Sugarplums

 What is it with Christmas and The Nutcracker Suite?

 ABC Classic FM is one of my radio stations of choice when I’m at the office. It’s good to drown out all the conversations around me – some of which are rather loud – others have information I wish I didn’t know. And then there's the drone of the Christmas carols over the tannoy. Thankfully today they had some banal music, which a colleague referred to as bad Hillsong pseudo-rock. 

ABC Classic FM it is. 

And what comes on today just before lunch? The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy. 

Thanks, Tchaikovsky. 

What is it with the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy? Why does it get played at Christmas? Why do I have visions of five-year-old girls, in baggy tights standing on their tip toes, their sagging tutus bunching around their knees, grouped on the stage of a local hall, the drapes across the proscenium arch looking battered and dusty, the smell of furniture polish and sweat hitting the nostrils of the anxious parents sitting the in gallery, waiting and watching for their little pride and joy demonstrate the alleged poise the weekly, expensive ballet classes provide. Something you can't wait to see. Sure. 

Or you get firemen showing what they can do to this Christmas staple. 

I remember going to the full ballet of the Nutcracker Suite about 20 years ago. It was at the Myer Music Bowl. It rained. It was performed by one of the local elite ballet schools and it wasn't that bad. Well, it was a lot better than your niece or nephew's end-of-year dance concert. 

The next thing that came to mind. Just what exactly is a sugarplum? I had no idea. Is it like a Damson plum? Or a Davison plum? Or a prune?

Turns out it's something akin to a boiled sweet or a rum ball - depending on who you listen to. You learn something new everyday. 

Hearing this set Christmas piece, I had a smile, and a laugh, and finally left my computer to go to the bathroom and get a cup of tea. When I came back the station was playing a plethora of South Sea Island classics, mostly in Maori, with a lot of strange harmonic vocals which acted well as brown noise. 

You take your wins where you can.

Today's song: