Forget Christmas carols, check out these haunting Halloween carols

October 15, 12:37 PMEarly Childhood Parenting ExaminerAngele Sionna

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Treat your kids to some ear candy this Halloween with some classically haunting original music from organist Kristen Lawrence. She took the idea of Christmas carols and brought them to her favorite holiday: Halloween. I asked Kristen about her unique music (which you can listen to on her website HalloweenOrgan.com)...

Examiner: Why a Halloween album?

Kristen: Halloween is what I do! I’ve always been enchanted with this holiday and about 10 years ago I decided to study its history with the intent to write music about it. So far, I have written about 60 carols. A Broom With A View is the second release from my collection and I will continue releasing more albums.

Examiner: What do you hope to accomplish/inspire with this music?

Kristen: In my Halloween history studies, I saw a gap in “autumnal musical literature,” as I call it. Christmas has a rich tradition of music for its season (with some carols that have lasted centuries), but Halloween, even with its own rich history, has nothing like that. October is a beautiful month and deserves a tradition of celebratory music. I hope my carols also last centuries and add to the intrigue and rapture of October and Halloween.

Examiner: How would you describe your music?

Kristen: I suppose it’s a bit like the Frankenstein monster: an old heart with new electricity running through it. My music sounds like several centuries served on the same plate. Medieval plainchant, Renaissance folk tunes, Baroque counterpoint, Viennese waltzes, all the way up to modern day rock and metal.

Examiner: What's the inspiration behind it?

Kristen: Dark chocolate, peanut butter, and really good cheese. And freshly made bread. And apple cider – the kind that is so real and rich, it’s opaque. Pumpkin soup and pumpkin cookies. Autumn’s flavors and sights inspire me. The lower angle of the sun and all the surreal feelings in the cool, crisp air. The colored leaves and tree branches. The history of people’s views toward death. Centuries of traditions concerning the Dark Half of the year. I love it all. It fuels my fire.

Examiner: Tell me about your musical background.

Kristen: I have a bachelors degree in Organ Performance and Pedagogy. I’ve taught organ, piano, and theory lessons. I’ve played for weddings, funerals, church services, choral performances, and other concerts. Last year I played with the Pacific Symphony in their “Halloween Spooktacular.”

Examiner: You love Halloween, so what's your favorite part?

Kristen: I think it’s the feeling in the night sky that I like best. When I trick-or-treated, I always sensed something different and delicious in the air. It’s unmistakable, but I still can’t put the right words together to describe it. It’s probably the same feeling that other souls have sensed for years and years on this same night.

Examiner: Suggestions for using your music this Halloween?

Kristen: I’d say use it in October in a similar way that we use Christmas carols in December. Play it everywhere throughout the whole season – at home, in the car, at festivals, in malls. In pumpkin patches and costume shops. At parties and feasts. I hope people catch themselves humming the tunes. I hope trick-or-treaters sing them for fun. If small children can sing a difficult line like, “Gloria! In excelsis Deo” at Christmas time, they can certainly handle my tunes.

Examiner: Anything else you'd like to add?

Kristen: Listen for my cat – Molly Macabre the Halloween Cat – as a featured “vocalist” in my song, “Cats In The Catacombs.” 

*photo of Kristen by photographer Jefra Starr Linn*