Music and the Holidays
Music holds a lot of significance around the holidays. The resource book for holiday music is ever growing but there continue to be classics that stick with us throughout the years. Despite holiday music being lumped into one large category, the reality is there are tons of ‘genres’ and types of holiday tunes that you may hear. There is Christmas music, Chanukah music , Kwanzaa music, and even winter solstice music. Then of course we have the tons of secular winter music that people love and cherish. The categories can be separated even further when you talk about traditional music vs more mainstream pop. For the sake of this blog, and your brains, I won’t break it up that far.
I wanted to take time today to share some of my favorite holiday tunes as well as take time to share music from all these different genres and traditions. Whatever your holiday music of choice is, music continues to be paramount in all celebrations and no matter what you listen to and you can connect knowing music is a tradition that holds all of us together.
Some of my favorite tunes growing up included White Christmas, the Island of Misfit toys song from the classic Rudolph musical film, and White Winter Hymnal. I also enjoyed more traditional songs like Little Drummer Boy and Joy to the World. The newest member of my family brings Jewish traditions and I remember hearing songs like Dreidel and 8 Days of Hanukkah growing up. I am excited to learn more about his family traditions and music as we spend more and more holidays together.
At Perfect Harmony Health, I have really enjoyed beginning to hear holiday music in sessions and really appreciate how dedicated each of our therapists are to learning the music our clients and our clients' families celebrate at this time of year. As we continue to move into the holiday season, I encourage everyone to sing with one another. While caroling may not be a big thing anymore, singing together will forever be something that can connect us. I also encourage you to maybe find a new song to listen to and learn about this year. The more we learn and grow, the more we can work together in Harmony (See what I did there).
Much love this holiday season! Enjoy my list!
Hanukkah
Christmas
Kwanzaa
Winter Solstice - Yule
