For many, the holidays aren’t the holidays without music, from spiritual hymns to Santa tunes. Jim Borling talks about why music just feels right during this time of year. Plus: A music video by the all female a-cappela group Note-oriety went viral and amplified their efforts to challenge the social pressures that were crippling their classmates. Also: Singer and accordionist Flory Jagoda is known as “the keeper of the flame” of the once rich Sephardic Jewish song tradition. Flory sings songs she learned from her Nona–or grandmother–as a child in pre-WWII Sarajevo. Her accordion also helped her escape the holocaust as a young girl. And: John Brodie is working tirelessly with the VMI Regimental Band and Pipes for their performance in the Tournament of the Roses Parade through Pasadena. The big question is: Will the little band with bagpipes make the tricky 110-degree wheel turn?

Later in the show: Poet Tim Siebles ethnomusicologist Ann Rasmussen conductor John Guthmiller and vocalist Lisa Edwards-Burrs share their favorite songs and why the music resonates with them this time of year.