Jingle bells and giant stingrays
Feeling upside down at Christmas
Usually by the end of November I’m thinking ahead to Christmas music. It’s always a busy time for concerts and year-end musical celebrations. But this year, life has been a more than a bit upside down. I’ve spent the past two months in Australia for family reasons, and while I can’t complain about either the glorious weather or pristine beaches, it really isn’t beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.
Thoughts of silent nights and bleak midwinters are far away when dinner is on the barbecue, but it’s back to crackling fires and cashmere scarves for me very soon, and this week’s flute thoughts are all about decking the halls with boughs of holly (plus eucalyptus, Australian style, if I can get it).
One thing that surprised me when I first moved to southwest France was how un-Christmassy Christmas was. There’s very little in the way of decoration, and carols are definitely not a thing. In fact, one of my French adult students (a professor of Occitan language and history) told me that when he was a child, Christmas as we know it was not really celebrated at all, except by the religiously inclined. According to Jean-Louis, it’s within his lifetime that Christmas trees and present-giving became customary in our region of Nouvelle Aquitaine.
A living Advent calendar
In the depths of our first French December, with Covid curfews still in place, it all felt a bit miserable. So the following year, John and I, with the enthusiastic support of the Mairie of Allemans-du-Dropt, established a December music festival, Les Secrets de Noël.
The idea, inspired by our best-selling Christmas flute book, A Calendar of Carols, was to create a “living Advent calendar” combining illuminations and music in the lead up to Christmas. Every evening, starting on the first of December, the shutters are opened on a new decorated and illuminated window, with a series of mini-concerts held around the village and a final festive concert in the 12th century church on the Saturday before Christmas Eve. This year will be our third festival.
Last year, a quartet performed Mozart in the chateau, a crumhorn consort played medieval carols from a 13th century stone staircase, a jazz trio jammed around a fire pit on a starlit evening, and John’s choir sang Vivaldi’s Gloria (and some carols newly-composed by John) to a packed church. Wine flowed freely alongside platters of oysters at the post-concert apéros. And I think most would agree that Christmas in Allemans took on a very joyeux aspect.
Download your free Christmas carol PDF and backing track at the bottom of this email. And if you’re new to Flutes. Inspired you can subscribe below to make sure you receive regular posts and free bonus downloads.
Meanwhile, although my mind is on Christmas windows and winter festival concerts, for a few more days I am still here in the spectacular natural wilderness of southwest Australia. John and I have been lucky enough to experience the whole panorama of local wildlife from the tiniest coral to the great blue whale. Standing in a few inches of crystal waters as majestic giant stingrays glide by your feet is an unforgettable experience. Here are a few of my snapshots of these wonderful creatures: Christmas windows on a very different world!
A free Carol arrangement and backing track for you
This week’s free download comes from our book, A Calendar of Carols (Elisabeth Parry and John Alley, pub. Aurea Capra): 25 traditional carols in flexible arrangements which can be played as solos or duets, with or without piano, and delightfully illustrated by Alice Hogan. Your free downloads of this carol are below the video. I hope you or your students enjoy it!
Available worldwide: in the UK, in the US, in Europe, in Australia.
Les Secrets de Noël sounds wonderful! Hope you have a safe journey back to France and I’m looking forward to hearing more about the Christmas music festival 🌲