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Read on to discover why making music together in the home is hugely beneficial for families…<\/strong><\/p> Many decades on, my most vivid memory of childhood Christmases doesn\u2019t involve twinkling fairy-lights, turkey with all the trimmings or boozy uncles behaving badly \u2013 though all of that featured in our little London semi. No, what I recall most clearly is the magic moment, at about 7pm on Christmas Day, when a dozen neighbours would crowd into our living room and my dad would sit at the piano, a glass of Dubonnet perched precariously on top, and start playing song after song for everyone to join in.<\/p> He never used sheet music and never had to stop to think what tune to play next. He had that gift, honed through years in dance bands and as a hotel pianist, of being able to recall hundreds of Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin<\/a><\/strong>, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter tunes, perfectly harmonised, stylishly embellished, from memory.<\/p> I don\u2019t have anything like that talent but I still try to keep the tradition going chez Morrison by inflicting a Christmas singsong on my children and grandchildren. To be fair, they indulge my whim with a reasonable imitation of enthusiasm. Inevitably the repertoire has changed over the decades, but not the intention \u2013 that, at least once a year, the whole family should engage in a bit of communal music-making.<\/p> Some, like the incredible singing Bevan<\/a><\/strong> family and the Kanneh-Masons<\/a><\/strong>, have carried genetically related music-making to an exalted level. Few households can aspire to that professionalism. But all music-loving parents can at least try to create opportunities to sing or play alongside their offspring.<\/p> Making music together… Christmas sing-alongs<\/h2>
Recreating the parlour song of Queen Victoria’s day<\/h2>