Hark! UK School of Music faculty sing out about favorite holiday tunes

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 10, 2024) — Some people start listening the day after Halloween. Others start on Black Friday. Still others may wait until Dec. 24.

No matter when someone starts their holiday music listening, most people have a favorite tune that switches them on to celebration mode.

UKNow asked several faculty members at the University of Kentucky School of Music to chime in with their holiday favorites and what makes them so special. Additionally, the UK College of Fine Arts compiled a Spotify playlist of students’ favorite holiday tunes. Listen to it here. 

See the list of faculty favorites below.

Cynthia Lawrence-Calkins
Endowed Chair, Professor of Music/Voice

• What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?
  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” (music by Walter Kent, lyrics by Kim Gannon and Buck Ram), Bing Crosby
   
• Why is that song your favorite?
  This song evokes longing to be with loved ones and has a beautiful singable tune.
   
• What memory or memories does that song bring up for you?
  Family, military, friends etc.
   

Bradley Kerns
Professor of Trombone

• What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?:
  “Sleigh Ride,” (music by Leroy Anderson, lyrics by Mitchell Parish), Ella Fitzgerald
   
• Why is that song your favorite?
  The memories it evokes.
   
• What memory or memories does that song bring up for you? 
  Reminds me of meeting my wife, being with my family.
   

Julie Hobbs, D.M.
Associate Professor of Flute

• What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?:
  “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (music and lyrics by Meredith Willson), Perry Como (with the Fontane Sisters)
   
• Why is that song your favorite?
  The composer, Meredith Willson, is best known for writing Broadway’s “The Music Man,” but he was also an accomplished classical flutist who played in the New York Philharmonic, among other places. Not only is it a catchy tune, but the composer has a great backstory!
   
• What memory or memories does that song bring up for you?
  The melody, form and harmonies are loosely based on the University of Iowa’s Fight Song, which Meredith Willson wrote a few years prior to the Christmas song. So, Iowa Hawkeye fans (like me) are especially fond of this holiday tune!
   

Revell Carr, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

• What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?:
  “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” (music and lyrics by Johnny Marks), Brenda Lee
   
• Why is that song your favorite?
  I just love the sound of it, and the vintage rock and roll feeling. Her voice is iconic.
   
• What memory or memories does that song bring up for you?
  I think of my family decorating the tree.
   

Alaine Reschke-Hernandez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Music Therapy

• What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?:
  It depends on my mood! Anything from “Run Rudolph Run” (written by Chuck Berry and Johnny Marks [who only got credit because he owned the copyright to “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”), and performed by Chuck Berry) to “Adeste Fideles” (traditional carol, “sung by my high school choir”) to “O Tannenbaum” (traditional carol) to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (music by Hugh Martin, lyrics by Ralph Blane, performed by Judy Garland) to “The Nutcracker” (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky).
   
• Why is that song your favorite? 
  Some are associated with different memories and some nostalgia. Several I’ve performed with different groups, which brings back really positive memories. Some I just really like the way they groove. You can’t go wrong with Chuck Berry!
   
• What memory or memories does that song bring up for you?
  My high school choir always did a candlelight processional with “Adeste Fideles” and I loved that every year. My dad always plays the same old German Christmas record only on Christmas morning, so that is why “O Tannenbaum.” I loved playing with “The Nutcracker” Ballet when I lived in Kansas City. “Run Rudolph Run” is how I feel at the end of the semester, ha ha!
   

Kevin Holm-Hudson, D.M.A.
Professor, Music Theory

• What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?:
  I'm proud of the holiday album I just released: Kevin Holm-Hudson & The Adjuncts, “I Need More Sleighbell”
   
• Why is this collection your favorite?
  These songs sum up the holidays for me: The nostalgia, the magic, the heartbreak. It is a complex time of year for many.

Link to the free album: https://kevin-holm-hudson.bandcamp.com/album/i-need-more-sleighbell

Elaine Cook
Harp Instructor

• What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?:
  “What Child is This?”/“Greensleeves” (traditional English folk song set to lyrics by William Chatterton Dix)
   
• Why is that song your favorite?
  Harpists play this piece year around, so when working up sets to play in December, it is well prepared. Also, the melody has always been a favorite for me.
   
• What memory or memories does that song bring up for you?
  A chordal arrangement of “Greensleeves” is one of the first pieces I enjoyed playing on the harp.

Link to Elaine Cook performing “Greensleeves” (arrangement by Samuel Milligan): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AeNQk6o8Pw

Jefferson Johnson, D.M.A. 
Professor of Choral Studies, Director of Choral Activities 

What is your favorite popular holiday song? Who performed it?:
“Ave Maria” (Bach/Gounod) - Barbra Streisand

Why is that song your favorite? 
I love the music of Bach. Nineteenth century French composer Charles Gounod did too, so he put words to one of Bach’s instrumental compositions written 100 years earlier. The result is the famous “Bach/Gounod” Ave Maria.

What memory or memories does that song bring up for you? 
This song was recorded by Barbra Streisand for a Christmas album put out by Firestone (the tire company) in the 1960s. Every Christmas my parents purchased the annual compilation album. They featured the best recording artists of the day. Awesome music! 

Two School of Music faculty members, Martina Vasil, Ph.D., director of graduate studies and associate professor of music education; and Miles Osland, director of jazz studies and professor of saxophone, picked the same tune — “Christmastime is Here” ((music by Vince Guaraldi, lyrics by Lee Mendelson), performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, with youth choir members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

• Why is that song your favorite?
  Vasil: I loved Snoopy as a child and grew up watching the television specials. I still collect Snoopy ornaments and have one from every year starting with 1986.
  Osland: Grew up watching the Peanuts Christmas special!
   
• What memory or memories does that song bring up for you?
  Vasil: The song brings up memories of Christmas mornings with my family, my mom cooking and baking sweets, and relaxing over holiday break watching Charlie Brown specials.
  Osland: Childhood.