Christmas music: the age-old tradition that has been around since the days of carols and hymns. There is always heavy debate over the best Christmas music, as well as when people should start listening to Christmas songs. With the growing marketing sensationalism, Christmas seems to be getting earlier and earlier every year. However, the commercialized pop music we associate with Christmas today is not how it originally started.

“Many classic pieces of Christmas music come originally from England and Germany, like with the use of hymns in the Church of England,” said Aaron Kohrs, a choir teacher at MHS, “The Chamber Singer choir is actually performing a chorale at the winter concert this year that is from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, one of the earliest examples of Christmas music.”

When asked what music he likes to listen to, Kohrs answered, “I like the classic Christmas music, especially the choral pieces. I’m just not a fan of the popular commercial music.

Kohrs usually starts listening to Christmas music around November, but he sometimes starts listening even earlier when picking out pieces for his students at their Winter Concert.

Students at Minnetonka have many different opinions on Christmas music. 

“I’ll listen to literally any holiday music,” said Anna Rosen, ‘25, “It just makes me happy. I’ll start listening to Christmas music at the beginning of November.”

Parker Lacey, ‘25, said, “I like Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande’s ‘Last Christmas’. I’ll listen to them right after Halloween.” 

“I like the John Renter Christmas album,” said Katie Garner, ‘23, “I start listening to it after Thanksgiving.” 

Despite the many different opinions on Christmas music, everyone can agree the holiday season is a wondrous time where even the stingiest Scrooge can’t help but to sing along.