Christmas post

It's Christmas, I'm on vacation, so here's a short post for you to enjoy.
First, I want to point out a couple articles that tickled my fancy.  The first is a story about a flash-mob gone wrong.  In Sacramento, a flash mob was arranged to sing Handel's Halleluiah Chorus (best rendition ever).  The organizing group made arrangements with the mall and made sheet music available online for people to study.  But so many people showed up that the floor started to shake.  Some likened it to an earthquake.  They had to evacuate the mall.  Handel would be proud.

The second is an article from the somewhat new classical music blog on NPR, Deceptive Cadence.  I get a lot of inspiration and material for this blog from here.  This article is a fun little conversation about least favorite Christmas songs.  I have to agree with Tom.  I never could stand Little Drummer Boy and I've already mentioned how much I hate Ravel's Bolero.  I love how he compares the two.  What are your least favorite/most hated Christmas songs?  I've always wondered if music majors get irritated with how Deck the Halls butchers the solfege (fa la la la la la la la la should be re mi fa re mi re do ti do, right?)  And while it's true I don't ever want to see The Nutcracker ballet, I do enjoy the music.  There's just something grotesque to me about the costumes and the dancing and the phantasmagoria....  Leave me alone, it creeps me out.  But share what songs you hate this season.  Or at least what songs you're happy you won't have to hear for another year after today.

It's been a good year, overall.  Thanks, my friends, for reading and taking an interest in my interest.  Have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year!  Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, at least enjoy the fact that you're getting at least a day or two off of work.