December 17, 2001
Texan touts Christmas' top tunes
___By Adelle Banks
___Religion News Service
___BYNUM (RNS)--Ask Carol Doran, organist at Virginia Theological Seminary, about her favorite Christmas carol, and she doesn't hesitate.
___"Without question, 'Silent Night,'" she said. "Some people think it's not Christmas if you don't sing it."
___But following closely behind in second and third place, in Doran's book, are "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Joy to the World."
___Beloved by young and old, weekly churchgoers and those who worship mainly at Christmas, the songs make the
Author Ace Collins
season for many. And many songs make the season, with everyone having their favorites.
COLLINS' books gives background on favorite Christmas songs.
___Texas author Ace Collins started with a list of 250 tunes when he began compiling "Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas," a new book published by Zondervan. Paring that list back to a mere 31 gave him insights on which carols have endured and why.
___The first stipulation was the "couldn't live without" concept, but Collins and other experts say there are numerous other reasons for the popularity of the best-loved songs.
___Throughout the 31 chapters that look at one song each, the word "simple" pops up as one of the endearing aspects of the music sung over and over during December. In an interview, Collins cites "Angels We Have Heard on High" as an example.
___"The entire song spans six notes, so anyone can literally sing it," said Collins, a song leader at First Baptist Church in Bynum. "If you have the range of less than one octave, you can sing that song."
___Often mixed in with the simplicity of the music, says Doran, is the essence of its message--and the ability to remember it.
___"I think the truth of the words is very important," she said. "You have simple words like 'O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant' and people go home singing that."
___In the church as well as in other settings, the frequency of the favorites is a given at Christmastime.
___"Usually people are not eager to schedule new hymns at Christmas simply because people who come to church expect the old hymns," said Doran, the co-author of two hymnals and professor of music and liturgy at the Episcopal seminary in Alexandria, Va.
___Likewise, on many albums in both the secular and the Christian markets, the traditional is mixed with the non-traditional, but they're often top-heavy with old standbys.
___"Even artists don't sing new songs," Collins said. "They want to sing the songs they loved growing up."
___But there are some exceptions to the mostly traditional rule. Fred Hammond, a Christian artist known for pioneering urban praise and worship, has a Christmas album out this year that features "new holiday favorites" but also includes "Go Tell It on the Mountain."
___Delores Carpenter, general editor of the new African-American Heritage Hymnal, said the Christmas music in the volume was selected in the same way as songs for the rest of the year--by surveying churches and ministers. But there was an exception to that rule, driven by a desire to preserve black heritage.
___In between "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Angels We Have Heard on High," she placed "Heaven's Christmas Tree," a gentle, lilting tune by Charles Tindley, a prolific hymnwriter who also was pastor of an African-American megachurch in Philadelphia in the late 1800s.
___"When we looked at the words, it was so moving and befitting that we said, 'Oh, yes, of course this must be in there,'" said Carpenter, a Washington pastor and Howard Divinity School professor, of the hymn that links Jesus' death on Calvary to a present on a Christmas tree.
___In the Christian recording industry, artists' CDs often include a mix of old-time favorites and newer Christmas tunes.
___"I always encourage every artist to revisit those traditional carols," said Loren Balman, president of Word Entertainment's label groups. "They carry tremendous emotional and spiritual memories."
___But Balman said it's also a "constant challenge" to create a new sound for the season.
___"Who better than a Christian artist to take a look at the real meaning of Christmas and bring a fresh perspective in the current musical language, both from a lyrical standpoint and a sonic standpoint, to create what may be the Christmas masterpieces for another generation?" the Nashville, Tenn.-based executive asked.
___Word recorded singer Amy Grant's rendition of one of the most popular contemporary Christmas songs written in the last decade. Balman described "Breath of Heaven" as "pure celebratory worship of Jesus Christ and his birth."
___A song that debuted in 2000, "The Christmas Shoes," features Christian singing group NewSong telling the story of a little boy who wants to buy shoes as a Christmas present for his dying mother. Reaching Christian and mainstream audiences, the single topped Billboard magazine's lists of top adult contemporary songs at the end of the last Christmas season. The group debuted a new Christmas album featuring the song this fall.
___Collins said another contemporary tune, "Mary, Did You Know?" is a song in which Christian singer, songwriter and comedian Mark Lowery "put himself in the position of a reporter interviewing Mary."
___In addition to simple words and charming tunes, Collins said this song--like many of the new and old classics--found its own way to stand out from the others.
___"It carved out a niche," he said. "When you look back over all these Christmas songs, they are each unique in their own ways."
___Another key to a carol's popularity is the times in which it is written or recorded.
___Collins said there were lots of candidates for popular carols written in the 1950s, but they often never were recorded by more than one person.
___"They didn't make it more than one season because Christmases were normal Christmases," he said. "They weren't Christmases when there was a tremendous insecurity in the world."
___"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" was written by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the Civil War, while "White Christmas," "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" all were first recorded during World War II.
___"When you have Christmases that are incredibly meaningful to you--maybe you're separated from your loved ones--every element of Christmas anchors itself in your heart, your soul and your mind," Collins said.
___"When you get to come back together and rejoice, the songs ... that sustained you through those times, I think, you want to make a part of every Christmas thereafter."
___So, in these post-Sept. 11 times, is a new Christmas classic in the offing?
___"You can't predict it," Collins said.
___But when lighting this year's National Christmas Tree, the president cited another favorite carol as a means of soothing a nation at an insecure time.
___"This season finds our country with losses to mourn and great tasks to complete," President Bush said at the Dec. 6 ceremony not far from the White House.
___"In all those tasks, it is worth recalling the words from a beautiful Christmas hymn. In the third verse of "O Holy Night" we sing, 'His law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother. And in his name all oppression shall cease.'"
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