The Hills Are Alive... Like You've Never Heard Them Before

How would Maria from the Sound of Music have sung "The Hills Are Alive" if she was sitting in front of a radio instead of a guitar?

That's the question Peter Kiesewalter, the leader, producer, and keyboard player for Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata asked himself when he brought the soundtrack from The Sound of Music to life for a new generation on their album The Hills Are Alive. Climb E'vry Mountain becomes a hip-hop song and "You are Sixteen Going on Seventeen" gets a modern twist.

Read more and listen to a sample here. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

You Tube in B Flat

Ever tried to play more than one You Tube video at a time? Me neither. But in the quirky way art works, Darren Solomon tried it and it spawned his experiment into intentionally creating music videos that could be layered and actually sound good. Read the story here. Check out his project, In B Flat, here, and see what kind of music you can make with You Tube.

My Kind of Music

Who knew Midwesterners had rhythm? This group of guys from Indiana University, Straight No Chaser, sings a capella in cool combo of creativity and tradition. I love it. Credit to Chris Mikesell for the link.



If you prowl around You Tube, they have a couple more videos, including one at Hardees where they serenade the staff.

On the First Day of December I Decorated My Tree

Okay, so that doesn't really work with the meter of the song. Nevertheless, it's true. The kids and I had fun putting the tree up and recalling memories associated with the ornaments.

While we decorated we listened to Nat King Cole, Mannheim Steamroller, Lyndsey Lloyd Wallace, and Take 6. Interesting story behind the Lyndsey Lloyd Wallace CD. She was on the worship team at Saddleback Church and recorded her Christmas album while I was there. I got to sing back up on one of the songs. I was in the local Christian bookstore when I heard the song playing over the speaker system. I kind of stopped in awe for a moment. I always thought that kind of "Hey, that's me" moment in a bookstore would be because of a book, not a CD.

To top it all off, it snowed today. The kids went out and played in the snow then came in and had hot chocolate and watched a movie.



We also began Advent tonight. I know it doesn't really begin until tomorrow but we got this adorable Advent tree made of boxes of chocolate at Starbucks and it starts on the first. Our church tradition doesn't have a lot of rituals, and most of the time I appreciate that. However, we've been in the habit of celebrating Advent with candles, carols, and Scripture readings. I think some rituals can be meaningful and build memories. So tonight we said an Advent prayer for children, discussed John the Baptist's call to repentance and fruit (and what that means), and sang "Come O Come Emmanuel."

Hopefully the traditions and rituals will help us all to remember the real reason for Christmas.