Hi Marge ! (Marje? How do you spell that?)........
In 1994 I recorded a "Christmas album" as a gift for family and friends.
I have continued giving out copies of my Christmas
music each year to new friends I've met along the way.
In 2000, I was finally able to make the recording available as a CD.
Due to copyright restrictions, however, I was not able to make it publicly available until recently. I have made several of my
original and public domain full length versions of songs from the
"Me and My Drum" CD
available here for free sampling
or downloading in the MP3 format.
I hope you enjoy my Christmas music ...........
"I have no gift that's fit to bring."
"Shall I play for You?".............
Listen to a low quality sample
High quality sample or download
Listen to a low quality sample
High quality sample or download
Listen to a low quality sample
High quality sample or download
Listen to a low quality sample
High quality sample or download
You can listen to samples of four of the above listed songs directly off the internet as low fidelity audio files.
If you have a relatively new computer, your default player should already be able to do this.
For Windows users, simply click on one of the "Windows Media" song icons above.
You will need to have "Flash Player" installed on your computer to access the higher quality sample and file download.
If you have an older computer that doesn't seem to recognize MP3 files when you
double click them, you may need to
download the latest version of
Windows Media Player,
or
Winamp Player. (Both downloads are "free".)
I did some searching for
"New Christmas Music"
on the internet. I must admit, I found that the "old favorites" were much
easier to come by. There's something about the Christmas season which has us wanting to
hear something old and familiar.
Like the smell of a freshly cut Christmas tree,
the sound of an old familiar carol, such as
"Joy to the World",
"The First Noel",
or
"O Little Town Of Bethlehem",
can transport us back to an earlier
time and place. Perhaps, for most of us, we remember
those days as a "simpler" time.
Perhaps, as a child, we were awaiting that perfect gift on Christmas morning.
Perhaps, slightly older, we were excited about that original Christmas gift we had just fashioned with our own hands,
realizing for the first time, that the "really perfect gift" doesn't necessarily have to come from a department store.
In writing an original Christmas song, I realize that this is indeed a Christmas gift for all.
The
"Unaccepted Gift"
is a special song written as a "special gift".
It is a Christmas gift written about an even greater "Christmas Gift", ...........
the Christ-child whose birth inspired the angelic choirs to sing very early on that first Christmas morning.
Ever since, mortal songwriters have tried in vain to match that "first Christmas song".
The story of "His" birth has been passed along from one old Christmas carol to the next.
I know that most have already heard
the story before.
Some of the contemporary Christmas songs seemed to have wandered off the track a bit.
(Including some of
mine.) So once more another Christmas song has been written.
A great "Gift" is being offered through that old Christmas story.
One more time, I will attempt to pass that "Gift" along to others.
There's enough there for all to share.
Even though the writing
was started more than two thousand years ago,
the story is not yet finished. Some thought the story might end at Easter.
They were wrong.
We each had our own reasons for not accepting the "Gift" in the past.
Perhaps this might finally be the song. Perhaps this might finally be the time.
But there is still a
"New Song"
which has yet to be written...........
Perhaps it's finally time for "you" to play "your part" in the "Great Story".
If you type the words
"Christmas Music"
into your favorite search engine, you will probably find a great internet site called
"Songs of Praise"
appearing near the top of the search list.
I am very pleased to have my
"Unaccepted Gift"
song included in
their list of
"New Christmas Music".
Here you will find a selection of
"Original Christmas Songs"
and plays written by
Christian artists from around the world. You can sample this Christian Christmas music (midi/mp3) by clicking
here
A
lyric sheet,
guitar chord/ lyric sheet, and a
Midi version are also available for
"The Unaccepted Gift"
song.
This song is now being made freely available through the
"ShareSong.org"
website, for any churches or religious organizations
wishing to use my song as a part of their religious services. Click
here
to check out hundreds of "royalty free" Christian songs at
"ShareSong.org" (including "mine") available as free downloads for your use.
Many thanks go out to
Rhesa Siregar
of Indonesia for creating the excellent
"midi sequence" of "The Unaccepted Gift" song.
If you heard music when you opened this page,
that's what you were hearing. (Not all browsers support embedded music.)
Feel free to sample songs from his new instrumental Christmas music CD,
"More Than A Child",
or check out his personal website
here
"The Unaccepted Gift" Midi File (Instrumental Version). Clicking the above link should manually start the midi version of
"The Unaccepted Gift"
song playing on your own computer's
midi player. (If it didn't start automatically when you first arrived at my page.)
If you'd like to keep a copy of this free midi
music file, you're welcome to do so. Try "right clicking" on the above link, and selecting
"Save Target/Link As" from the pop-up menu.
Thanks to
Johan Komrij
from the Netherlands for embedding the words into the above midi file.
If you're the type who likes to sing along, this file should now be compatible with most Karaoke players as well.
(You can download a free karaoke player here.)
A
lyric sheet
is now also available for the "Ya You Betcha Christmas" song.
Click here
to download this file.
Thanks go out to Ai-chen Lee, of Taiwan, for inspiring me to finally type out the words,
and make this song more "understandable"
for those students around the world learning English as a second language.
I hope this will help.
After listening to the news reports lately,
I get the impression that many people think that there is something "inherently illegal"
about MP3 music files. This is definitely "NOT TRUE".
MP3 file compression
is just one more file format which allows music/sound files to be made into
a much smaller file size,
with minimal loss in audio quality.
The "illegal file sharing" aspect you've been hearing about is when someone takes music
"copyrighted by others", such as a
commercial CD purchased at the music store,
makes a MP3 compressed version of a song, and then shares this file with
others via the internet.
The "illegality" is based on the "copyrighted content", not on the file format.
If an independent artist "chooses" to make "their own" music available to others on the internet in the MP3 format,
this is perfectly legal, since it is the choice of the "copyright holder".
"Public Domain Music"
is music which is "so old" that there is no one living still claiming
copyrights on this music.
(There are many public domain Christmas songs out there, such as
"Oh Come All Ye Faithful".)
By definition,
"Public Domain Music"
may be used by anyone for any purpose.
You own these songs as much as I do.
Recording artists will often add this "free Christmas music" to their albums of "original Christmas music",
since they aren't required to pay any royalty fees on these songs.
The songs linked to on this page, and their associated MP3 files are perfectly "free and legal"
for you to download for your
own personal or non-profit use, because "I", the copyright holder, said they are.
There are thousands of other "legal" MP3 music files made
available online as free downloads.
Here are links to "my pages" at several such sites,
music.download.com, and
SoundClick.com.
If you'd care to sample music from a more diversified group,
SoundLift.com
is based in "Germany".
I share this site with international artists from all over the world.
The song files at all these sites are "intentionally" made
available "free of charge" by the independent artists who wrote them. Help yourself !
The songs linked above are "free" for personal or non-profit use.
(These songs are also
"PodSafe".)
"Not available for sale anywhere!"
If you would like additional information about the
"Me and My Drum" CD,
or would like to sample other tracks from my CD's,
check out the "MLR Studios" page
here.
I welcome your comments.
Last updated on July 7th, 2008
A production of
"MLR Studios"
(My Living Room)
"Compensating For Talent With Technology"
The "Fine Print": Whether you had spelled my name "Gary Sundblad", "Gary Sunblad", "Gary Sundbald", "garysundblad", "garysunblad",
or whether you might possibly be searching for "new free Christmas music MP3 download", "Christmas carols", "Christmas songs",
"Christmas MP3", "Me and My Drum", "The Unaccepted Gift", "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", "O Come All Ye Faithful",
"Ya You Betcha Christmas", "Christian Christmas music", or "Ashbin and Kardor the singing groundhogs",
I placed this sentence here in hopes that the search engines might just help you find me more easily.
"Discovery consists of seeing what others have seen, and thinking what nobody has thought."
No, Linda Sundblad, of the popular Swedish rock band Lambretta, is not my sister.
If asked "Have you lived here all your life?", you should say "No, not yet."
Sometimes it pays to read the fineprint. Sometimes it's like today.
So, has anyone found that top off my Christmas tree yet?
"Time flies like the wind ! Fruit flies like bananas !"
"Expect nothing and you'll not be disappointed."
I think that should about do it for now.
Thanks for stopping by today.
I'll get to my "point".
Merry Christmas !
Get it yet?
Here
tis
!
|
(The drummer always keeps time.)
Visitors since Sept 24th, 2003
