it? Well, we hope you enjoyed those fun facts about Christmas Carols. Here’s wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy holidays!

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.

Sources of this information:

https://www.uselessdaily.com/news/10-fun-facts-about-christmas-carols-list/#.XfN_YOgzbIU

3 Ways to Determine how quickly you can go from Learning to Performing Music

Everyone loves to perform. And if you are just starting to learn music, you may be wondering about how long until you can start performing with your instrument. Well, it really depends on the phase of musical development you are in. Let's break down the factors that will give you a idea about when you can start performing on stage.

Instrument Skills

When you are performing, you do need to put up a performance that is not completely out of place. You have to be somewhat skilled to put up a satisfactory performance in front of a crowd. Now, there are a lot of people who are learning on their own and sometimes that makes your development unsteady as there is no discipline in the sequence of your lessons. Most of all, there is no feedback and there is no one to give you an honest suggestion about how well you are playing a song. So, it is preferable that you find a teacher or get good online lessons which will not only develop you better, but will help you gain some important skills that you need to start performing. If you have little knowledge on your instrument and only need polishing, you can start performing in 2-3 months. If you are a complete beginner, provided you practice your stuff, it shouldn’t take you more than 4-5 months to start performing.

Jamming skills

There are a lot of people who are not used to playing with a lot of other musicians. Jamming has a different dynamic and you have to keep jamming to get comfortable with it and understand the different components of a band. This plays a huge part in preparing for performance. If you are not used to playing with other instruments, you will need at least a few jamming sessions with other instruments which might take a couple of months or so to really get used to it and be able to perform without any jitters which basically means you are comfortable with your instrument and also able to communicate with other instruments effectively.

Professionalism

Now if you are starting out you cannot expect to get well paid shows straightaway. You have to keep real expectations and start out with small shows. Try to do as many shows as you can which will build your confidence tremendously and will shape you for the challenges that come with putting up a professional show. Showmanship, sound dynamics and execution of techniques on stage comes with experience, so you learn along the way. It takes years of experience to be able to put up a flawless show out to the crowd, so yes, start small and build your repertoire, it will eventually get you where you see yourself as a musician.

So, if you are dedicated to your instrument, practice with discipline and with organised content, it will only take you 3-4 months to start performing. Also it will help you to get the required skill and quality if you are under the guidance of professionals who can give you advice that will assure a performance that a crowd will enjoy.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.

Co-relation between Hindustani and Western Music terms

Both the style of music uses very similar theoretical terminology, however the approach and the actual meaning of it is quite different. In this topic, we will discuss about the terms, its significance and the relationship between the two styles.

Notes

There are 12 notes in music as we know it. In Hindustani, these 12 notes are called ‘‘Swaras’’. Now, the 12 notes are divided into two. In western music, the division is known as Natural and Accidental notes whereas in Hindustani, Swaras are divided as Shudh Swaras and Vikrit Swaras. There are 7 natural and 5 accidental notes and similarly, in Hindustani music there are 7 Shudh Swaras and 5 Vikrit Swaras. However, Natural notes are not the same as Shudh Swaras and Accidental notes are not the same as Vikrit Swaras.

Natural notes in western music are all the white keys on a piano, which are A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The accidental notes are referred to the sharp and flat notes which are the black keys on the piano. Shudh swaras are referred to the notes of any major scale, any change in the note in the major scale is due to the introduction of Vikrit Swaras.

Taking best of both

Both styles have a theory that best suits their need and necessity. Hindustani students do a lot of Alankaar practice which goes something like " Sa Re Ga, Re Ga Ma, Ga Ma Pa…". Western vocal students can do the same exercise as "Do Re Mi, Re Mi Fa, Mi Fa So…".

Now if you know your chords, you will know that the major and minor chord is formed of three notes. For example ; C major scale is made up of C E G. In Hindustani the same major scale will be formed by Sa Ga Pa, so when you are singling over C major chord, you should not sing komal ga with it. However you have to start your Sargam starting in C.

Conclusion

So, from above, you can come to conclusion that both Hindustani and Western has same number of notes. But western tells you the pitch through its given notes but Hindustani music theory depends on the Swaras and the pitch is decided later. The basic difference is the influence of the region, Hindustani takes styles from their traditional culture whereas the Western takes up influences from the European countries. 

However, the notes involved are quite similar, only the execution of it is different. So there is not one style which is better, they are just influenced from two different parts of the world and thus can be heard in them. So, as a musician you should research as much as you can on both the styles and use the favourite techniques from both the styles.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.