December 2024: Advent Calendar
Categories: Composery Life
Sunset on December 1st 2024 along the River Coquet from Felton Bridge
Welcome to this year’s musicky Advent Calendar. Every day there’ll be a festive song and a teensy bit of context. I do send this out to pals with extra news, so if you’re not on that list and wat to be, do send word!
December 1st
Today’s song is Hodie Christus Natus Est, as performed by Rock Festival Choir way back. The reason I’ve picked it for today is that today is the day of the annual Rock Festival Choir Advent Recital at 3pm in St. Paul’s Church, Alnwick. Peter’s chosen it again for this year, which is pleasing.
Today’s concert sees me doing a spot of tambourining again (also triangling and belling) and I get to conduct the sopranos and altos in my piece – we’re going for an antiphonal effect with the men over there and us over here! Just one more word on this song, which is one of my most-performed around the world. I received royalties this year for performances of it in educational settings, and on the TV in New Zealand – “National Broadcaster” is the sub-heading. So that’s exciting, eh? My recordings of it have been listened to a lot during the last few weeks which perhaps also means that it’s being performed somewhere else this year too.
December 2nd
It’s Laud Blaw The Frosty Breezes, which is not strictly a Christmas song, but it is a winter song, and the lyrics are by Robert Burns who was a famous Scottish person, of course, and we did go on holiday in Scotland in August, so it sort of seems slightly appropriate!
December 3rd
Miss Fogerty’s Christmas Cake, which is an Irish song. We’ve sung it a few times in The Bridge Singers, although not this year. I choose it today because yesterday I decided to make a Christmas cake myself, and hopefully it will be tastier than the one in the song. I do realise that it’s a bit late in the day to be making such a thing, but there you go…I’ve done it. It looks OK and the smell in the house yesterday was rather enticing. If I’m to be honest, I decided to make this thing a few days ago and have been steeping the fruit in spiced rum and orange juice since then. There’ll be a bit more steeping final cake this morning, before we wrap it up for a while, I guess!
Update on 1st and 2nd December!
The Rock Festival Choir concert on Sunday was a tremendous success – lots of people in the audience, all seemingly very happy with their afternoon’s entertainment. Peter was happy too and everyone in the choir as well. Jamie started the whole thing off with a solo at the start of Peter’s own piece Veni Emmanuel – he was splendid (and it’s not just me saying that – people we don’t know have written messages to Peter to that effect!) My Hodie went cheerily too, and Mum enjoyed it greatly – “maybe our best ever”, she declared.
I made a video using photos from our Dundee holiday in August today did indeed do that and here’s the result with an arrangement I did of another Robert Burns song.
December 4th
Today’s song is my setting of The Lamb. We just sang the more famous John Tavener setting of William Blake’s poem at the weekend with Rock Festival Choir and that truly is a glorious setting if you want to seek it out, but I quite like mine too! I originally wrote it for Grangetown Primary School in Sunderland where first the choir, then the whole school used to sing it in unison with me playing the piano – they absolutely loved it. I made this arrangement for RFC back then and it’s since been performed by lots of choirs round the world including more schools on the unison version. The Bridge Singers voted for it as one of their favourites last year. Anyway, here’s Rock Festival Choir singing it way back with some pictures of a trip to Australia, also from way back. The first voice you hear is Jamie and the second is lovely Eric. When Eric died a couple of years ago, his wife asked the choir to sing my arrangement of I’ve Never Seen A Straight Banana at his funeral. It’s nice to be reminded of his very rich voice and his constant quipping and full-of-fun personality!
December 5th
Today’s song is Magical Glass and what’s more, you have two versions to choose from.
It was originally composed as part of my “Winter Wear” project in Sunderland, and tells the story of glass-making in that city: the first ever glass windows in a church in St. Peter’s in Monkwearmouth in the late 7th century; the industrial glass-making of the 18th-20th centuries; the manufacture of Pyrex (over which Joblings in Sunderland had a UK monopoly; and the National Glass Centre, which is part of the University, and houses a museum as well as modern glass artists.
Here’s The Bridge Singers on the version which is all about glass-making connections in Felton and Thirston and where the choir’s based up here in Northumberland. I changed the lyrics in 2016 to suit our “Rivers, Bridges and Other Local Things” theme: the wonderfully colourful windows in St. Michael’s Church; the fine clay found in the soil in Thirston which was transported to Newcastle for their own glassmaking industry; the historic and recently-restored glass house at Felton Park, and Gallery 45, which at the time of the re-writing had its own glass artist. They do still sell glass art amongst the rest! This has been a popular song with the choir over the years and we’ve sung it a few times, including this year at the funeral of our alto, Gillian in St. Michael’s Church itself. This recording is from 2016 when we sang it in the Felton Park Glasshouse.
I used this song again to illustrate some images of a trip we made to Sunderland and Newcastle in May this year (this is for the newsy bit of the Advent Calendar that I email out to pals!):
December 6th
Today’s song is my own version of In The Bleak Midwinter. The reason I’ve chosen it today is that last night at our Lionheart Harmony practice, we sang it for the first time this year. We’d decided to hold off Christmas music until December, especially as we have no gigs at all this season, and this one has become one of our staples. It sounded lovely. I should have recorded it, but there you go…I failed to do so, so you’ll have to put up with a version from a while back. It’s still Lionheart Harmony, but I can very clearly hear our lovely bass Sid in there, who died several years ago. Anyway. Nice memories of him.
I made this teensy video today too:
December 7th
Here’s Hush My Dear as recorded by The Bridge Singers during the difficult Christmas of 2020 when we could do this but not that, and only in small groups, and only two metres apart. Somehow we managed to keep on singing that entire years in one way or another, and at the end of the year came up with this:
December 8th
Today’s song is an arrangement of a Welsh Carol, Ar Gyfer Heddiw’r Bore. It’s being performed by The Bridge Singers on this recording which was made in December 2022 at Brinkburn Priory. We’re supposed to be going there again today for their annual Carol Service. I think it probably depends on the weather to a certain extent, as it’s been very windy for a day now and there are trees down all over the place. Anyway, I haven’t heard anything about that yet – too early in the day, so the plan is still to go there.
December 9th
Here’s a carol about a fellow from the north-east of England, Godric of Finchale. I did originally learn about him while doing my wintry project about the River Wear when I worked in Sunderland. I had an idea to write a song about him then, but finally got around to it this time last year. This recording is me and Jamie, but hopefully one day a real choir will sing it. Here’s the programme note about the song: “Godric of Finchale was a hermit who lived in the forest near the River Wear and Durham. Stories about him include his kindness towards animals and birds (including snakes), his welcoming of local folk (often bearing gifts) to his fireside, and his habit of submerging himself in the waters of the river, no matter what the weather, in order to bring himself closer to God. This song makes reference to some of these stories.”
December 10th
Advent Calendar 10 is Ding Dong Merrily On High and lots of castles in Northumberland. I made this arrangement about ten years ago for a high school wind band and choir, and the voice you hear singing is Jamie!
Jamie also features in this video and it’s him singing Handel’s He Shall Feed His Flock, too!
December 11th
Today’s song is Sweet Bells and the video is one of The Bridge Singers’ lockdown videos. The recording itself is a live one as it happens – from the Brinkburn Carol Service of 2019 – you can hear how resonant it is, and why we were so looking forward to singing there again. The video was made as part of the local church community’s 2020 Christmas enthusiasm for spreading the Christmas spirit around the place even though we were in a lockdown. Because we live in a prominent part of the village near the bridge with people walking past all the time as they head to the river walk with their dogs, it was deemed a good one to have a stop on their window trail. You can see from the video that we had sheep, shepherds and angels in the window (the sheep are still there!) and a QR code that people could scan, then watch/hear this video. The only slight issue was that way down here in the valley most people couldn’t get a signal on their phones, but managed to scan the code then walk up the hill a bit to get the link!
December 12th
It’s Coventry Carol for today’s Advent Calendar “window”, as performed by Swarland Voices in Brinkburn Priory in 2023
Also today, I’ve written a blog about this lovely choir, which can read here!
Swarland Voices in 2024
December 13th
Today’s Christmas song is one of my Five Christmas Fanfares. This is the 3rd and shortest and liveliest and is performed here by Choralation from Westlake Girls’ and Boys’ High Schools in Auckland, New Zealand. They performed it a few times that year and it was also on Praise Be! – the NZ equivalent of Songs Of Praise.
Also today, I’ve made a new video using some photos from earlier in the year for the other, newsy bit of the Advent Calendar:
December 14th
Today’s Advent Calendar offering is Gabriel Fram Heven King, and a video I made to help the choir learn how to pronounce this English from olden times! We’ve not been singing it this year, but I’ve noticed that it’s been listened to quite a few times during the last several weeks, so maybe it’s proving useful to others as well.
December 15th
Today’s song is Cantate Domino, and you have the choice of two recordings. One is the world premiere, which was in Brisbane Cathedral at the City’s Biennial Music Festival by the University of Queensland Chamber Choir, Concentus, complete with audience noise. (Jamie and I are singing on this – we were two of several “community members” which was stipulated by the University’s funding people as part of the requirements for continued financial support of the choir.)
The second is by Manchester-based choir Kantos who included it as part of their Advent Calendar in 2020 and also on their Christmas CD “The Silver Stars At Play”. I remember Jamie and I hightailed it to Manchester in 2017 to hear them perform it, driving there and back in the day (and night) so that we were back for The Bridge Singers’ concert the next day. Quite the thrill and pretty knackering!
December 16th
It’s a brand new recording of a brand new arrangement of mine for today’s Advent Calendar treat. We sang it at The Bridge Singers’ concert last Saturday (7th) and I did record it then, but Storm Darragh was raging outside at the time and having a noisy effect on the roof, so the four of us went back to the church this Saturday and recorded it again, minus the wind! In between the two Saturdays, the church had been decorated for Christmas, so I took some photos and used them to illustrate the recording, so here’s Unto Us Is Born A Son, in exuberant fashion!
December 17th
Omnes de Saba is today’s song. The images are of the spiky tree up near Swarland. It still has leaves on the bottom half of it in the summer, but I don’t think it’s super-healthy. Every time we have one of the very windy storms, I expect to find it felled, but no – it clings on.
Family photos from October 2024, from the newsy bit of the Advent Calendar I send to friends and family:
December 18th
Today’s Advent Calendar song and story are all intertwined. The song is Miri It Is, which is one of The Bridge Singers’ “Winter Songs and Carols” – this term’s repertoire and the name of our concert from December 7th. I’ve made a new video using the recording of Miri It Is which opened the concert, and also some images that various people took during the concert and also during our end-of-term merriment this last Monday.
I’ve also written a blog about this repertoire, which includes the programme and some more sound clips from the rehearsals and performance, and you can read all about and listen all about that here Carols and Wintry Songs – Cheryl Camm – Composer
December 19th
Today’s song is Chantry Chapel Carol, and the reason for this today is that I’ve heard tell that a choir in Oxfordshire is performing it in their two Christmas concerts yesterday and today. Wheeeeh!
December 20th
I’ll pick “That First Christmas Night” as my official Advent Calendar song of the day. As far as I’m aware no-one’s singing it this Christmas, except that it has received lots of plays on my Youtube channel in the last few weeks, so perhaps it is getting an outing somewhere, but I just don’t know about it! The pictures are all of lovely bits of my home town, Worksop, which of course I never go to any more, now that Mum has moved!
December 21st
It’s got to be “Ring Out Solstice Bells” for this date, surely?! We’ve been singing this one again this year in The Bridge Singers and it was recently included in our Carols and Wintry Songs concert.
December 22nd
Today’s Advent Calendar song is Tiny, Flickering Flame, and you have three choices of listening. The first is me singing it way back to help a school learn it, the second is that school having learned it, and the third is The Bridge Singers performing it in 2019. That original school have performed it many, many times, and several others have also done so. The Bridge Singers voted for it as part of their favourite Christmas songs last year, so it’s been a good ‘un!
Me: https://youtu.be/6DmbnQ3z93Y
School: https://youtu.be/oEys8XSIyls
Grown-ups: https://youtu.be/1oiqZVTuVCA
Also today, here are a few slides from our mini-holiday in Stirling in March!
23rd December
Today’s song is a short and lively one. It’s Patapan, given a flutey makeover and combined with some pictures of St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall from a holiday a few years ago. I rearranged it for brass quintet in 2022, which was also good.
Also, during the year, I’ve become slightly obsessed with seed fluffy plants. Here’s a miniscule selection of them:
24th December
Today’s song and story are all the same thing. It’s Alleluia Into The Light, which is a Christmas Eve song. It tells the story of an underground coal miner dreaming in the darkness and heat of the pit, of his day off tomorrow.
This version for SSAA choir was the one that had a world premiere by Rock Festival Choir in 2018, and also the version that has been used by David Barton in his own Musical Advent Calendar for the last few years. I don’t know this man, but he’s a professional musician and clearly has excellent taste, so that’s a pleasing thing!
While rootling through my computer today, I’ve found a recording of the world premiere performance of the song by Rock Festival Choir. I’d forgotten about that even existing, and it doesn’t sound too bad at all (in spite of some audience splutterings and shufflings), so I’ve combined it with some light-y photos from this year. You have, therefore, a third option for listening to today’s song!
26th December
The Advent Calendar might be finished, but there’s still stuff to be photographed and still videos to be made. I was very taken with the light before and after sunset today as we strolled along the beach at Amble, looking out on Coquet Island. I remembered that I’d once written a song with a trio of primary schools, that included Coquet Island, so I’ve used that as the accompanying music.
If you’d like to hear the whole song:
28th December
Yesterday my camera took this first picture at sunrise, then ceased to work for seemingly good. I took the second with my phone a few minutes later. I’m happy with both pictures, but I’m sad about my camera. Last week this very laptop started having conniptions, and just now a brand new computer has arrived. I shall be doing lots of re-learning over the next few weeks – there’s also the music notating programme Sibelius to learn about, also the new Cubase, also a new washing machine is arriving on Thursday, and someday soon, I hope, there’ll be a new camera. In the meantime, I’ve found my camera-before last, which still works, but struggles to open its shutter thingamy without assistance!
31st December
I have begun the process of absorbing the delights my new computer and all that it contains. This partly involves a sort-out, of course, and I’ve come across folders called “Sundries” and “Raw recordings” which contain a potpourri of diversions (some of which have now been deleted – there is a very limited number of blurry moon photos that are useful, really). Here are some of the survivors as I re-learn how to make my videos. The music is performed here by The Bridge Singers on June 17th of some year or other – hard to know as the labelling is not what it would be now! All the photos are from before 2014 – that’s when I started to be more organised (with photos if not other things!)
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