What is it about Christmas music that immediately gets us in the mood for December festivities? All it takes is one ring of that familiar–almost undefinable–sonic quality, and nostalgia and wonder set in. So, what is it about Christmas music that makes it sound so…Christmassy? There are some obvious answers and others that we all feel, but rarely put a name to.
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Lyrics
The most obvious answer is, of course, the lyrics. One mention of Santa and you’ve got yourself a Christmas song, technically. At that point, it doesn’t much matter what instrumentation you use. As long as you mention some trademark holiday fare, you’re pretty much in the clear.
Many holiday songs are pretty explicit in their mention of Santa, Christmas trees, Rudolph, and other icons of the holiday. However, some of the songs we’ve deemed Christmas tunes don’t mention Christmas at all. So how did those songs get included in the caroler’s repertoire?
Many of those songs mention things that are exclusive to the colder months–i.e. sleighing, snow, cozying up by the fire, spending time with loved ones. As humans, we tend to link like things together. Since Christmas happens in December, we loop songs about reveling in cold weather fun in with our Christmas fanfare. Find five songs that aren’t really Christmas songs, but we’ve come to think of them as such, below.
[RELATED: 5 Christmas Songs That Were Never Written About Christmas]
Melody, Tempo, and Production
While the lyrics are the most obvious answer to this question, there is something deeper happening with Christmas music. You could listen to an instrumental of a Christmas song–it doesn’t have to be a well-known one–and you’d likely know what holiday it belongs to.
A Berklee musicology, Joe Bennett, found in 2017 that all Christmas songs had a few shared characteristics. He found that 95 percent of our Christmas classics were in a major key (which gives them a happy connotation) and 90 percent were in 4/4 time (which gives them a jubilant swing). These two seemingly simple musical affinities are hardwired in us to elicit something warm and fuzzy.
On top of that baseline, many Christmas songs include jingle bells. One of the most famous Christmas songs of all time, “Jingle Bells,” of course, makes use of that instrument. Given that the song wasn’t originally intended to be a Christmas song, it’s not a leap to suggest that the song’s fame pushed more songwriters to include the same jangly rhythm of bells in their own Christmas songs.
Another throughline in Christmas music seems to be lush harmonies. A chorus of people singing together has always excited us. From the religious experience of hearing a gospel choir sing in unison to a musician stepping away from the microphone to hear their crowd sing back to them, something about a collective voice is enticing. While not every Christmas song features a robust harmony line, many classic carols do. Maybe it’s the timelessness of a chorus or the nostalgia for past decades, either way adding in several vocal lines seems to be on the quick draw for anyone wanting to craft a compelling Christmas song.
All of these things bottle up the essence of child-like awe. They immediately put us in the right frame of mind to start accepting the magic of the holidays.
(Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Caruso)
