From “Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring” to “Joy To The World” the merriment and joyful spirit of Christmas resounds in every holiday Christmas Carol sung throughout the world. And when I was a little girl first learning how...
From “Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring” to “Joy To The World” the merriment and joyful spirit of Christmas resounds in every holiday Christmas Carol sung throughout the world. And when I was a little girl first learning how to play the piano, “Joy To The World”, was the classic example my piano teachers used to emphasize the importance of timing and rhythm. For the C Major scale is usually the first scale one learns as an impressionable young piano student. And, as one of my early childhood piano teachers put it, the simple genius of the attributed composer is revealed by going down the C Major scale with the rhythms ascribed to it by George Frideric Handel. Who would have thought it? A basic eight note scale is transformed from a tedious metronome following exercise into one of the world’s beloved Christmas Carols via a slight change in tempo. My piano teacher was certainly right, genius does manifest itself sometimes in the subtlest of forms. And one day as I was sitting at the end of my grandfather’s large dining room table that was so covered with books, newspapers, and letters that it left no space for one to dine on it, I learned that there was a strong family rumor that Handel was our ancestor.
