Yanik Giroux - Stage & Studio

'Tis the season to be jolly, falalalaaaaaaa!....

Christmas carolling! I decided to get back to carolling this year and so, I had the pleasure to entertain the crowds at the Bay Centre last week. I was singing everyday around lunch time and this turned out to be an interesting eye opener and "observation lab" about singing and the Christmas traditions.

We sang for 6 days straight, from 12:30pm to 2pm, wandering around the mall, singing carols well-known to most people, and some not as well-known. I have been doing this for years, (holiday carolling is indeed part of the job when you are a singer!), but this year, I had a special interest in people-watching, about people watching us that is!

I started noticing differences in people paying attention to us or listening to us, be it about age, nationality or gender.

First of all, the age range. People over the age of 40 were definitely our biggest audience. People of that age, be it men or women would stop, take a moment in the middle of their shopping spree to listen to us and let the music in. Some would listen for 2-3 songs and go on with their shopping, all smile! Many of them talked to us, thanked us for bringing beautiful music and life in the middle of that busy holiday season. It was clear to me that they were able to appreciate our singing and were able to communicate that feeling, which was rewarding. That is what Christmas should be about, isn't it?

Then we have the 12 to 25 age group, mostly teenagers hanging out with friends at the mall or younger couples trying to figure out the last few gifts or hunting for the best outfit for Christmas parties. Nobody from that age group would stop to listen to us, unless they were with older parents or family members (sort'a forced to!). Obviously, carolling is not "cool" and is not something they should associate with or pay attention to for same reason. You would think that ignoring us would be enough, but no, making fun of us seemed needed in many cases. Some would walk by and then turn to us clearly laughing at us. Some would make fun of us by creating their own little dancing or singing act right in front of us or trying to outsing us by making..hummm some strange noises...  Unfortunately, no matter what we sang, we were not cool and not even the respect of the carolling tradition could save us. Maybe we need Bieber's "Under the Mistletow" in our repertoire next year...

Finally, for the 25 to 40 age group, I noticed that it went one way or the other. For most of them, they were simply too busy shopping to stop and listen. They'd be polite, but we were not their thing, unless they had kids with them, then it was worth taking a break to listen to us singing "Rudolph" or "Frosty". Then, I noticed quite a few single men (yes men, not women!) who would stop and listen to a few songs. For many of them, some nostalgia could be read in their face; singles from that age range seemed to be the most touched for whatever reason. Could it be part of the mid-life crisis of staying cool and young with the new things, or giving up to what's becoming most important as we age, including Christmas traditions?

This whole thing really made me think about Christmas traditions, the ones that are getting passed from generations to generations and the ones that are getting lost...

Also made me think about the Art of singing, where a "Britney wannabe" singing in a mall may not be as weird as well-trained singers demonstrating their skills and years of training in a more polished manner (because we sounded pretty awsome together!!!).

Is beautiful singing getting lost to untrained performers putting on a wicked cool show instead? Well, no matter what, I was happy to be there singing and sharing music, rather than buying into the whole Christmas shopping duty frenzy...