No, I’m not talking about Oxford University Press’ selection of rizz as the word of the year, stunning though that is. Rizz triumphed over Swiftie, situationship, and prompt. I hadn’t been keeping up with this category, but I observe is has been trending lame on and off for a while. Apparently Oxford is working hard to shed its old image, represented in my mind by the Bodleian Library and All Souls College, to compete on Instagram and TikTok.

The title refers to a project of my own: a selection of twelve gentle, jazz-adjacent Christmas arrangements performed on my digital approximation of a piano. I chose the pieces and learned them from January through around July, recorded them over the summer, then spent most of the fall putting them together with an audio editor.

I purposefully allowed a year, and was surprised when I actually needed most of that time. How rare for me to estimate something correctly! Of course I was doing other things, but I worked on this many days and every week. The result is far from perfect, but also I hope far from terrible; at least my husband seemed to genuinely enjoy them, though he is very good at being a husband.

I said goodby to several people these past few years, including my mother, brother, and uncle, so I’m executing most of the pieces in a slow and contemplative way. There are some upbeat numbers, but nothing remotely approaching the Chipmunks or Mariah Carey, which you may be hearing a lot lately, particularly if you work in a retail establishment, as I do. The collection includes the arrangement of Still, Still, Still played at my mother’s memorial service, and ends with a plaintive Auld Lang Syne.

This last week has been devoted to figuring out how to distribute this, and I haven’t actually got that covered yet. One easy choice is Soundcloud, so I’m putting a link to that below. I don’t think one has to be a subscriber to listen–just click on the song, not the App box. The playback fidelity will depend on your own system of course.

If any of you is willing to try it and give me feedback about the access, I would be grateful. It’s Christmas music after all, and in a few scant days everyone will be moving on, so I am planning on doing some more distribution soon. If opening this is impossible, involves a charge of any kind, or is tantamount to mastering a new app, I want to find Another Way.

Happy Holidays!

Link: https://on.soundcloud.com/WPcXr