Last night was my ward's Christmas dinner and two weeks in advance I was asked to perform a musical number. No prob - I just recycled my Soirée number from two years ago:
However, just two days in advance I was asked to do a second number because someone else on the program dropped out. So I spent an afternoon flipping through my sister's easy piano Christmas songbooks looking for a suitable selection, but most of it was the same old cheesy stuff that drives me crazy. However, one of the books yielded an unexpected surprise: "Star of the East."
This performance is dedicated to the only two people I have ever heard play "Star of the East," my Grandma Tanner and my dad:
P.S. - On the subject of Christmas music, my friend Jess sent me a copy of Sufjan Stevens' "Songs for Christmas" (42 songs in all!) and I absolutely love it. The holiday-themed originals are fun and ambitious, the arrangements of even the most overdone Christmas standards are as fresh and layered as anything on his "Michigan" or "Illinois" albums, and the whole vibe of the collection is joyous and warm. Or as Jess put it in the comments on my "Obliquely Christmas" post, "Sufjan Steven's album=amazing, brilliant and redemptive. redemptive in the sense that it upholds the sanctity of christmas music, while reinventing it and is not as you put it 'schmaltzy'." I highly recommend it and I can envision myself putting it on at Christmastime for years and years to come. I bet even the Three Young Sleuths would love it.
15 years ago
5 comments:
Brian,
Can't get the sound to play.
I love Star of the East.
Dad
I like Christmas music but tend to get tired of it easily. I've been listening to Sufjan Steven's album for three years running, though, and I think I actually like it more every year.
Great job on the musical numbers. That's one thing I miss about the Hill Street Soirée. Not so much the dancing part.
That video features my fingers! Hahaha... it truly was an impressive performance. Great job! :)
Loved both pieces! I miss your voice. Thanks for posting these!
This song "Star of the East" is also one of my favorites from Christmas' long ago. Your Great-Grandma Ashby sang it each year. When her voice was old and quavery, we did get a recording but I don't know where it is now. What a beautiful thing to sing songs that have such meaning! Thank you for the great gift you give to so many and so willingly too! Merry Christmas!
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