Opus 2024-414: Traditions

What is it that makes a piece of music a tradition?  What transforms an attempt at expressing yourself, poetically and musically, into a traditional Christmas Carol?  I think there are probably a number of different factors.

First of all, time.  When I say “traditional”, I am using the actual meaning of the word, not just a marketing technique.  I think of the way the word classical has become totally meaningless, as in classical rock, or classical rap.  Something doesn’t become classical or traditional in just a few years.  It takes time.  Of course the time is in addition to all the other qualities that make it significant.

You need quality.  This is partly individual preference and partly objective.  I have heard ‘Christmas” music that obviously has first rate musicians involved and was still worthless in my world-view.  It might be powerful to someone else.  I am open to that concept but there are certain songs that appeal across whatever cultural lines you want to draw.  As I write I have an album called “Christmas Jazz” playing in the background.  I am a low level fan of Jazz.  It can be interesting but it is not what I would pick if I had one style to take on a long trip.  At the same time, I recognize all of the songs because they are traditional, not just filler to complete the disc.  When they are playing “Silent Night” I know it is “Silent Night.”  If it was “Grandma God Run-Over by a Raindeer” I would ask, “What was that.”

You need exposure.  It’s no accident that many of the songs that we consider to be traditional Christmas music come from an era when the country watched the same movies and TV programs.  We sang hymns that went across denominational and cultural lines.  There is a chance that the song “White Christmas” might have become a classic and a part of our traditional Christmas season without the input of Bing Crosby and the movie industry.  It is possible, but it would have been a much tougher row to hoe.  I have Christmas albums from individuals and groups that I enjoy, and they have songs which have become a part of my Christmas tradition but I have a feeling that most of the people have never heard them.  It is a lack of exposure.  Maybe time will make a difference.

I think message is also important.  As I build a Christmas play list I find that much of the secular category gets left out or has limited listings.  It is fun music.  It brings atmosphere.  What it is missing is something worth saying.  I can tap my foot to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” but I don’t know that I want to hear it more than once a season.  

And there is the ultimate trump, personal preference.  “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “Ava Maria” are shunned anywhere they are found.  Personal preference is the ultimate test.  That is why I embrace the modern technology that makes it possible to assemble my own program.  

What a time to be alive.


homo unius libri