The KIT 'n' Kaboodle Blog

 Come close and listen,
    all you who honor God;
    I will tell you what God has done for me:
Psalm 66:15 (Common English Bible)
Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries
  • Welcome
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Our Ensemble
    • Our Dream
    • A.C.T. Intl
    • Photo Gallery
    • Video Highlights
  • Theater
    • Online
    • Historical
    • Holidays
    • Outreach
    • Unshackled
  • Worship
    • Spoken
    • Music
    • Vikki J. Myers
    • Chos3n
    • Instrumentalists
  • Training
    • Performance
    • Leadership
    • Communications
  • Give
    • Partnering
    • Booking
    • Testimonials
  • Connect
    • Networking
  • Resources
    • Music & Audiobooks
    • KIT-n-Kaboodle Blog
    • Prayer
    • Postcards

The 'Carol Story' Story

12/6/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
This is the first in a series of essays about “Carol Story" a 10-minute  play  that tells the story of Christ solely through lyrics of Christmas songs as dialogue.  Learn More.
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.
​-- Psalm 101:2 (King James Version)
by Michael Edgar Myers
Founding Artistic Director
​
There  has been much conversation lately about the meaning of some songs associated with the Christmas season.  That is, they are songs generally sung during the Thanksgiving and New Year's holidays then not heard for another 12 months.

Without offering a viewpoint on a particular song, yes, it is good to frequently examine what we sing and what we say. Scripture reminds us to do so, especially teachings (2 Peter 2:1), spirits (1 John 4:1) and ourselves(2 Corinthians 13:5).  Re-examination not only yields growth, it also deepens discoveries that yield fruit.  Those who lead music for Christian services of worship are regularly challenged to test the lyrics of newer songs for theological accuracy as well as singability.
At the same time, we must often revisit beloved "traditional" songs to make certain we know what we're saying, and not just singing songs because "it's my favorite." It's important to grasp the intent of the author or the rationale behind the song.  This is, perhaps, a reason for some of the conversations about holiday music outside of church circles today.

Over a decade ago, Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries took such a musical journey, looking afresh at the lyrics and origins of songs associated with Christmas. We discovered fascinating and cathartic messages.  This discovery enabled us to create a one-act play, "Carol Story," that consists solely of the lyrics of Christmas carols spoken as dialogue.
I'm not sure when the idea came to mind, or how long we've been performing the piece.  As with many of our scripts, the spark was a request to do a scene for a Christmas season program at our church. likely at the start of the century.  At the time I was  Worship Coordinator my church, a non-musical producing-directing role I'd created to merge my professional theater work with church ministry. Part of creating the scene was researching music, Scriptures and essays in the church hymnals.

(For newer church goers, a hymnal is a song book that you may see in the racks of a pew of an older church.  A hymnal may look like a bible, and feel like a bible, and a true hymnal has songs based on the bible inside.)
Church pews with hymnals.
"Carol Story" developed by reading the index of a hymnal which indicated what Scriptures inspired the songs.
I began noticing a pattern among the Christmas songs, especially the subsequent verses not heard often in holiday recordings. Exploring each verse of a Christmas song -- notably the carols --  enables a careful listener to actually hear the gospel message of Christ:  from birth to death to resurrection to second Christmas yet-to-come. 

​The script incorporated lyrics from 17 songs, performed by two actors without accompaniment.  The "musicality" was in the words.  We planned for one presentation.  The scene ran about five minutes, slightly longer than a typical choir song.  Vikki and I were concerned that we'd run too long and cut into the pastor's sermon time.

Afterwards we were asked when we'd do it again.

As requests came to present elsewhere, we needed revisions to give context to not-regular-churchgoers -- as well as veteran church people who often sang the songs because they always sang the songs.  We  added a "prologue" for context to quantify "carols" from other Christmas songs.  (Our primary qualification is that a Christmas "carol" must tell an element of the the story of Christ based in Scripture -- His birth, death, resurrection, promised return  and associated prophecies.)
​
​Expansion for context also led to tunes we'd first overlooked. We discovered other lyrics that fit our carols-life-of-Christ criteria.  Many times the inserted three or four words completed a poignant picture and strengthened the transitions between songs without adding significantly to the time. 

​What actually truncated the time and filled the transitions was our musical director, 
Garlan Garner. 
Picture
Garlan Garner, with his wife, Tracey (also a gifted pianist and vocalist) works through the unscored musical nuances of "Carol Story." 
During a rehearsal for a road trip Vikki, Garlan and I were taking, he heard us run lines of the dialogue-only script.  Garlan is an anointed, by-ear-only pianist.  Even if we wanted to include accompaniment, charts would not have benefitted him. 

​Hearing the piece read once, in our next run-through, as is his wont, Garlan began playing beneath us segueing as if the now-21-song playlist, was scored. 
​
​
​It's not Biblically correct to say adding piano was the magical touch, but for now, run with the idea.  You'll just have to see "Carol Story" live in its full 10-minute celebration.  

Full disclosure:  Of the 21 songs, one  is technically not a "carol" according to our criteria. However, we added a sequence from "The Little Drummer Boy" as dialogue when our research disclosed the author's original title was "The Carol of the Drum."

Anecdotes like story behind "The Carol of Drum" inspired us to pen brief historical essays about the carols -- how they came to be, their influence on culture, and upon musicians associated with their development or popularity.​

Researching the songs led us to tales of cultural influences, links to history, stacks of visuals, overlooked concert footage,  and music videos  that not only tell the stories behind the carols, but enhance our appreciation for the songs as performers and theater missionaries.  We've combined the stories with associated scriptures in this series of posts that complement the eclectic videos on our KIT Ministries You Tube Channel.  The stories and scriptures also begat a sequel, "Carol Story:  The Easter Edition," which employs the same conceit reprising some carols with Scriptures to more deeply connect why Christmas and Easter are connected.
Picture
​Feel free to look at the entire play list, then follow us for the daily video postings of some arrangements along with brief anecdotes. 

​We trust that through these two methods, the songs of Christmas that you sing with joy or just hear as background white noise while out and about, will have a deeper impact, a kingdom impact, to allow you to hear the Christ of Christmas at times you're least expecting.  Like, everyday.

​LEARN MORE: The Carol Story and Carol Story Easter Edition Playlist

​
​
LEARN MORE:  Resurrection in the Christmas Songs

You Tube Logo

Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries is a department of Artists in Christian Testimony Intl, a fully registered 501(c)(3) organization since 1973. ​ Please partner with us presenting the gospel by giving a donation. Your donation is completely tax-deductible, and you will receive a receipt for all your contributions for tax purposes. ​
Picture



1 Comment
Miranda Nelson link
7/3/2024 12:25:53 am

Hi nice readiing your post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    The KIT 'n' Kaboodle Blog

    The essays here are culled from our travels, conversations, worship experiences and discoveries.  

    ​Many are reprints from our newsletter, The KIT 'n' Kaboodle, or Facebook notes over time.

    ​They're written by our ensemble, Garlan Garner, Michael Edgar Myers or Vikki J. Myers -- solo, or collectively.


    Tweets by KitMinistries


    Archives

    November 2024
    June 2024
    February 2024
    December 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    November 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    December 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    July 2017
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    55 For 55
    A.C.T. Intl
    Andrea Bocelli
    An Evening With Kingdom Impact Theater
    Bausch Visuales
    Biblical Counseling
    Black History Month
    Broadway
    Cabaret
    Cami Myers
    Chicago Marathon
    Christ Centered Worship
    Christ-Centered Worship
    Christianity
    Christmas
    Christmas Carols
    College Stress
    Communion
    Connection Church
    Converge MidAmerica
    Corona Virus
    Counseling
    Divorce
    Dr. Tony Evans
    Easter
    Eddie James
    Elk Grove Village
    Faith Hope And Love
    FBC Glendarden
    Fear
    Freedom Song
    Friendship Village
    Gary Rohrmayer
    Gethesemane
    Ghost Stories
    Gospel
    Gratitude
    Halloween
    Harvard Schools Of Public Health
    I'm Every Woman
    James Dean
    Jesus Christ
    Julius Caesar
    Kingdom Impact Theater
    Leadership
    Lord's Supper
    Mahalia Jackson
    Marriage
    Mental Health
    Migrants
    Ministry Stress
    Missions
    New Testament
    Old Testament
    Pastor Darryl Jenkins
    Pastors
    Pop Music
    Prayer
    Proverbs
    Psalm 51
    Quarantine
    Racial Reconciliation
    Rebel Without A Cause
    Relationships
    Ron Kenoly
    Running
    Sandy Cove Women's Conference
    Santa
    Scripture
    Shakespeare
    Sharon Jaynes
    Southern Baptist Convention
    Spirituality
    Spirituals
    St. Jude Children's Hospital
    Stress
    Teens
    Thanksgiving
    Theapy
    The Barn
    The Five Love Languages
    Ukraine
    Vikki J Myers
    Waukegan Community Church
    Whitney Houston
    Women
    Women's History Month
    Workshops
    Worship
    Worship Music
    Yeshua

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Welcome
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Our Ensemble
    • Our Dream
    • A.C.T. Intl
    • Photo Gallery
    • Video Highlights
  • Theater
    • Online
    • Historical
    • Holidays
    • Outreach
    • Unshackled
  • Worship
    • Spoken
    • Music
    • Vikki J. Myers
    • Chos3n
    • Instrumentalists
  • Training
    • Performance
    • Leadership
    • Communications
  • Give
    • Partnering
    • Booking
    • Testimonials
  • Connect
    • Networking
  • Resources
    • Music & Audiobooks
    • KIT-n-Kaboodle Blog
    • Prayer
    • Postcards