“Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.” – Psalm 66:1–2
Can you even imagine celebrating the Savior’s birth without music? Some of our deepest and fondest memories are created with music during the Christmas Season.
“The music of Christmas has the power to bring people closer to the divine and to evoke memories of childhood anticipation, gatherings of families and friends, and grateful celebrations of the birth of the Savior. Music is the tradition that binds these memories together with the hope and inspiration we need to do better and be better each year. “
The Tabernacle Choir
Let us invite music into our homes, lives, and voices this season. Let us share the absolute beauty of music with our families, wards, and neighbors. Let us be moved upon to do good, be good, and share good by the music of our Savior at Christmas. Sing! Sing! Sing!
************************************************************************
MY CALLING
What better time than Christmas to make music at home? Your calling as a family member can include the blessing of music.
“Priesthood leaders and music leaders encourage Church members to use uplifting music in their home, to have a copy of the hymnbook and the Children’s Songbook, and to sing this music as families”. Many hymns are also available in ASL (American Sign Language).
The handbook suggests that we:
- Teach our children to love the hymns.
- Sing them on the Sabbath, in home evening, during scripture study, and at prayer time.
- Sing as we work, play and travel together.
- Sing hymns as lullabies to build faith and testimony in your young ones.
“Parents should encourage their children to receive instruction in musical skills, enabling them to use their talents to serve in the Church”
Visit music.ChurchofJesusChrist.org to learn and listen to Church music, learn basic music skills, and find other music resources.
************************************************************************
WHAT’S NEW?
•NEW – Interactive Music Player – Try it out HERE. Amplify your music calling at church or use at home. Whether teaching primary children an unfamiliar melody, helping a choir learn choral parts, or transposing music to fit your needs, the player will bless the live of those you serve through the power of music.
•NEW – 2 Easy Organ Preludes for Christmas
#1 Angels We Have Heard on High
#2 The First Noel (check out the use of the chimes in this arrangement!)
•NEW – Christmas Song and Video
************************************************************************
UP AND COMING
Witnesses of Christ – 50 min video broadcast from Nov 28th. Contemporary Christmas Music.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Music and the Spoken Word – Sundays 11:30 EST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JOY TO THE WORLD, Stake Christmas Music Program. – Sunday 6 PM Listen to and sing with members of the stake to celebrate Christ’s birth. THIS SUNDAY 6 PM. Come join the choir if you want to participate in person. Rehearsal Sat 11-1.
Link to Live Stake Broadcast 6 PM: http://mywebcast.churchofjesuschrist.org/coalmountaingeorgiastake
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First Presidency Christmas Devotional – Sunday 8 EST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Virtual concert streaming on December 10 from A Deseret Book Christmas $
This year’s concert will feature the Bonner Family, Nathan Pacheco, the Nashville Tribute Band, Calee Reed, the Truman Brothers, Lexi Walker, Casey Elliott from GENTRI, Jenny Oaks Baker, and Jared Pierce. Tickets are $15 per household.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHURCH CHOIR FESTIVAL organized by UNG is looking for community church choirs in north Georgia to sing. If you are interested in participating with a choir from our stake, contact coalstakemusic@gmail.com.
It will be hosted by the kind folks at Dahlonega Baptist Church on Sunday, February 27, 2022, beginning at 3:00 p.m. The required mass choir rehearsal is scheduled for Sunday, February 13, 1:30 p.m. at DBC. Mass choir repertoire will be the following:
1. CHESTER – arranged by Lee Barrow (we will provide this music for you)
2. MY SHEPHERD WILL SUPPLY MY NEED – arr. Mack Wilberg (HMC1424) with harp and flutes
3. THE BATTLE HYMN – Peter J. Wilhousky (CM4743)
4. “Christ we do all adore Thee” (from SEVEN LAST WORDS) – Theodore Dubois (I will send a copy out to each performing group – this must be memorized for the Festival)
************************************************************************
HYMN HIGHLIGHT
O Little Town of Bethlehem #208
‘Oh Little Town of Bethlehem‘ is based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks. Brooks was an Episcopal priest and then became rector of Church of the Holy Trinity in Phaldelphia and also Trinity Church in Boston. Evidently he had visited the village of Bethlehem in the Sanjak of Jerusalem in 1865 and was inspired to write the text. It is based loosely based on Micah 5:2.
This Carol is sung on both sides of the Atlantic but to different tunes.
In North America the tune is “St. Louis” composed by Lewis Redner.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the carol is sung to the tune “Forest Green”. This tune was colected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and was first published in the 1906 English Hymnal. Interestingly, we use this same tune to the hymn “I Saw a Mighty Angel Fly” #15
Listen to these differing versions of the nativity story told with music and prose:
- O Little Town of Bethlehem – Yet another tune by Bernard Sexton with the hymn lyrics.
- O Little Town of Bethlehem – Choral arranged by Dan Forrest
- O Little Town of Bethlehem – The Norton Hall Band performs with guitar & keyboard.
- O Little Town of Bethlehem – By Acapella group ‘The Living Stones Quartet’
************************************************************************
WATCH THIS
• Beautiful Virtual Choir with Orchestra
• Several members of our stake participated in this performance of ‘The Messiah’ by Handel. The University of North GA (UNG) choir and music department performed. Here is the Christmas portion. You must click on this link to watch.
Coal Mountain Stake Music of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 