Happy Holidays!

Tomorrow is the winter recital/open house for my studio. It's the last night of Chanukah, I think. The winter Solstice is in a few days. Christmas is right after that, and then comes Kwanzaa, and let's not forget New Year. Busy time of year.

(When I was a girl, we spelled it "Hannukah," or "Chanukkah," or some other way. Now Google Calendar is spelling it like that up there. And none of them look right to me. Perhaps, since my new daughter-in-law is Jewish, I should learn at least a bissel.)

We used to have a huge collection of holiday music on CDs. A lot of it has gone away. I'm not sure where it's all gone, or how, but there it is. (Or isn't, as the case may be.) With this in mind, the Nameless Cynic got me a new holiday CD last week, introducing me to a new group: Straight No Chaser. Turns out, they're not a new group at all, having begun at Indiana University in 1996. (It's like me to be up with the current music.) They are a 10 member, male a cappella group. 

Let me just say that a cappella music is hard. Fun, but hard. Mirriam Webster defines it as singing without accompaniment. The phrase is Italian, meaning in the manner of the church, as church music used to be sung without accompaniment. But there is a lot more to it than that. You have to possess an excellent sense of pitch. If one member of the group goes even the tiniest bit sharp or flat, they can take everyone with them. Or, even worse, not take them, and then you can have people singing in slightly different keys. Nasty. And your rhythmic sense also has to be perfect. I've heard some a cappella groups that gradually get slower and slower. Not very interesting to listen to. The blend must be precise. No one voice should stand out, unless they are meant to, as in the lead part. But, the lead part keeps switching, making control essential. And blending isn't easy, either. (But, that's another blog.)

Apparently, Straight No Chaser became an internet sensation in 2006, when a video they had done in 1998 was posted on YouTube. Their version of The Twelve Days of Christmas is wonderful. {And I could fill an entire blog just on good versions of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Check out: John Denver and the Muppets (I still want to add bah-dum-bum-bum after "Fi-i-ive golden rings.")} Here's the Straight No Chaser version. 

But this is not what has made me a fan. (I only just discovered it today.) What hooked me was their Christmas Can-Can. Yup, The Christmas Can-Can. I would imagine that you, like me, had no idea that there was such a thing. The Can-Can is a dance traditionally performed by a group of female dancers in a straight line, and involves them doing a high kick. The music is also traditionally Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach. But there is a Christmas version. And here it is. 

And now I have pesto bread and a Buche de Noel to make for the recital tomorrow. Happy holidays!