A brass band at Christmastime

The tradition of singing Local Carols in the villages to the North West of Sheffield goes back to at least the late Eighteenth Century; the Local Carols were generally composed by local musicians, organists or choirmasters and the carols were often given local names. Originally this is thought to have been a reaction against the banning of many carols by both the Church and the State. Some Carols caused controversy and it is known that ‘While Shepherds Watched’ had to be cleaned up by the Victorians for being too crude. There is also strong evidence that ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ was a call to 18th Century Jacobites to rebel [1]. Examples of locally written tunes are, ‘Bright and Joyful’ […]

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Sheffield local carols

It’ll soon be that time of year again; ‘the December madness’, as some of the brass bands refer to it. If you really want to get into the Christmas spirit though there’s nothing better than to sing along to some carols with a brass band, and throughout December you’ll find all the Sheffield bands out and about all over the place, but if you particularly want to find out where some of the bands are going to play some of the ‘local’ Sheffield carols one of the best places to look is the Village Carols website at http://www.localcarols.org.uk/sings.php where you’ll find a list of many of the venues along with the names of the brass bands who’ll be playing at several […]

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