Hi Everyone,
We all woke up this morning to a foot on snow on the ground! Looks like we’ll be having a white Christmas!!!
With Christmas just a week away, I thought we’d think about what Christmas means to us. It’s about the decorations, the celebrations, the holiday giving spirit, the food and drinks, the gifts, and lots more. But one of my favorite parts of this Christmas season is the music. Yes, I mean Jingle Bells, and all of it!
Do you have a favorite Christmas song? Do you have a song that you really don’t like? Why is it that these songs stay in your head forever?
Before we read an article about this dilemma, let’s match up some vocabulary. below is a table with 7 words and their definitions. Take a look at it and see what you can match and then the answer table is below .
| Word | Definition |
| 1. airing | A. a broadcast on radio or TV |
| 2. hum | B. a great liking for someone or something |
| 3. an earworm | C. a group of music notes played at the same time |
| 4. corny | D. a set of musical notes based on one particular note (C major) |
| 5. a chord | E. a song or melody that keeps repeating in someone’s mind |
| 6. a key | F. to produce sounds, often with a melody |
| 7. fondness | G. worn out and tiresome or overly sentimental |
How’d you do on the matching? Below is the answer table.
| Word | Definition |
| 1. airing | A. a broadcast on radio or TV |
| 2. hum | F. to produce sounds, often with a melody |
| 3. an earworm | E. a song or melody that keeps repeating in someone’s mind |
| 4. corny | G. worn out and tiresome or overly sentimental |
| 5. a chord | C. a group of music notes played at the same time |
| 6. a key | D. a set of musical notes based on one particular note (C major) |
| 7. fondness | B. a great liking for someone or something |
Before we read the article I want you to ask yourself the following and decide if these statements are true or false:
*** Half of the Christmas songs we hear are pretty annoying.
*** Regardless of our preferences, Christmas tunes bring people together.
*** Songs filled with sleigh bells are considered corny.
*** “Under the Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber is the best-selling Christmas song of all time.
***When people hear a new song for the first time, they usually don’t like it.
Ok, now read the article below and check your answers:
CHRISTMAS EARWORMS
The science behind our love-hate relationship with holiday songs
Adapted from TheConversation.com, Alexandra Lamont, December 18th, 2017
In the countdown to Christmas, we’re exposed to
a shower of festive music – on the radio, TV, in
stores, train stations, restaurants, at the mall, and in
bars. All over, old favorites are being played
everywhere along with newer songs by singers like
Kelly Clarkson and Justin Bieber. And, of course, the
U.K.’s two most popular Christmas songs by Mariah
Carey and The Pogues are getting their annual airing.
So are you humming Jingle Bells or All I Want for
Christmas while you wrap your presents? Catchy bits
of music or earworms, as they’ve become known,
are songs that get stuck in our heads – and while
about two-thirds are nice to listen to, some are very
annoying
Musically, “earworms” seem to come most often
from songs which have fairly conventional melodic
patterns, combined with something unusual, like a
change in key, unexpected jumps, or repetition.
There’s a popular article written by journalism
professor Adam Ragusea, who claims to have
identified a mysterious “Christmas chord” which
might explain the popularity of Christmas songs
and why they give us earworms, although not all
observers are entirely convinced. However, research
suggests that even though there could be some
common features, the specific songs that make
earworms differ from person to person.
What’s different about Christmas music is that we’re
all listening to a much smaller collection of musical options
at this time of year. Because of the dominance of
Christmas music in public places such as stores and
bars, we all get a lot more exposure to the same
songs than we do at other times of year. So we could
argue that Christmas music helps bring us together –
whether we love it or hate it.
Dreaming of a hit record?
Among the corny sleigh bell-filled tunes, there are
some great Christmas classics – and it’s interesting to
note that White Christmas by Irving Berlin is not only
consistently one of the most well-known Christmas
songs but is the best-selling song of all time. It also
has characteristics of an earworm, and it contains
that funny “Christmas chord”. But how does a song
like that maintain its popularity through the decades?
According to some theories, when we first hear a
new piece of music, we tend not to like it very much.
But repetition sparks liking – and repetition both
within a song and through repeated listening over
days, weeks, and months will usually increase our
fondness.
There’s a limit to this repetition effect. Too much
of it sends liking down the other side of the curve,
meaning that when we have heard something too
many times, we eventually – and quickly – get quite
fed up with it. In one study, it was found that people
regulate their own exposure to their own music over
very long periods of time.
A lot of Christmas music, whether we think it’s good
or bad, will be more popular than it might deserve to
be as it usually only gets played a few months of the
year. By the time we’re taking down the Christmas
tree in January, and have become fully sick and tired
of Mariah, we put her away in the attic with the tree,
to be dusted off and enjoyed again next year.
Now that you’ve read the article, let’s see of you can answer these questions. Refer back to the article to find the answers.
- Musically speaking, how are Christmas ‘earworms’ constructed?
- According to professor Adam Ragusea, why are Christmas songs so popular?
- Why do we tend to listen to a smaller number of music pieces during Christmas?
- What other theory explains why Christmas songs are popular?
- What is the downside of this?
You can check your answers by clicking on the link below
https://www.goconqr.com/en-US/quiz/28048553/Christmas-Earworms-article
So, even though our Christmas holiday celebrations will be different this year, you can still listen to your favorite holiday tunes and enjoy this time of year!!
For you all, here is a collection of classic Christmas songs for you to listen to and get in the holiday spirit!
Remember to relax and practice and please stay safe and healthy!
ESL for one and all 