Jingle, bells

I always forget, until I come to sing it, that the title of Jingle Bells actually has a comma in it. (Or, for that matter, that Hark the Herald Angels Sing has both an exclamation mark and a hyphen...) The very informative Wikipedia entry about the song doesn't mention the comma - I must edit it sometime!

I'm very tired. Last night was my seventh concert this month (if you count the one on 29th November as "this month", and it certainly FELT like December that day!) - although I'm sure others have had more - and there are still three to go before Christmas, two of which are today. Normally I'd only just be getting up (yes, I know it's gone noon, but my sleeping patterns are a little unusual) but I got up early to watch Man Utd in the Club World Cup Final (it's in Japan, that's why it's in the morning). Five minutes to go and we're winning thanks to Rooney, although Vidic got sent off (somewhat harshly I thought) for elbowing someone in the face (he definitely did it, but I don't think he did it intentionally).

I got a new temp assignment this week, for an organisation whose office is within the University of Manchester. They're closed for the next two weeks, though, so I have a different assignment then. And I had to turn down an extra one for this weekend due to the choir gigs - they wanted me to be an ELF! I would have loved that!

My interview was finally in yesterday's Guardian - so much for them telling me it'd be in, the first I knew was when I got to yesterday's rehearsal and Barbara handed me a copy! As usual there are bits that make me cringe because I would never have actually said them, but other than that most of it is accurate. (Just to reiterate, because I always worry that people will think me very arrogant to keep putting this story forward: I didn't write this article, and I didn't see it until it was printed. It was written by a Guardian writer who interviewed me. And he contacted me, as a result of other times I've been in the media with this story - none of which were instigated by me.)

Anyway, back to music: Last night's concert was good, but unsurprisingly the carol concerts always get better with each repetition. So far the orchestra have been quite restrained in their choice of costumes and silly hats - hopefully that will change! Last night there wasn't even a hat for the conductor - a shocking omission that will no doubt be rectified today. And I'm more hopeful than ever that one day we might get all the alto notes right in A Merry Christmas and It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, because the single note in each song that's always been wrong... well, it's still wrong in both cases, but the encouraging sign is that I can now, after all these years, finally hear quite a few people singing the correct version! The recordings I've heard of both these carols feature the same two wrong notes, though, so it's obviously a perennial problem :-)

I've been trying to decide which is my favourite bit of the concert. I think it's probably the trumpets in Magnificat, but a close second would be the bit in In Dulci Jubilo when the men take us into D minor. (You know the bit I mean!)

So, I seem to have acquired a load of links - let me share them:

Daniel Barenboim writes about international relations within his orchestra.

Apparently last Sunday was the International Day of Choral Singing - was anyone aware of this? I wasn't!

Imogen Cooper writes about Alfred Brendel, and Alan Rusbridger reports from his final concert.

Some of the Doctor Who writers list their favourite Christmas songs.

Apparently baby birds practise songs while they sleep.

Slightly depressing article about music in advertising.

Classical music education from the Muppets.

Interview with one of the King's Singers who's about to leave them.

From the BBC Scottish SO blog, some reflections on snobbery in classical music.

It seems likely that Hallelujah will be the Christmas number one - but whose version? We'll know by the end of today. I know which I'd prefer...

A performance of Messiah was cancelled for health and safety reasons. I feel very bad for the musicians who'd presumably spent ages rehearsing it. Hope they found somewhere else to perform it.

Scientists apparently plan to test whether sharks enjoy listening to Christmas songs.

On an Overgrown Path reports that not everyone likes Gilbert Kaplan's Mahler 2 performances.

Norman Lebrecht wonders why Mendelssohn is often forgotten.

Tom Service writes about classical crossover.

Eric Whitacre has some advice for beginning composers.

Alfred Hickling tells us about the Fragmented Orchestra. It's not what you might think!

Richard Coles (who used to be in the Communards and is now a curate) has a thought-provoking faith perspective on carol concerts.

And there is a girl band causing a stir in Pakistan.

Non-musical stuff: a sad report about words which have been left out of a dictionary.

Where to see the stars from the UK - although I'd disagree with some of these. (In particular, anywhere near London is NOT a good place to see the stars from!) Many years ago, the Salford Astronomical Society wanted to choose the darkest place in England for an astronomical camping trip. They did this by looking at a photo of the UK from space at night - and the darkest spot then was a place called Fleet Moss, a few miles south of Hawes in North Yorkshire. Also, I have a friend who's an internationally-respected amateur astronomer, and he moved to a remote part of Shropshire several years ago because of the relatively dark skies there.

I wanted to write about the Vendee Globe but I have to be out of the house in five minutes, so it will have to wait till tonight!