The Sounds of Christmas

 First, a confession.  This is a shortened version of another post.  I accidentally posted it on another one of my blogs, back on December 16, 2020.  When I realized that I had placed this post, and others, I deleted them, but I did so before transferring the posts to this blog.  The posts were lost, so I am replacing them.  This one was about Christmas music.  When I was young, I would deliberately change myth favorite Christmas song every year.  By the time I was in college, I pretty much settled on a few favorites.  My top one is usually "The Carol of the Bells."  One of the main reasons why I like it is that it is one of the few traditional Christmas songs that can readily be updated to a rock song.  The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's version, mixed with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, is well known for up tempo rock beat.  The official title is "Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24."  Strange title, but it was originally created during the Clinton administration and the Balkan wars.  More recently, I have favored "Christmas Waltz."  It was originally recorded, and made for, Frank Sinatra.  I had heard other versions of this song before I heard his version, not to mention finding out it was written for him.  When I first heard his version, I hated it.  I couldn't say why, until I found out that Sinatra couldn't read music.  Later listenings of the song proved it right.  He was trying to sing the song with a standard 4/4 time instead of the 3/4 time waltzes are traditionally composed in.  Basically, he words don't always line up with the notes.  Really frustrating to me, since I have a very good ear.  Sometimes, I have been able to play a song just from hearing it.  The same goes with singing.  For some songs, I can instinctively transpose the song into my vocal range.  At other times, I wind up singing in the vocalist's range instead, which can hurt voice.  The problem is that my normal speaking voice is a somewhat high tenor, more like a low alto at times.  Unfortunately, my singing voice is more of a high bass at times.  This gives me a great range, but it can cause me some throat straining if I don't pay attention to what I'm doing.  When I really have gotten a song, I adapt it to my range easily, usually with songs with a woman vocalist lead.  However, if I try to sing along with a high tenor male singer, I have straining, unless I try to sing at lower tone.  It is not easy, not at all.