The Christmas season is technically still in full swing until Epiphany on 6 January 2024, but I know everyone is now looking ahead to the new year. Still, yours portly isn’t one to let a video go to waste, so here’s my rendition of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
On Tuesday’s edition of Open Mic Adventures I shared my impromptu rendition of “Silent Night“; as such, I figured I’d throwback to this classic post about the timeless Christmas classic for this installment of TBT.
I’ve always loved the sweet, peaceful simplicity of this carol. It also lends itself to multiple interpretations. My Middle School Music Ensemble students have done it in 4/4 in a punk rock style. One year, my High School Music Ensemble played it as a bluesy, Christmas-Eve-at-a-roadside-honkey-tonk jam in 6/8 (but, as I recall, only in practice—that might have been too bold for the sensibilities of my administration).
But the song is best presented as it was 205 years ago: sung by a small choir on a cold Christmas night.
With that, here is 12 December 2019’s “TBT: ‘Silent Night’ Turns 200“:
We’re getting into the cozy part of the Christmas season, with plenty of cold nights spent bundled up by the light of the Christmas tree, sipping hot chocolate and wearing sweaters. It’s the hygge, and yours portly couldn’t be happier.
Naturally, all this cozy Christmas cheer gets me thinking about Christmas carols, and few carols capture the quiet peace of Christmas quite like “Silent Night.”
The Portly Politico 