Choralicious!

For those who celebrate Christmas, there’s the fond memory of being kids and giving Santa a wish list of items they’d like to see under the tree come Christmas morning. But why should kids get all the fun? Why should this experience be relegated to our pre-pubescent years only?

Composer Karlan Judd and lyricist Joshua Ravetch had this idea in mind when asked to create a piece for the West Coast Singers, to be performed on their winter concert. Imagine being at an holiday party for adults and someone asks you to share your Christmas wish list. You do so with gleeful joy… just as if you were a kid. Now, imagine that party with a queer twist, and you have What a Gay ‘Ol Christmas Tree.

Adapted from a traditional melody, the mixed chorus version of this piece was new to the YRM catalog last year. But Karlan Judd recently created a version specifically adapted for men’s chorus as well. It’s “hot off the printing press” this week! You can peruse the first and last few pages (as downloadable PDFs) of both the men’s chorus and the mixed chorus versions by clicking on the links.

Karlan composed and arranged two other pieces for the same West Coast Singers concert which are published by Yelton Rhodes: This Time Next Year (based on Auld Lang Syne but with a contemporary text) and The Twelve Gays of Christmas (a traditional favorite also with a queer twist!).

What a Gay ‘Ol Christmas Tree (as performed by the West Coast Singers)

Santa has a big job ahead of him on Christmas Eve, what with all those toys to deliver. It must be a long night of anticipation for Mrs. Claus as well. But what if Santa didn’t come home the next morning? How would his wife feel… especially if she happened to be pining for a little attention from her man?

Neal Richardson’s original composition, Santa, Won’t You Please Come Back, with lyrics by John Pingree, addresses that issue in a hilarious way! Written for soprano solo, men’s chorus and piano, this delightful piece proceeds almost as a call and response between the chorus and the soloist, whose lines are to be sung in a sexy, slow, bluesy style.

Santa, won’t you please come back!

You left a redhot mama in an igloo shack.

I sit here wondrin’ where the heck you’ve been.

I finished off the egg nog, started in on the gin.

The elves are bangin’ on my door each night.

They ain’t the Seven Dwarves, and I ain’t Snow White.

Without my sugar Santy, I shiver in our shanty.

Santa, won’t you please come back!

Mixed choruses shouldn’t count this one out… just have your men do a number on their own and spotlight one of your best sopranos. This piece offers a lot of opportunities to really ham up the performance and make your audience laugh!
View the first six pages of score here.

Santa, Won’t You Please Come Back (Gateway Men’s Chorus featuring Christine Brewer)

Looking for something FUN to include on your holiday program?

Crocodile’s Christmas Ball (from a larger 8 movement work titled Crocodile’s Christmas Ball and other odd tales) was originally composed for baritone solo, SATB chorus and wind ensemble. Understandably enough, not many choruses have easy access to a wind ensemble. So, composer Roger Bourland has created a piano-vocal score for this fabulously fun Christmas romp.

There’s a little bit of dark humour in the work (think Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas). Here’s an excerpt from William MacDuff’s witty, tongue-in-cheek lyrics:

The moral is that when you
Attend a table d’hote,
Be sure to check the menu
Before you check your coat.

Beware of eager strangers
Too full of Christmas cheer,
For Christmas has its dangers
Like any time of year.

In Santa’s suit
A croc is cute
But he’s an ani-mall.
He’ll have your hide
Sautéed or fried

At the Crocodile’s Christmas Ball!

Click here to view the first 5 pages of score as a PDF.

There’s also a voicing available for men’s chorus.

Crocodile’s Christmas Ball (recording from the performance featuring baritone soloist, SATB chorus and wind ensemble)

When you think of a mahogany tree, you might predictably imagine a mighty trunk with leafy branches above, right?

Well, you wouldn’t quite be hitting the mark if one was referring to this piece by Eric Helmuth. Mahogany was a very popular wood in England, imported from the Americas. It was used for fine furniture, in particular the dining table which was commonly known as “the mahogany tree.”

And although one may not suspect that this piece is holiday-themed… it is! With lyrics by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), Helmuth’s The Mahogany Tree, for TTBB and piano, is a boisterous, joyful depiction of a group of men gathered around the table as they sing, drink and toast to each other and to the Christmas season.

Here’s an excerpt from the text:

Once on the boughs, birds of great plume
Sang in its bloom:
Night birds are we: here we carouse singing like them,
Perched round the stem of the jolly old tree.

One particularly special aspect of this piece is Eric’s energetic and brilliant piano accompaniment.

To view the first four pages of the score, click here.