1. I work at a daycare centre, and every day the three to five year olds are practicing, practicing, to memorize the words to their big song. Most of them know the chorus, and they *all* know the shouted "HEY!" at the end of it. The first line of the verse is pretty good, but we slack off badly from then on. By the time we get to the second verse, and the part about Miss Fanny Bright, only the teacher is still singing. Which very popular song are we working on? Answer: (Two Words)

2. At home, eleven year old Agatha is working on one of her carols for the Junior Choir. It's a difficult piece for a young singer, as the first word of the chorus is drawn out to 4 measures (as best I can count, I'm trying to get the dishes done while I listen), without a pause for breath. Which song is this? Joy to the World Angels we Have Heard on High Silent Night Hark the Herald Angels Sing

3. Down the hall, little six year old Angela is working on her song for the school concert. The first graders in our school always do a nice Gospel-sounding song that the teacher learned from a Raffi album, called "There Was a Little Baby". Lots of actions, not too many words, just perfect for the little ones. Can you fill in the missing word, from the first verse? "There was a little baby, oh my Lord There was a little baby, oh my Lord, There was a little baby, oh my Lord, Way down in _________ Way down in _________." Nazareth the cellar my soul Bethlehem

4. A few nights later, fifteen year old Alice is storming around the living room, waving her flute in the air and narrowly missing the cat, who is perched on top of the bookcase. "I mean, it's like, insane, we're not good enough to play this! But Mrs Seymour just says 'Oh, you'll just have to practice' like we aren't already practicing until we're, like, almost dead or something! It's too hard even if it was in 4/4 time instead of insanely insane 9/8. Listen to how horrible it sounds." I listen, and seem to recognize a melody that I've also heard at weddings, though there it was much slower. "She says the guy who wrote it is like some famous composer of church music, but the title is like totally perverted. Can't I just be sick that night?" Who is generally thought to be the composer of this well known piece, that the band will be playing? Johann Strauss J S Bach Frédéric Chopin Franz Liszt

5. I get a phone call from eighteen year old Andy, who is off in the big city, for his first year of University. The University concert band is having its Christmas concert this weekend, would I like to come in and hear them? I suspect that Andy is missing playing music - this is the first year since he was a very little boy that he's not performing in a Christmas concert himself. "Having" to take his old mom to a concert would be a great excuse. I happily accept (after all, I have some shopping to do in the city anyway) and am delighted to see, when we get to the concert, that the band includes a euphonium. What IS a euphonium? a brass instrument, something like a small tuba a keyboard instrument, something like a vertical xylophone a kind of tubular bell an electronic instrument that is played without touching it

6. It's the first concert of the season at home, the community Festival of Carols. The churches, the fraternal organizations, the old folks' homes, a few workplaces, even the sergeants' mess, all send their choirs, large or small, to sing two pieces. Events of this type have their traditions, and one here is that at least half of the choirs will always end up doing the same song (inadvertently, I hope!). This year it's a carol that works very well in this a cappella situation, with the repeated lines: "Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas" Apparently this carol has a Ukrainian background, which fits well here, as so do most of the audience and performers. What is it? Oh Holy Night The First Nowell Carol of the Bells Oh Come all ye Faithful

7. Alice has been practicing hard, and her concert pieces are starting to be easily recognizable. She's still feeling bitter, though (she's fifteen, remember) and is busily downloading onto her iPod all the angry and disillusioned Christmas music she can find. She's even including some ancient (1970s) songs - in honour of her parents, I guess. "So I found the one sung by that guy with the really bad teeth, and what's that other song, about Christmas in prison? You know, the one where they have turkey and pistols carved out of wood? Who does that one?" So, who does that one? I'll give you a hint, he's very well known in the Folk Music world. Dave Brubeck Chet Baker John Prine Chick Corea

8. It's the night of Angela and Agatha's school concert - sparkly hair clips and velvet dresses everywhere. Angela's class's two songs go off without a hitch (there's Miss Fanny Bright, again) but Agatha is worried. She not only has to sing as part of the Junior Choir, but also with her class, and they haven't been practicing much. At the last minute, the teacher decided that they would sing "Silent Night" in several different languages, and Angela isn't sure she has the pronunciation right for her part. What language is she singing in? "Bianco Natal, Santo Natal! Tutti qua dormin già, sol Maria veglia ancor, un piccino si stringe al cor. Dormi Gesù bambino Dormi bimbo divin." Italian Basque Spanish Romanian

9. Less than a week until Christmas, and we're all off for a sleigh ride. Even Andy, who got home for the holidays yesterday, is coming along (maybe he's been a little more homesick than he admitted?). There's a pretty good crowd, the adults in the sleigh sipping cider or hot chocolate, and the kids throwing each other off and running along behind. We start to sing a carol that's great for a group, as long as one person knows the words - everyone else just follows along, more or less. It's one that is often parodied, and I'm ashamed to admit that right now, we're singing the Bob and Doug MacKenzie version ("six packs of two-four"). What's the name of the song? I Saw Three Ships Mary's Boy Child Adeste Fideles The Twelve Days of Christmas

10. It's finally Christmas Eve, and we're all sitting around the tree, singing. I can see we'll be losing the teens, soon - video games are calling - so I propose one last all-inclusive carol. We do this one every year, and everyone gets their part. "Ok, Angela, you're the night wind. Agatha, shepherd boy. Alice, you can be the little lamb...fine, then, Angela will be the little lamb, you can be the night wind. Andy, mighty king. Ready? Let's go!" And off we straggle, in (sorta) harmony. The question? What carol is this? When A Child Is Born The Animal's Christmas Do You Hear What I Hear? I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day