Holiday Sounds

[Shiloh Adlar]

The holiday season is here, and no matter what you celebrate, we all have our favorite songs that we like to listen to at this time of the year. This is the time of the year that in the ballet world, everyone is getting ready or has already started performances for The Nutcracker. Every year, even now that I no longer perform in the production, I have the Nutcracker Suite that I listen to for all of the good memories it holds.

What about the rest of you? Are there any albums or specific songs that hold good memories for you that you listen to around the holidays? Do you simply like holiday music? What about a particular artist that you think represents the sound well. I know Mariah Carey is well known for "All I Want for Christmas is You." What are your thoughts on holiday sounds?

[Prof. Gustavo Flores]

You did not asked this question Shiloh! I just have to say I LOVE Holiday music!! Starting the 1st of December I take out all my Holiday/Christmas CDs and start listening to them all through the month! From the Chipmunks, to Glee, to Classic Music, to traditional Christmas Carols, I just enjoy all the peace and happiness these songs bring to my heart and soul. My favorite Christmas Carols are "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Oh Holy Night".

There is one particular CD I'm fond of. It contains 10 Christmas Carols in Spanish, and when I was a little boy (around 8 years old), I prepared and organized my first "Christmas Show" with those songs. I conviced my little sister to participate with me and on Christmas we danced and sang all 10 songs at my granfather's and grandmother's house. Those are really great memories! And Christmas is a special time for me

[Gail Allen]

I love December for the music too. It's not something you can listen to at other times of the year, but in December... it all comes out, and because it only gets played this month, you are right, it holds so many lovely memories and impressions. It is the absolute best.

I love traditional carols and choir music the best I think, though there are some pop songs too. And then weirdly I have managed to sort in a few songs under the headline of holiday music that don't really belong there, but for me they do cause I've listened to them so much together with other Christmas music that now they're saved in the same mental drawer for me. That goes for "All the King's Horses" for instance and "Freeze You Out".

A specific group I love listening to when it comes to carols (and again, I listen to more than just their carols, because their general sound is very Christmasy to me) is Libera. They're a choir of young boys (fun fact, I got to know the group, because one of the singers back in the 90ies/early 2000s was friends with my godmother's nephew and he showed me a cd of theirs). So I love listening to them too.

[Vanessa Tilley]

I have a love hate relationship with holiday music. I love listening to holiday music but it hurts when I do because it reminds me of my mother. Our last Christmas together, I put on the music video to The Jetts "Last Christmas" and my mom and I sang it while my father was outside putting up our Christmas lights. My mom also LOVED the movie Love Actually so we would watch it and she and I would sing "All I Want for Christmas is You". I always listen to "Where are you Christmas?", "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch", "Believe", and "Baby It's Cold Outside" from some of our family favorite holiday movies.

The only song that is just my own for the holidays that I LOVE is "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". I love animals so I just fell in love with this song when I heard it and I sing it at least once a day the month of December.

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

I agree with Vanessa that I have a love/hate relationship with holiday music. A lot of this is due to the fact that I've been a musician for almost my entire life. I've played Christmas music in a symphonic band setting for almost every Christmas since I was 10. I hear Sleigh Ride and either sing the whole thing as the notes actually are in the sheet music, or I shut it off. I also love Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but I've seen them in concert so many times that gets old too.

ASIDE from my complaining there, there is a LOT of holiday music that I absolutely love. I love the song "Where Are You Christmas" as Vanessa cited, even though it's sad. I also have to listen to "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by NSYNC every holiday season because that song was popular when I was young and it's super catchy. I'm sure there are plenty of others that I love that I can't think of right now. I do love the holidays so I'm happy to sing and dance in celebration of them any time.