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Home for the Holidays: Area musicians share favorite Christmas carols

Jonathan Henson tries to work out the chords for his favorite Christmas song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” at C.A. House Music in Parkersburg, where he works in guitar sales. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Not only is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas, it’s starting to sound like the Yuletide too.

We’re past Thanksgiving, so most people agree — or at least accept — that holiday music is fair game.

“Usually about Thanksgiving we’ll start playing Christmas music at the house,” said Courtney Clark, director of bands for Warren Local Schools. “But as a music teacher, I’m already hearing Christmas music.”

Bands and choirs have been preparing for Christmas performances, including the Smoot Children’s Chorus at the historic Smoot Theatre in downtown Parkersburg.

“I don’t mind, they don’t mind, and we haven’t had any complaints from the parents either,” said Barbara Full, a retired music teacher who directs the chorus that started practicing for December performances before the calendar reached fall.

Christmas sheet music was on display at C.A. House Music in Parkersburg more than a month ago, so kids could start practicing for holiday performances. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Of course, Christmas music isn’t a monolith, with songs both sacred and secular, upbeat and introspective. Everybody has their favorites — and the ones they get a little tired of hearing.

Asked for her favorites, Full said, “I’m going to be inclined to choose choral masterpieces, not only because I direct choirs but I also am a member of Trinity Episcopal Church and that’s the kind of music we do, traditional carols.”

She lists among her top picks “The Wexford Carol,” a traditional Irish Christmas song, and “Still, Still, Still,” a favorite for the Children’s Chorus to perform.

“They just sound like perfect angels,” Full said.

She’s not a fan of “Holly Jolly Christmas,” but not due to any dislike of secular songs. Full said she wants the children in the chorus to have fun with the music too, citing one of this year’s selections featuring various versions of that famous lyric “fa la la.” It’s “partly ‘Deck the Halls’ but then it goes into … ‘Beethoven’s Fifth,’ the ‘1812 Overture,’ just different classical bits that we sing fa la la on too,” she said.

The Children’s Chorus will perform that and other numbers at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Trinity Episcopal in Parkersburg.

Chuck Lipps, vice president of local entertainment booking company RMA Presents and a musician who toured with bands including The Breeze, said he tends to lean toward the familiar, traditional Christmas songs like “Silent Night,” “White Christmas” and Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas.”

“Through your lifetime you hear them played over and over and over,” he said.

Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas” reminds him of his mother’s stories of growing up in a large family during the Great Depression, when she was “tickled to death” to get a bag of candy and a pair of socks for Christmas.

“That always makes me think of my parents a lot,” Lipps said.

He also enjoys humorous entries, like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”

“Every year somebody else puts out a new Christmas song,” Lipps said. “Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn’t.”

One that has stuck around in recent years is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” That one isn’t a favorite of Lipps’ to hear over and over and over.

The same goes for Jonathan Henson, in guitar sales at C.A. House Music in Parkersburg.

“It’s so overplayed at this point it’s a joke,” he said, referencing a popular meme on social media that warns in October the singer is being thawed out to belt out the tune again.

Henson said his favorite Christmas song is Judy Garland’s original rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

“I like the more somber nature of it. It just paints a more realistic picture of it. Every year, it’s not all hugs and kisses,” he said. “In reality, we all go through problems once in a while, and sometimes it’s OK to pause and reflect on those things.”

Henson also enjoys contemporary takes on carols like “We Three Kings.”

“Any time I hear a rock-and-roll version of that, I like it,” he said. “And pretty much the entire Trans Siberian Orchestra catalog.”

Clark, Warren’s band director, counts among his personal favorites “O Holy Night” — particularly versions by contemporary Christian artist Natalie Grant and country singer Collin Raye — and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” The latter he appreciates for the story behind the song as well as the music.

The words come from a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as he reflected on the contrast between the hopeful messages and songs of Christmas and personal losses, including his son’s grave wounding in the Civil War.

“It’s a beautiful story … and wonderful lyrics as well,” Clark said. “Peace on Earth, good will to men are the last lyrics.”

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