Do You Hear What I Hear performed by Rich and Lauri Henninger

Our 4th Christmas song in a tradition that began in 2020 in memory of my mother, a devoted Christian woman, who left this world just before midnight on Christmas Eve 2018. This is my unique guitar and flute arrangement for the song 'Do You Hear What I Hear' in the key of C. As with all of my Christmas songs, this one includes my wife Lauri on the flute. It was recorded in our home studio over several days in mid-December 2023.

The Recording:
The song was recorded on 10 tracks (2 Acoustic Guitar, 1 Bass, 1 Flute, 1 strings, 1 Keyboards (Fender Rhodes sound), 2 Vocals, 1 choir (midi), and a Tingling Bell effect (intro). I recorded all of the music before recording any vocals. I wasn't feeling a vocal harmony so I decided to just double-track the lead vocal about halfway into the song to give the vocals more depth. The first verse begins with just a guitar and one vocal. As I moved through the song I gradually added in more instrumentation, a fairly standard technique in music production. For the outro, I went all in with the choir and it resulted in a heavenly sonic experience with the Rhodes keyboard arpeggio and slow strings coloring the background. The flute adds interest throughout the song, at times serving as a reply during the chorus, and other times supporting the melody. It is probably overall one of my most complex arrangements to date. No AI was used in the production of the music or video.

The History of Do You Hear What I Hear:
Do You Hear What I Hear was written in 1962 by husband and wife Noel Regney (1922-2002), who wrote the lyrics, and Gloria Shayne Baker (1923-2008), who wrote the music. They wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It should be noted that the duo reversed roles for this song. In most of their efforts, Regney wrote the music and Shayne-Baker wrote the lyrics.

Regney was invited to write a Christmas song by a record producer. He wrestled with the idea since he felt Christmas had already become too commercialized, a sentiment I share and why I only do Christmas songs with nativity theme. The pair decided to do the song but only if it was centered around the nativity. At the time they wrote it, the world was on the brink of nuclear war and so they felt compelled to include a message of peace, hence the line “pray for peace people everywhere”. Regney said it was difficult for them to perform the song as they would become very emotional. Given how volatile the world is presently I thought the choice to do this song this year was very appropriate.

The song has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists. For additional info on this great song read the Wikipedia article linked in the sources below.

As with last year's Christmas song, 'O Holy Night' (   • O Holy Night performed by Rich and La...  ), I scattered some classic Christmas art throughout the video.

For my mother in heaven.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_You_...
https://www.wikiart.org/