Oh, how I love Christmas.
Now, I’m not a crazy holiday shopper, or someone who has a nutty sweater for each of the 12 Days of Christmas, though I do have a red sweater that I tend to wear around now… I especially love Christmas and this season of Advent because of the music! So many songs during this time are just so joyful – I love it!
Now, for church I actually do much of my Advent & Christmas work during the summer. Yes, it is always a little odd and inevitably I end up driving my wife crazy humming Christmas Carols during the middle of summer. But – ‘Tis the season when I do my writing and arranging, that way there is time for the songs to “settle in” and for the music team to actually learn it. And as it turns out our son was born in June, so during my Christmas prep we had a newborn in the house. As I was combing through music I was struck by the amount of lullabies, or music with a very somber feel to it. Because our house was not very quiet, people were in and out and there was a general feel of excitement in the air for the new addition – there was a raucous atmosphere for sure! Out of that I rearranged Silent Night. I actually wrote the music for the verses first and stopped, but it didn’t feel complete. The problem was nothing else was coming that day, or that week. In fact it wasn’t until about nine months later when I sat down with it again that the chorus and bridge came to be in about 20 minutes.
I was scrounging for paper to jot down the lyrics (I’m the worst when it come to lyrics, I have the greatest respect for those who write the words we sing!).
My hope was to try to embody some of the excitement and joy present with the birth of a child.
Here is a video of Silent Night! from this past Sunday in the Early Service at Oakland Baptist in Rock Hill, SC. And I encourage you to come out to worship some time at Oakland!
Enjoy!
Red Chair Music 