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Thanksgiving is the odd holiday. It isn’t very musical. Valentine’s, the 4th of July and Christmas all come with long approved song lists. Not Thanksgiving. I guess on Turkey day our mouths are usually full of something that’s not song.

Still, for my November Program I managed to cook up a few favorites. “Let All Things Now Living” and “We Gather Together” are both traditional Thanksgiving melodies. Actually, they are old English and Dutch tunes that, much like the founders of Thanksgiving, got new lyrics and a new tradition when they reached the new world.

On Turkey Day we needs some bird so I played the old, up tempo fiddle tune “Turkey In The Straw.” Now personally I’ve always preferred my turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce but if some people want it with straw. . .

Once I got the musical turkey, I blessed it with the beautiful arrangement of “The Lord’s Prayer” by Albert Hay Malotte. And while we were in a praying mood, I jazzed up the four part harmony of “Now Thank We All Our God” with some diminished 7ths and a rocking bass line.

“Now,” I asked, “what are we giving thanks for?” I’m thankful it’s been one year since I brought out my Christmas CD “The Sounding Joy.” It’s been long enough to recover from making it, even long enough to hear how people are enjoying it. When I performed for an annual Thanksgiving dinner, a guest told me that she bought both my CDs a year ago. “I play them every nap time for my 30 kindergartners. Everyone calms down and goes right to sleep!”

I am a far cry from a farmer (harp players don’t really do dirt under our nails) but I follow the harvest. I live in the country with cornfields on the east, west, north and south. Some years, the farmers plant soybeans and I can see for miles. This year they planted corn. I could see to my back fence. Then one afternoon of harvest dust suddenly exposed the view again. The fields remind me how something planted takes root and grows. My friends’ jokes that I make a Christmas album took root and became a CD. Songs “from the old country” are seeds of a new culture and sprout into an American tradition. People from all over the world, including my great grandparents who came through Ellis Island, plant themselves in American soil and grow into a great harvest.

“Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest and home.”

I recorded the song “Simple Gifts” on my first hymn CD, “The Joy We Share.” Some of the lyrics of that song are “ ‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free, ‘tis a gift to go down where you’re supposed to be.” I know that one of the things I am supposed to do is play harp. I am grateful for everyone who has given me opportunities this year to play and to enjoy my work. You can hear my harvest on my CDs here on my website or pick up a copy on iTunes!

Happy Thanksgiving! May you have many, many reasons to give thanks.

When should you start Christmas music?

My first Christmas gig was way back at the end of October. The next week, a sales clerk at an open house cringed when I played Carol of the Bells this side of Thanksgiving.

As a musician who has to practice, my season starts even earlier. Last year, when I made my Christmas CD, I was arranging and recording carols from January to June, then playing and promoting the CDs July through December. It felt like I was in a storybook world that lived Christmas all year round.

Now I totally agree with the store clerk and my friends complaining about carols on FB; we should enjoy the season we are in instead of always be selling the next one.

But there are other noncommercial qualities to Christmas. I like to be the first noel you might hear this season. I put The First Noel on my CD, and not just because it is a beautiful melody. I like the story.

“The first noel that the angel’s did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.” Here are the shepherds, everyday guys at their everynight job. They worked the night shift. It wasn’t a holy-day for them. It wasn’t vacation. They didn’t have two months of advent and Walmart radio carols to prep them with the expectations of Christmas. They had their heads down in sheep droppings. Then angels burst out of the blue—or in this case the black—night sky. “Good news!” they shouted. “God is with you.”

That’s even more shocking than seeing Christmas discounts advertised in August.

Noel. God is with us. We need to know God’s presence isn’t just with us on holidays or vacations. He is in the middle of our work day every day of the year. That is a reason to give thanks. That’s a reason to work. That’s a reason to start some Christmas carols early.

I was playing my very last program of the month in a senior community’s windowed dining room when the summer storm blew in. Rain shot the windows, pine trees bent horizontal and thunder boomed between every other phrase. I was an hour from home with an expensive instrument and the threats of a tornado. But I didn’t pause playing—it was the perfect sound effects.

Normally the Fourth of July rings with trumpets and drums, the rhythm of marches and the thunder of exploding fireworks. But harpists have patriotic feelings too! For the last few weeks I’ve been melding the harp’s melodious sounds to a program of patriotic music, putting my monthly audiences in a red white and blue mood.

I started with a musical tour of America, playing songs with states names in them such as The Yellow Rose of Texas, the Tennessee Waltz and My Old Kentucky Home. After going all the way out to Hawaii with Aloha Oe, I brought the music Back Home Again in Indiana. In my state we sing about “spacious skies and amber waves of corn” instead of grain.

To celebrate the American musical landscape, I even pulled out the classical melody Largo from Dvorak’s New World Symphony. The Czech composer wrote his most popular symphony while living in America, inspired by Native America tunes and southern spirituals he learned from his African American classmate. Since I didn’t pack a full orchestra into my harp bag, I just played the theme from the middle of the Symphony. The melody rises like morning mist off a mid-western lake.

I took the second half of the program to thank those who have served or are serving in our military, mustering all the octaves on the harp to play the Armed Forces Medley. Even though my own family served in the Navy, I tried not to give any special consideration to Anchors Away. We also prayed for the safety of the military personal with the hymn Eternal Father Strong to Save and sang about the excitement of the servicemen returning in When Johnny comes Marching Home, I finished with probably my favorite patriotic song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and often my whole audience would raise their voices during the infectious chorus. The battle belongs to the Lord.

I had played this program seven times when the summer storm interrupted my last performance and grabbed the attention of my Alzheimer’s audience. I couldn’t compete with the frightening light show outside the windows. But I didn’t mind the storm. I was ready to play the Star Spangled Banner and the thunder provided free sound effects for the “bombs bursting in air.” Not to mention the “thundering” applause!

So that was my red, white and blue program. God bless America, don’t let off any fireworks inside and I hope see you for next month’s program!