• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The River Houses

A National Network of Local Homeschool Societies

  • Subscribe!
  • Home
  • Topics ▾
    • Arts & Music
    • Astronomy
    • Books & Libraries
    • Dewey Decimals
    • Friday Bird Families
    • Great Stars
    • Holidays & History
    • Language & Literature
    • Lunar Society Bulletins
    • Natural History
    • Photo Contests
    • Poems-of-the-Week
    • Quick Freshes
    • Research & News
    • States & Countries
    • Terms & Calendars
    • Weekly World Heritage
  • Calendars
  • Six Books
  • TWOC ▾
    • The Lunar Society of the River Houses
  • About Us ▾
    • Our Mascots
  • Friends
  • Shop!
You are here: Home > Homeschool Arts & Music > Holiday Music Month > This Post

🎵 🌟 🐑 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Shepherd’s Carol

25 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

One last carol for Christmas night. 😊 Not all great carols of the Christmas season are old and traditional, as we’ve seen. Some are modern creations, and one of the greatest modern carols, written in 2001 and now sung around the world, is “The Shepherd’s Carol” by the British composer and choir-master Bob Chilcott (b. 1955), with words from Australian poet Clive Sansom (1910–1981):

December is Homeschool Holiday Music Month in the River Houses, and throughout the month we’re sharing an assortment of seasonal favorites in a great variety of styles and genres — classical and modern, sacred and secular, serious and silly — along with a collection of easy educational notes that will let you teach little musical lessons all along the way.

The above performance of “The Shepherd’s Carol” is from the choir of King’s College at Cambridge University, one of the world’s most famous choirs and a group that Chilcott himself sang in as a boy and as a university student. Sansom’s words tell the Christian Nativity story from the perspective of the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, a scene that every educated homeschooler, whether religious or secular, should be able to recognize:

We stood on the hills, Lady,
Our day’s work done,
Watching the frosted meadows
That winter had won.

The evening was calm, Lady,
The air so still,
Silence more lovely than music
Folded the hill.

There was a star, Lady,
Shone in the night,
Larger than Venus it was
And bright, so bright.

Oh, a voice from the sky, Lady,
It seemed to us then
Telling of God being born
In the world of men.

And so we have come, Lady,
Our day’s work done,
Our love, our hopes, ourselves,
We give to your son.

Ancient stories in modern hands continue to give rise to beautiful music.

Here’s hoping you and your homeschool family are having a wonderful Christmas. 🌟

❡ Musical memories: If you’d like to fill your homeschool with some beautiful background sounds during the holidays, why not tune in to the 24-hour Holiday Channel from WQXR, the famous classical music radio station in New York City. “Enjoy the sounds of orchestras, choirs, brass ensembles and more as we celebrate the sacred and secular sounds of the season.” I have it on as background music almost every day at this time of year. Won’t you join me? 📻

❡ Olden times and ancient rhymes: What did the Christmas season sound like a hundred years ago and more? Find out from this wonderful collection of historic recordings of American Christmas music, brought together by the Library of Congress. 🎄

❡ Lift every voice: This is one of our occasional posts on Homeschool Arts & Music. Add your name to our weekly mailing list and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🗞

❡ Become a Friend! If you enjoy the educational materials we distribute each week, please support our work and the noble cause of homeschooling by becoming a Friend of the River Houses! Your support keeps us going and growing! 😊

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related Posts:

  • 🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH 2022 is Here! Good Morrow, Masters All!🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH 2022 is Here! Good Morrow, Masters All!
  • 🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Introducing Vince Guaraldi🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Introducing Vince Guaraldi
  • 🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: I Wonder as I Wander🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: I Wonder as I Wander
  • 🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Sussex Mummers’ Carol🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Sussex Mummers’ Carol

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!

It’s free! Your name and email address are never shared with any third parties.

CHECK YOUR INBOX (or spam folder) to confirm your subscription. Thank you! 😊

Search the River Houses

Recent Posts

  • HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS 🍝 Celebrating the Spaghetti Harvest in Switzerland
  • 🖋 ☔️ WONDERFUL WORDS: “Whan that Aprill…”
  • 🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for April
  • 🗓 ☔️ 🌸 HAPPY HOMESCHOOL APRIL from the River Houses!
  • 🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Larks and Swallows
  • 🌍 🇲🇦 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Archaeological Site of Volubilis in Morocco
  • HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS 🌸 Visit the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C.
  • 🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 26 March 2023
  • 🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Wisconsin, Mongolia, Mozambique, and More
  • 🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Crows and Jays (Part II)
  • 🖋 🌱 WONDERFUL WORDS: Nothing Gold Can Stay
  • 🌍 🇲🇩 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Struve Geodetic Arc in Moldova
  • 🎵 HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Happy Birthday Bach!
  • 🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – March 2023
  • 🗓 🌷 SPRING IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)

Post Topics

  • 🎵 Homeschool Arts & Music
  • 🔭 Homeschool Astronomy
  • 📚 Homeschool Books & Libraries
  • 💰 Homeschool Collections & Collecting
  • 📅 Homeschool Holidays & History
  • 📖 Homeschool Language & Literature
  • 🌕 Lunar Society Bulletins
  • 🗺 Homeschool Maps & Geography
  • 🏛 Homeschool Museums & Monuments
  • 🏞 Homeschool Natural History
  • 🗓 Quick Freshes for Homeschool Families
  • 🔎 Homeschool Research & News
  • 🌎 🇺🇸 Homeschool States & Countries
  • 🗓 Homeschool Terms & Calendars

Astronomy

  • American Meteor Society
    • – Fireball Reporting System
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day
  • Evening Sky Maps
  • Homeschool Astronomy (Sky & Telescope)
  • Hubble Space Telescope
    • – Learning Resources
  • NASA
    • – Asteroid Watch
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Our Solar System
    • – Spot the Station
    • – Webb Space Telescope
  • The Planets Today
    • – Light-Distance to the Planets
  • The Sky This Week (USNO)
  • Space Weather
  • Stellarium Night Sky Charts
  • Time and Date
    • – Eclipses
    • – Meteor Showers
    • – Moon Phases
    • – Seasons
  • Tonight’s Sky (hubblesite.com)
  • Virtual Planisphere

Books & Libraries

  • Baldwin Library of Children’s Literature
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • Classic Children’s Books (read.gov)
  • Folger Shakespeare Library
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Shakespeare’s Plays Online
  • HathiTrust Digital Library
  • In Our Time (BBC Podcasts)
  • New York Public Library Digital Collections
  • Project Gutenberg
  • US Library of Congress
    • – Children’s Book Selections
    • – Educator Resources
    • – LC Blogs
    • – LC Digital Collections
    • – Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
  • US National Archives
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Founders Online
    • – K–5 Resources
    • – Teaching With Documents
  • Vatican Library Digital Collections
  • WorldCat Library Catalog
    • – WorldCat Library Finder
  • World Digital Library

Museums, Parks, & Monuments

  • Art Collections Online
  • British Museum Collections Online
  • Google Arts & Culture Collections
  • Smithsonian Institution
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Smithsonian Museums
    • – Smithsonian Open Access
  • Timeline of Art History
  • US National Park Service
    • – Educator Resources
    • – National Memorials
    • – National Monuments
    • – National Parks
    • – Wild & Scenic Rivers Program
  • US National Wildlife Refuges
  • US State Parks
  • Watercolour World

Natural History

  • All About Birds (Cornell University)
    • – Bird Identification Guide
    • – eBird Online
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • BirdCast Daily Migration Maps
  • Time and Date
    • – Seasons
  • UC Museum of Paleontology
    • – Educator Resources
  • US Fish & Wildlife Service
    • – Education Programs
  • US Geological Survey
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Latest Earthquakes
  • US National Weather Service
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Nationwide Air Quality
    • – Nationwide River Conditions
    • – Wildfire and Smoke Map
  • Wild & Scenic Rivers Program

Maps & Geography

  • Antipodes Map
  • FlightAware (Planes in the Air)
  • Mapquest World Maps
  • MarineTraffic (Ships at Sea)
  • OpenStreetMap World Maps
  • Printable Blank Maps & Flags
  • Printable Outline Maps (d-maps.com)
  • River Runner
  • USGS Topographic Maps
  • World Heritage Sites (UNESCO)
    • – Educator Resources
  • Zoom Earth

Civics & Social Science

  • Bill of Rights Institute
  • Constitution Center
  • C-Span Classroom
  • Free Speech Curriculum from FIRE
  • Foundation for Economic Education
  • History of the Western World (I)
    • – Western World (II)
  • iCivics.org
  • Learn Liberty
  • Mises Institute Economics
  • MyMoney.gov
    • – Educator Resources
  • Online Library of Liberty
  • US Founding Documents
  • US Government Portal
    • – The Congress
    • – The Supreme Court
    • – The White House
  • US Mint
    • – Coin Activities for Kids
    • – Educator Resources
  • US Postal Museum
    • – Explore the Collections
    • – Activities for Kids
    • – Stamps Teach (from APS)
  • Visual Capitalist
Sign up for our free newsletter and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox every week!

All original content © 2017–2023 by The River Houses · The River Houses and the River Houses emblem are Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.