Concert binders were distributed at this past Wednesday's rehearsal. If you didn't have a chance to pick one up, there are plenty more in the loft. Please, just remember to sign out the binder before you take it.
In other blogs I've spent a little time writing about the origin and history of a few songs in our Advent concert repertoire. Until now I've said nothing about The Little Drummer Boy. Admittedly, at first I was a bit hesitant to include it. I'm a bit more cautious when it comes to singing things in church, and whether or not they have a 'church' sound (whatever that means; it's quite debatable what a 'church' sound is and I could probably write about this in multiple posts - one can find many compositions that I would say do not have a 'church' sound but for better or worse are sung in the Orthodox Church). In the end, I chose to include it simply because the composition itself is not too far removed from other Western carols we sing. The Carol of the Bells is one that comes to mind. I was surprised to learn that Mykola (Nicholas) Leontovych, who composed The Carol of the Bells, did not write it as a carol, but as an example for his compositions students. Only later in North America was it reinvented as a carol. Unlike The Carol of the Bells, the history of The Little Drummer Boy actually has a closer connection to the feast of the Nativity. Its origin can actually be traced back to a Czech carol. Wikipedia has the following to say:
The song was originally titled "Carol of the Drum" and was published by Davis based upon a traditional Czech carol. Davis's interest was in producing material for amateur and girls' choirs: Her manuscript is set as a chorale,
in which the tune is in the soprano melody with alto harmony, tenor and
bass parts producing the "drum rhythm" and a keyboard accompaniment
"for rehearsal only". It is headed "Czech Carol freely transcribed by
K.K.D.", these initials then deleted and replaced with "C.R.W.
Robinson", a name under which Davis sometimes published.The Czech original of the carol has never been identified.
