Janie Thompson - Founder of BYU Program Bureau, Young Ambassadors, and the Lamanite Generation When singing the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," the members of my family might suddenly break into a surprising finish. You see, we grew up singing a Janie Thompson arrangement of that song. That means, it had a "Janie Ending." When you are lucky enough to grow up in a performing family, you really can't sing any song straight. It's gotta have all of the right stuff including the flashy ending!
What is a "Janie Ending" you ask? Well, growing up, I just knew that whenever my aunt Janie taught us a song to sing, it was so much more fun than the regular version we might sing in school or hear on the radio. Janie made a song magical. The songs always included a memorable ending, usually jazzy or flashy, or big or just awesome.
(No, we didn't always use jazz hands! ... Ok, sometimes we just had to! )
It wasn't until much later in my life that I learned that a "Janie Ending" had an actual Musical term: TAG ENDING. It really just meant that some musical ideas included in the song were extended or repeated with flourish to create a memorable finish. I learned that composers and arrangers commonly used them. That made sense to me and also gave me a few frustrations.
That's when I learned that the published version of a song will undoubtedly NOT include the fancy fun stuff that I expected, including a TAG ENDING. And the songs were regularly simplified for the piano and put in un-singable keys. So frustrating!
In her younger years, Janie, also, was frustrated that the printed piano music of songs she heard played on the radio were never anything like what she actually heard on the radio. She would listen intently over and over to the songs so she could replicate the "real" versions to accompany herself and others as they sang. This helped her become very skilled at playing for herself to sing. Later, she used those skills to create her own arrangements of popular songs. And true to form, she created many memorable TAG ENDINGS.
You may call them TAG ENDINGS, but we still call them "Janie Endings."
Here is another song with a jazzy "Janie Ending" Jingle Bells.
What is a "Janie Ending" you ask? Well, growing up, I just knew that whenever my aunt Janie taught us a song to sing, it was so much more fun than the regular version we might sing in school or hear on the radio. Janie made a song magical. The songs always included a memorable ending, usually jazzy or flashy, or big or just awesome.
(No, we didn't always use jazz hands! ... Ok, sometimes we just had to! )
It wasn't until much later in my life that I learned that a "Janie Ending" had an actual Musical term: TAG ENDING. It really just meant that some musical ideas included in the song were extended or repeated with flourish to create a memorable finish. I learned that composers and arrangers commonly used them. That made sense to me and also gave me a few frustrations.
That's when I learned that the published version of a song will undoubtedly NOT include the fancy fun stuff that I expected, including a TAG ENDING. And the songs were regularly simplified for the piano and put in un-singable keys. So frustrating!
In her younger years, Janie, also, was frustrated that the printed piano music of songs she heard played on the radio were never anything like what she actually heard on the radio. She would listen intently over and over to the songs so she could replicate the "real" versions to accompany herself and others as they sang. This helped her become very skilled at playing for herself to sing. Later, she used those skills to create her own arrangements of popular songs. And true to form, she created many memorable TAG ENDINGS.
You may call them TAG ENDINGS, but we still call them "Janie Endings."
Here is another song with a jazzy "Janie Ending" Jingle Bells.
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