Listening Leaders Archived Edition

December 13, 2006

LISTENING LEADERS CHERISH CHRISTMAS CAROLS

As Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is “A season for all things….” and Christmas is no exception. Thus, it is important to remember the time to enjoy Christmas music is relatively short, as the concentrated opportunity to listen to classical Christmas music begins around Thanksgiving and ends by every New Year.

Fortunately, wonderful Christmas music is everywhere and provides special opportunities for Listening Leaders® to appreciate the true meaning of a special season. For no matter your age, gender, race, geographical location, education, profession, or religion, there is a plethora of wonderful Christmas music to choose from and simply enjoy.

For the focused listener, Christmas music transcends generations and provides opportunities to listen to lyrics you can actually understand. It is music that can transport you back to your childhood with wimsical thought, engage your thoughtful attention for the moment, or project you forward into deep reverie. In addition, it is music that allows one to appreciate and share the special talents of composers, lyricists, and singers of long past generations. It is a rich opportunity for Listening Leaders® to introduce young ones, born in the 21st Century, to the wonderful talents of composers and lyricists like: Father Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber – “Silent Night”; Felix Mendelssohn and W. H. Cummings – “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”; and, Irving Berlin – “White Christmas.” Introduce your young children and/or grandchildren to the ageless voices of Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, and Johnny Mathias.

The listening investment for everyone is minimal, for all it takes is the dedication of special time to pause, relax, reflect, and rejoice. Listening Leaders® cherish and enjoy classical Christmas carols by taking 4 simple action steps.

First, Listening Leaders® consciously find, or make and take, time to listen to the enduring songs of the season during the most chaotic holiday of the year. They purposely pause and place their focus on the special music of the season. They relax and let the musical word pictures transport them into other times and other places. They create dedicated times to enjoy the musical talents of many. With the sole purpose of pure listening enjoyment, they schedule dedicated time to listen to the Christmas CD’s, and the Christmas radio stations. In addition, they schedule time to attend special Christmas musical performances. In short, they control their own Christmas listening for enjoyment destiny.

Second, during this special season of Christmas and Hanukkah, Listening Leaders® disband their critical judgment as they simply close their eyes, listen, smile, and enjoy. Classic Christmas songs as, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” or “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” touch millions around the globe regardless of their weather or distance. Humorous songs like, “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”; “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”; and, “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” bring smiles to many regardless of their age, marital status, or dental condition.

Third, Listening Leaders® ultimately reflect on the true meaning of Christmas as they listen carefully to the rich lyrics of: “Silent Night”; “Away in the Manager”; “O Little Town of Bethlehem”; “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”; “We Three Kings of Orient Are”; “O Come All Ye Faithful”; “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”; “Joy to the World”; “Angels We Have Heard On High”; “Good King Wenceslas”; and, “Little Drummer Boy.” Such songs invite deep and careful reflection, as they are both meaningful and memorable.

Last, but certainly not least, Christian Listening Leaders® rejoice as every Christmas provides the special musical opportunity to enjoy the rich and moving story that began on a starlit night centuries ago when there was no room in the inn. Rejoice for we have been blessed with the gifted talents of composers, lyricists, musicians, and singers worth listening to. Rejoice for Classical Christmas Carols reinforce a story that enhances our humanity and deserve to be cherished. Rejoice for this cherished listening opportunity repeats itself at this time every year!

LISTENING LEADER KNOWLEDGE NUGGET: Listening Leaders® cherish classical Christmas songs and sing along as they choose.

Listening Leaders® experience greater appreciation and enjoyment of any message when they understand the history of its composer and creation. Like every message, every song holds a history, as illustrated in the examples of two songs.

Although there are several stories about the origin of the classic Christmas Carol “Silent Night, Holy Night” the basic facts seem clear. Based on the sound research of Bill Eagan, this classic was written in 1818 by Father Joseph Mohr, a Parish Priest at St. Nicholas’ Church at Obendorf, a village near Salzburg, Austria.

Faced with a broken church organ and an impending Christmas Eve midnight service, Father Mohr remembered a simple poem he had written in 1816 that expressed the wonder of the birth of Jesus. He asked his schoolteacher and organist friend, Franz Gruber, to add music to his poem that could be sung with the accompaniment of a guitar. From the beginning “Stille Nacht” or “Silent Night” was enjoyed by everyone in attendance.

Sometime later, when Carl Mauracher was rebuilding the organ at St. Nicholas, he discovered the words and music for “Silent Night.” Coming from an area in the mountains of Tyrol where many traveling folk singers who performed throughout Europe, Mauracher carried the music back to Ziller Valley to his own Alpine village, Kapfing.

In Kapfing, the well known Rainer and Strasser traveling families of singers became captivated by "Silent Night," and included the new song in their 1819 Christmas season repertoire. According to music historians, the Strasser sisters sang “Stille Nacht” throughout northern Europe, and put Mohr and Gruber’s song on the map of music.

Over the years, the Strasser sisters sang “Silent Night” for such royalty as Emperor Francis I of Austria and Czar Alexander I of Russia, and were invited to Russia for a series of concerts. Eventually, they sang "Silent Night" for King Frederick William IV of Prussia, who was so taken with what the Strasser singers called their "Song of Heaven," that he commanded it to be sung by his cathedral choir every Christmas Eve. It spread through Europe and in 1839 the Rainers brought the song to America as the "Tyrolean Folk Song."

Since then, “Silent Night” has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects. Nearly fifty years after being first sung in German, "Silent Night" was translated into English by Rev. John Freeman Young and first published in The Sunday-School Service and Tune Book in 1863. In 1871, the English version was published in the Charles Hutchins' Sunday School Hymnal. Thus a classic Christmas Carol was born and is enjoyed around the world.

In 1940, Irving Berlin, a Russian-Jewish immigrant, wrote “White Christmas” which has become a Christmas classic, and according to the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, is the best selling record in history. Reminiscing about the dream of snow, the self-taught composer and lyricist, wrote a simple song that has since become a holiday standard.

Although Berlin played by ear and never learned how to read harmony, he nevertheless managed to create hit songs. In 1938 on the eve of World War II, his song, “God Bless America,” was unofficially adopted as a second national anthem. In 1940, Irving Berlin stayed up one night and wrote “White Christmas” as a light-hearted song intended to poke fun at the Los Angeles citizens who, in the midst of shining sun, green grass, orange and palm trees, longed for the traditional Christmas with cold and snow.

The first public performance of “White Christmas” was sung in 1941 by Bing Crosby on his top-rated CBS radio show, The Kraft Music Hall. As the initial recording was lost to history, Crosby recorded the song again for Decca Records where it became a major hit. Holding the #1 spot for eleven weeks in 1942 and again in 1945 and 1946, Bing Crosby’s rendition has sold more than 100 million copies. In addition, Berlin’s song became the title theme for the largest grossing 1954 musical film starring Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney.

Berlin was given an Academy Award in 1942 for the best song of all time, “White Christmas.” He lived a long life of 101 years and although he passed away on September 22, 1989, his spirit comes to life each holiday season when folks everywhere sing, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas…where treetops glisten, and children listen….”

LISTENING LEADER TIP OF THE WEEK: Discover the history that underlies your favorite Classical Christmas Carols.

GOLDEN CIRCLE LISTENING LEADERS QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

Oh! There is an organ playing in the street…I must leave off to listen ~ Byron
The most exciting rhythms seem unexpected and complex, the most beautiful melodies simple and inevitable ~ W. H. Auden
Composers should write tunes that chauffeurs and errand boys can whistle ~ Sir Thomas Beecham
Music is edifying, for from time to time it sets the soul on operation ~ John Cage
Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the Infinite ~ Thomas Carlyle
Music has charms to sooth a savage breast ~ William Congreve
Music is my weapon. I believe in music, in its spirituality, its exaltation, its ecstatic nobility, its humor, its power to penetrate to the basic fineness of every human being ~ Henry Cowell
Take a music-bath …and you will find it is to the soul what the water-bath is to the body ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
Talking about music is like dancing about architecture ~ Steve Martin

A LISTENING LEADER GIGGLE:

Composing both the melody and lyrics of any song must be difficult work. Imagine the dismissive laughter the following Christmas lyrics would create.

“The sun is shining The grass is green The orange and palm trees sway There’s never been such a day In Beverly Hills, L.A. But it’s December the twenty-fourth And I’m longing to be up north...”

Then, sing the lyrics to the tune of “White Christmas.

Then, chuckle with the added insight that this was the original first verse of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”. Irving was wise when he decided to drop the verse and keep the chorus.

LISTENING LEADERS KUDOS

Congratulations to Listening Leader Carlos Gohn, the brilliant, audacious, and admired CEO of Nissan-Renault who used the power of listening in one of the most remarkable turnarounds in automotive and corporate history at Nissan. In his outstanding book, “Shift” Gohn states, “I started with something that is very quantifiable – namely with listening to people telling me what in their opinion was going right and what was going wrong in the company – and what they thought could be done to make it better.”

BECOME CERTIFIED TO TEACH LISTENING LEADERSHIP IN YOUR ORGANIZATION. You will become fully equipped to deliver a unique and proven Workshop that provides practical and measurable results. For certification details, go to www.ListeningLeaders.com

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WE ARE LISTENING and invite your action:
Together, we can change the listening attitudes, skills, and knowledge of leaders throughout the world. We appreciate and invite your assistance in expanding our listening leader’s connections. Eight simple steps in advancing this important movement include:
Listen, to the music of the season and soothe your savage breast.
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Listen, Lead On & Make Today Count! – Manny & Rick
__________________________________________________________________

LISTENING LEADERS: THE TEN GOLDEN RULES
TO LISTEN, LEAD & SUCCEED

By Dr. Lyman K. Steil
& Dr. Richard K. Bommelje

Publisher: Beaver’s Pond Press
(ISBN 1-59298-073-2)

A pioneering book that directly connects listening with leadership.Based on more than 50 collective years of work with listening leaders throughout the world, Dr. Steil and Dr. Bommelje have created 10 practical, proven, and priceless rules to enhance everyone's listening and leadership success. Although outstanding leaders are outstanding listeners, most leaders have neglected the development of their listening attitudes, skills and knowledge.

“This is the most significant book ever written on listening and leadership and will profit leaders at all levels in all types of organizations and enterprises.” Dr. Ralph Nichols, Father of the Field of Listening

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