Music

Childhood Memories

It’s the music of Christmas that makes the season so magical for me. The day after Thanksgiving, Christmas music started in earnest in our cozy little Oregon farmhouse. We had a few favorite LP records that we played on our phonograph (this was the 50’s), we listened to Christmas music on our big standing radio, we started practicing our music for the ward Christmas programs, and we often sang and played instruments around the piano for home evening. Mother and Dad played lots of the popular songs of Christmas in their dance band and we enjoyed singing them together at home too. Dad was a dairyman and a farmer and sometimes it was difficult making the money stretch, but he and Mom always found a way to make Christmas a magical time for us. Music played a huge role in that.

My parents passed away long ago-Dad in 1970, and Mother in 1991-but their love for Christmas music has filtered down through the generations and is a favorite part of our Christmas celebrations with our children, grandchildren and now our great grandchildren. As a family we have written and recorded many Christmas songs through the years and its fun to get them out each year and enjoy the spirit of the season in this special way.

New Christmas Music for This Year

This very week we are introducing an unusual Christmas album called “Christmas Magic All Around,” a collection of Christmas card songs written and composed with my friend Orrin Hatch.

Almost twenty years ago Orrin asked if we might collaborate on writing a one-page Christmas card song each year that would fit on the back of his family Christmas card which went out to family and friends and thousands of acquaintances in his political circles. I liked the idea and we wrote the first song-he the words, and I the music. I joked that he would be sending it out to thirty thousand friends, while I would be sending it to thirty!

Writing lyrics is something Orrin loves to do-it is a welcome diversion now and then from the stressful goings-on in Washington. He probably wrote thirty sets of Christmas lyrics during the following years and I have drawn from them each year to write our annual Christmas card song.

I have always harbored the hope that someday we would be able to make beautiful orchestral recordings of these songs. This year we realized we had plenty of songs for such a project, and the stars somehow aligned to make it possible for us to produce a CD recording of all the songs we had co-written. I have to admit I love these little songs! I love them just as one-page songs accompanied only by piano, but when our arrangers Roger and Melanie Hoffman put their amazing talents to work on the instrumentation and vocals for the album, everything I loved about the songs was multiplied exponentially.

The album contains sixteen songs and a PDF file with the print music for the songs themselves in their original format. The arrangements that match the album version are not available yet, but it is possible to print out the original Christmas card version from the CD. We love the cover designed by our son John and hope the songs will be enjoyed by all. I will introduce a few of my favorites now which you can enjoy by clicking on the icon, turning your sound up loud, and enjoying some new Christmas music.

Choosing a favorite song from this album is a bit like choosing one’s favorite child-it can’t be done. So I’ll choose a few songs that will show the variety that can be found on the album. I’ll start with the first song on the album, “Ring the Bells,” which is an upbeat introduction to the album sung by a joyful choir. I love hearing bells at Christmas time. In the ward where I grew up, a slew of sleigh bells always preceded Santa’s bursting through the curtains of the cultural hall at the ward Christmas party. Santa (my Dad) rang those bells vigorously while the pianist (my Mom) played a rousing version of “Here Comes Santa Claus” to welcome Santa. During my college days I love to hear the carillon bells at BYU during December. Later, as a member of the Tabernacle Choir, I loved it when the Bell Ringers joined us on our Christmas concert. There’s just something magic about bells, and you’ll hear plenty of them in this arrangement.

To purchase this album, click here. 

Stream mp3: “Ring the Bells” 

Ring the Bells!
Words by Orrin G. Hatch/Music by Janice Kapp Perry
Sung by a Christmas Choir

Ring the bells on Christmas Eve
Hear the magic spell they weave
Listen to the joyful sound
Christmas magic all around

Ring the Bells on Christmas Eve
Let your willing heart believe
He would be Lord of all
Came to humble manger stall

Ring the bells on Christmas Day
Hear them now in full array
Ring the bell for God’s own Son
Baby Jesus, Holy One

Ring the bells on Christmas Day
Angels join in joyous lays
Wondrous sounds ring true and bright
Born the Lord of love and light

Ring the bells so all will hear
Messages of Christmas cheer
He who came from heav’n above
Fills the world with Christian love

Ring the bells throughout the year
Telling us that Christ is here
King of Kings and Lord of Lords
We will ever Him adore

When I set the lyrics to “When the Baby Was Born” to music I decided to give it a light flavor of a spiritual. I enjoyed singing and playing it here alone in my music studio with that kind of feel to it.

Well, our arrangers Roger and Melanie, had a great vision for this song which took it to “a whole new level” (as they say in sports) and I was pretty much blown away as I heard them recording it in the studio! I have always loved that kind of music and was part of the Tabernacle Choir when they recorded a whole album of it, “An American Heritage of Spirituals,” lead by experts Albert McNeil and Moses Hogan. Oh how I enjoyed that experience!

Stream mp3: “When the Baby Was Born” 

When the Baby Was Born
Words by Orrin G.Hatch/Music by Janice Kapp Perry
Vocals: Mackenzie Seiler, Joseph Moore & choir

When the baby was born
Did they know He was the Lamb
Born so spotless and pure
To be the Great I Am?
When the baby was born
Did they know that He would grow
Learning line upon line
All God would have Him know?

When the baby was born
Did they know that He would teach
As a Shepherd who cam
To be the Prince of Peace?
When the baby was born
Did they know He came to heal?
In His works would they see
The hand of God revealed?

When the baby was born
Did they know He came to die
That His love for mankind
Would cost His perfect life?

When the baby was born
Did they know that He would rise–
That all men would be saved
By His great sacrifice?

Jesus, mighty Savior,
He is the Lamb of God

Jesus, oh my Shepherd
I come to worship Him
Jesus, mighty Savior
I come to praise Him
Jesus, oh my Savior
Let us adore Him

When the baby was born
Did they know He was God’s Son?
Did they worship in awe
God’s tiny Chosen One

Jesus, oh my Shepherd
Let us adore Him

I also love very gentle songs and “Like a Lily” is the epitome of that style of song.

I knew we had to have the angelic voice of Tammy Simister Robinson for this song and she certainly did not disappoint. I loved Orrin’s comparison of the perfect and pure baby to a beautiful lily that is “pure and white,” “straight and tall,” “clean and bright,” and the concluding words, “Like a lily, fragrant, sweet, came the Holy Prince of Peace.”

Stream mp3: “Like a Lily” 

Like a Lily       
Words by Orrin G. Hatch/Music by Janice Kapp Perry
Vocal: Tammy Simister Robinson

Like a lily, pure and white
Came the Son of God that night
Bringing light from heav’n above
Bringing men the Father’s love
Music filled the brisk night air
Love abounded everywhere

Like a lily straight and tall

Came our Lord to lift us all
In this tiny baby lay
Pow’r to rule and lead the way
Like a gift of greatest worth
Christ came down to bless the earth

Like a lily, clean and bright
Shone His face by candlelight
Lord of Lords and King of Kings
Came with healing in His wings
He who rests in manger bed
Came to conquer sin and death

Like a lily, fragrant, sweet
Came the Holy Prince of Peace

I hope you have enjoyed a sampling of our new Christmas CD “Christmas Magic All Around.” I don’t usually rush the season for Christmas music-my Mother made us wait until after Thanksgiving Day to start the Christmas music. But by the time I write my next article for December, Christmas will only be a few days away-too late to introduce some new music for the season.

I love this time of year-the music especially-but also the family gatherings, the hymns we sing at church, the delicious meals we enjoy together with family and friends. I love to feel my heart turning more toward the Savior and toward those He would want us to help. It truly is a blessed time of the year!

Stream mp3: “This Blessed Time of the Year”

This Blessed Time of the Year
Words by Orrin G. Hatch/Music by Janice Kapp Perry
Vocals: A Christmas Choir

This blessed time of year
When angels frolic in the snow
And with their wands bring Christmas cheer
By touching hearts for Jesus as they go
This blessed time of year
Aglow with softest candlelight
When sleighs and bells and carols cheer
Our hearts and souls with wonders and delight

This blessed time of year
When children catch a glimpse of Christ
A time when all the world recalls
The Jesus Child, our Lord so kind and wise
This blessed time of year
A time for all to praise and sing
When angels hover oh so near
And whisper of the joy the season brings

This blessed time of year
When families gather far and near
To let their happy voices blend
And read the wondrous story once again
This blessed time of year
A season of good will and cheer
When hearts receive God’s healing light
And all the world in peace and joy unite

This blessed time of year
We celebrate the Savior’s birth
Our dear Redeemer who came down
To bless each one who lives upon the earth
This blessed time of year
When hearts are soft and friends are dear
When heaven’s peaceful light abounds
And love of God throughout the world resounds

 To purchase this album, click here. 

Janice Kapp Perry: Composer, author, lecturer