Stacy's Vocal Advent Calendar

This was another great find on Musescore. I've always loved this Irish carol and was happy to find a playable version. I actually completely messes up the final chord at the end, but thankfully, whatever I played still sounds pretty good. Typically when a strophic song has more than 3 verses, I don't sing them all. I made an exception for this one because I think it summarizes the Christmas story so nicely. Good people all, this Christmas time, Consider well and bear in mind What our good God for us has done In sending His beloved Son With Mary holy we should pray, To God with love this Christmas Day In Bethlehem upon that morn, There was a blessed Messiah born. The night before that happy tide, The noble virgin and her guide Were long time seeking up and down To find a lodging in the town. But mark how all things came to pass From every door repelled, alas, As was foretold, their refuge all Was but a humble ox's stall. Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep Their flocks of l...

If you start listening to this and it's not the tune you're expecting, you're probably used to hearing the American version by Richard Storrs Willis (or as Latter Day Saints know it, the one in the hymnbook). This is the traditional English version based on a folk tune adapted by Arthur Sullivan of the famous duo Gilbert and Sullivan. Poet Edmund Sears wrote 5 verses, all of which I've listed below. This version has verses 1 and 3 while the Latter Day Saint hymnbook has verses 1, 2, and 5. Lyrics 1. It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth To touch their harps of gold; "Peace on the earth, good will to men From heaven’s all-gracious King" – The world in solemn stillness lay To hear the angels sing. 2. Still through the cloven skies they come With peaceful wings unfurled, And still their heavenly music floats O'er all the weary world; Above its sad and lowly plains They bend o...

A lot of our well known Christmas carols are originally from Europe. German, French, and English carols are super common, and I've found plenty of good ones from Spain too. It surprises me that there aren't more Italian Christmas carols since so many great composers were Italian and so much great classical music originated in Italy. A couple years ago I put out a call to my Italian friends asking for more Italian Christmas songs. My friend Alba recommended this lovely song - "In Notte Placida." It was hard to find the sheet music for it. There's a well known opera aria called "Tacea La Notte Placida," and internet searches kept giving me that one instead of this one. However I was fortunate enough to find an arrangement in Musescore, a website where people can upload and post their own music.  I have a smart Christmas tree that allows us to put in different patterns and colors for the lights. You'll notice in this one I tried to make it look like a w...

My bestie Amy has a birthday on December 14th. Usually I take requests or think of something special to sing for friends and family on their birthdays, but since Amy's is in December, I'd always had Christmas songs planned and hadn't thought to ask if she had any requests. This year I asked her if there was a Christmas song she'd like me to sing for her birthday, and she said her favorite was "Carol of the Bells."  Completely unaware of this request, Tyler decided he wanted to learn "Carol of the Bells" on the piano. He found a version by Aaron Garner in Piano Marvel, which was a bit beyond his current abilities, and he practiced it until he'd mastered it. It took him 30 times through (not counting all the stops and starts and slow practicing to learn notes) before he got his first 100%. When I saw how well he was playing it I figured he should play it for Amy. And since the song is really meant to be sung by a group ("gaily they ring while ...

I found this version of "Away in a Manger" by J. E. Spillman in a book called "Christmas Music Collection." I was familiar with the traditional English version by William J. Kirkpatrick (see video below), the traditional American version by James R Murray, and a variation of Murray's version by Charles Gabriel (Latter Day Saints know Kirkpatrick's version as the one in the hymnbook and Gabriel's version as the one in the primary book). I had never heard this one before, though it's been around just as long as the others. You can find countless recordings of all of those versions, but a Google "Search a Song" yielded only two recordings of this one - one by a group called The Statler Bros in 1978 and one by Andy Williams in 1963. I've found one other version with opera singer Frederica von Stade singing one verse of Spillman's tune followed by Kathleen Battle coming in with the 2nd verse of Murray's tune. Needless to say, it'...

Habakkuk 2:20 Zechariah 2:13 We've been studying the minor prophets at the end of the Old Testament in the "Come Follow Me" study manual these past few weeks. Last week I was reading in Habakkuk and came upon chapter 2 verse 20, which states "But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him." Immediately I thought of the hymn/Christmas song "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" and said to myself "it's too bad I don't have that song prepared to sing this week." I didn't put much thought into it, though, since I already have several other songs I'm preparing for Christmas, but then this past week I read something extremely similar in Zechariah 2:13 - "Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation." I took it as a sign that I needed to look more into the hymn. I'd only ever heard it as a choral arrangement, so I wasn't sure if I could even fin...

These final songs occur centuries after Christ. They look back on His birth, why He came, and contemplate what we can do now to remember Him.  "I Wonder as I Wander" "I wonder as I wander out under the sky how Jesus the Savior did come for to die for poor ordinary people like you and like I wonder as I wander out under the sky. When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall, with wise men and farmers and shepherds and all. But high from God's heaven a star's light did fall, and the promise of ages it then did recall. If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing, a star in the sky, or a bird on the wing, or all of God's angels in heav'n for to sing, He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King. Scriptures Mosiah 3:5-10 Moroni 9:25-26 "Still, Still, Still" "Still, still, still, one can hear the falling snow. For all is hushed, The world is sleeping, Holy Star its vigil keeping. Sleep, sleep, sleep. ''Tis the eve of our Saviour...