The Sounds of Christmas

Christmas is the celebration that I most associate with sounds.  July 4th is a visual show spilling the neon colors of fireworks across the night sky. Thanksgiving provides a full day filled with the smell of turkey roasting, oven roast buns warming to a golden brown color, and pumpkin and pecan pies seeping their sweet aroma thoughout the house.  However, what I think about at Christmas is its sounds ranging from the silence after a freshly fallen snow to the sounds of children singing, or a Christmas concert performed by a symphony or chorale.  You can't escape the sound of Christmas music on the car radio, in the stores, clinics, and throughout our favorite Christmas movies.

I have been fortunate enough to enjoy a range of sounds of this season from my attendance at children's school performances,  to the Peter Mayer Christmas concert at a local high school, and culminating with the Rockford Symphony and chorale performance staged within a large, historic, downtown theater.  

My photo this week was taken with my cell phone during the Peter Mayer concert at a local high school.  What I liked about the photo was that it was an unintentional display of the music occurring at that moment.  If I had my camera, I would have been able set a shutter speed fast enough to capture the drum sticks tapping the cymbals.  The photos washed colors added mystery to these ghost like shapes that were being projected on the the adjacent walls away from the main performance occurring at center stage. 

The power of holiday music and sounds remains a mystery to me. I long to hold on to them for just a bit longer, just like those ghost like shapes dancing across the wall.

Merry Christmas All!