Jingle bell, jingle bell, the yearly affair of Christmas draws near. A much-anticipated holiday as everybody, students, working adults alike look forward to this festive season. Christmas trees purchased or taken out from the dusty storeroom are placed as the festive decorations. People eagerly decorating their Christmas trees; sprinkled with sparkling glitter, hanging with shining baubles, lined with multi-coloured lights. The iconic Christmas tree never fails to indicate the arrival of Christmas! Christmas decorations lining the streets of town, of the neighbourhoods, heralding the Christmas season.
When thinking of Christmas, I think of something that makes Christmas unique and really brings out the festive Christmas spirit… can you guess what it is? Hmm, a hint for you, the kind reader of this article. You must use your ear to listen to this… Starts with the letter ‘m’… There are 5 basic senses that humans have, that of sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing. Can you guess it yet? Yes, that’s right! Bingo. Christmas music. The sense of hearing allows us to enjoy the music. What about you? When you think about Christmas, what comes to your mind? The eye-catching decorations? The Christmas dinner? The delectable food? Christmas specials such as log cakes, piping hot roasted chicken, turkey, ham? Christmas socks, presents? Perhaps one of most important and ever-present during Christmas is that of the Christmas music!
Ah, music makes Christmas even more special, as Christmas classics, popular songs are played at shopping malls, on the radio, at home. Christmas songs are so distinctive that when you hear them, you almost always know that it’s Christmas and the festive season is here!
So, let’s talk about Christmas and music. Have you ever wondered why Christmas songs make you feel festive, lift your spirits and just make you look forward to Christmas? Some Christmas songs can even make you feel sentimental and sad as well. Such is the power of music. Christmas songs are also more likely to remain in your mind even when Christmas season has passed. When you remember Christmas songs, you almost always remember a catchy part or phrase of the song! For example: “jingle bell, jingle bell”, “all I want for Christmas”. Therefore, our brains capture the song more easily and remember it via the catch phrase. Furthermore, music has been shown to evoke strong feelings in people such as the emotions of happiness, sadness. It has an emotional impact on humans, drawing out memories of when they heard the songs, perhaps the events which happened while the songs were playing and remembering the emotions they felt at the point of time. This is also the music evoking nostalgia, causing memories and emotions to surface. For many people, this is that of elation as Christmas hold warm fuzzy feelings of nostalgia and memories for them.
Christmas music generally evokes happiness in many people as it gets people into the festive spirit, allowing them to enjoy Christmas even more. Christmas music is also generally composed in a way whereby the melody or phrases are ear-catching, and the brain automatically remembers it every time the song plays. When the Christmas songs are played every year during Christmas, the brain has already been accustomed to the period of time recognising it as Christmas and the festive spirit is thus evoked!
With that being said, here are some classic and popular Christmas songs you will definitely recognise or even if you don’t, should play during this period of time!
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
The First Noel
Silent Night
Feliz Navidad
Twelve Days of Christmas
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Sleigh Ride
Jingle Bell Rock
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Santa Baby
Thanks for reading this article and with that, I hope you enjoy your Christmas and wish you a very, very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Xuan Yu is an avid music enthusiast. He regularly hunts for music to play, ranging from classical pieces to modern day pop song covers. In addition to piano, he plays the cello too. Xuan Yu started learning piano since young and fell in love with the cello when he joined an orchestra in his secondary school days.
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