The March of the Silver and Gold

One of the key practices of soundtrack composers which I have never had the chance to play with is modal transformation: the idea that you can modify a melody and it's companion harmony to match a new mode and in so doing, change the emotional or narrative meaning of the original work. Fans of Alton Brown's Good Eats know exactly what I'm talking about: every commercial segment on that show featured another slightly modified version of the song to match the action on the screen.

Christmas seemed like the perfect opportunity to address this skills gap: the holiday is filled with popular carol tunes which can be readily recognized, all you need to do is add the transforming magic. Last year, I did a bit of composition, and this is starting to become a tradition. 

So the question was which song to choose? Burl Ives is kind of my totem for Christmas vibes my entire life. When I was very young, I remember the excitement of Christmas decorations coming out of the attic was always amplified when my mother's tiny box of Christmas singles on 45rpm albums. One of the biggest features of that collection? Burl Ives. 

Also Elvis Presley. But I'm going to choose to set that aside for now. 

Silver and Gold is a pretty typical choice from Burl: it's a triplet time, major key, happy song with a message of humility and non-materialism. A distilled essence of the holiday if ever there was one. It has the sound of something ancient and British, but is yet another product of the American post-war exuberance for all things Christmas.