Friday, December 18, 2009

“Silent Night”

Happy Friday everybody—as promised, I do have a holiday tune for you all this morning, & a well known one at that—“Silent Night.” As a bit of a wrinkle, I’m playing it “classical style” (essentially like guitar fingerpicking) on a 5-string banjo.

I made this recording a couple of years ago, & no doubt I could play it better now, but I was satisfied with the take when I recorded it, & still don’t have any real objections to the performance—perhaps a few quibbles, but that’s it. Long-time followers will remember that this same music & slideshow was posted last Christmas Eve. Apologies for the re-post, but I wanted to jump start the Holiday Music series. Between last weekend’s rehearsals for & performances of the McCall Christmas Concert (with attendant driving) & the
accompanying if unrelated disaster of a our furnace vent pipe coming askew in snow & wind & causing up to $5,000 of damage before we caught it (coming home from dress rehearsal & finding the fluorescent light fixture in our utility room filled with water was a big clue), these have been a busy couple of weeks. We’ve also been hit by snow, then rain, power failures & the general scatteredness of coming back to day-to-day life after a week & a half immersed in an out-of-town performance.

I also feel a bit remiss because I failed to wish Jewish friends & family members a Happy
Hannukah earlier in the festival—so almost belated wishes to the Rosenbergs & the Kleins & Sue R., & all readers who observe this holiday. My plans for playing “Chanuke, Chanuke” in frailing style on the banjo (in the odd D minor tuning!) will have to wait for another year.

There will be another holiday music post Monday morning, & that will involve guitar. But this time around it’s the banjo. Hope you enjoy it!



7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the music. Sorry to hear about your furnace disaster - I hope everything is mended, warm and snug for Christmas.

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  2. Beautifully simple and simply beautiful.Thanks for this.
    That's some weather you're having,John, hope all the damage is fixed now!

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  3. Hi Alan & TFE: Thanks to you both--so glad you liked the music. The furnace itself was unaffected, tho the pipe is currently held together with a type of very strong tape that's used on mobile homes. The damage was all from water, which leaked thru the vent pipe once it was knocked helter skelter. We lost a good deal of insulation, & I'm sure the laundry room ceiling will need to be replaced, & there will have to be work done on the roof come spring. Not sure what else, but we are fine, just a bit rattled!

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  4. Beautiful! I have never heard a carol played on a banjo before. So sorry to hear about the home damage. I hope the performances went well.

    Merry Christmas, John!

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  5. Hi Karen: Glad you liked the song! The performances went fine, & the home damage is under control, tho there will be a lot of work to be done; sounds like we may lose one wall in the laundry room as well.

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  6. that sounds so sweet on the banjo!!!!!

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  7. Hi Heather: Glad you liked it! That arrangement isn't all that hard to play--all things being equal, you could probably play it for Xmas '10, if not before!

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