Tuesday 20 November 2012

Deck the Halls: History of the Song and Information on Its Backing Track

'Deck the Halls' is a traditional Christmas carol and is also sung widely at New Year eve parties. Earlier, it was believed that the lyrics of this song have an American origin and was created during the late 19th century; however, later it was found that it is a part of the Welsh Melodies. Welsh Melodies comprise of 4 volumes by the celebrated Welsh harpist and composer John Thomas; the Welsh words of the song were written by John Jones and its English version has words from the Scottish musician and author Thomas Oliphant.

Today, the term 'carol' refers to a song; however, earlier carols were not songs, but dances. Accompanying tunes of carols were used for different verses having suitable features. During performances, singers used to compete with one another verse by verse. This type of dancing was protested actively by the church. As a result of the protest, the tunes that were originally used as accompaniment of the carols were separated from original dances. However, the term 'carol' was still used for those tunes.

The tune of 'Deck the Halls' was originally used in another old Welsh air. Although the tune was first discovered in John Parry Ddall’s (the well-known Welsh harpist) musical manuscript (created between 1710 and 1782), it was undoubtedly created much before that. Even today, this composition is one of the most popular dance tunes in Wales. The world witnessed the release of the Welsh version of the song in 1784 and its English version got released in 1794. However, the popular English lyrics of ‘Deck the Halls’ sung by modern-day singers are not translated from the original Welsh lyrics.

If you have plans of singing this song live at the upcoming Christmas or New Year eve party, you should begin practicing the number immediately. Practicing the song will allow you to identify the mistakes you are making while singing and eliminate them as quickly as possible. We would suggest you to download a high quality Deck the Halls backing track and Deck the Halls vocal guide to enhance the efficacy of the practice sessions. These items are available at all top backtrack store operating online. The more assuring fact is that you will not need to spend a lot of money for buying them; they are available at a combined price of less than £2.5.


The write-up is authored by a celebrated vocalist. He has been singing Christmas carols professionally since 2005. He believes that using practicing tools such Deck the Halls backing track and Deck the Halls vocal guide helps in sharpening one’s singing skills.

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