Choice Songs
Choice song notes Title: ‘Fields of Athenry’
Composer- Pete St John Category: Historical and Modern Ballads Type: Love song and lament Key: F major Time: 4/4 time Form: ABC (verse) DEB’C (chorus) Features: Ornamentation, Syncopation, Dotted rhythm, tied notes. |
CHOICE SONG- Swing low sweet chariot
Category: Popular songs, Negro Spirituals, Jazz and Blues songs Time Signature: C Common time Form: A A1 B A2 Type: Negro Spiritual- This was a song sung by slaves on the cotton plantations in America. Features: Triadic melody and repeated notes Syncopation and dotted rhythm Call and response- feature of gospel music |
Category- Songs with Descants, Ostinati, Simple two-part songs, rounds and canons
Title: Calypso - Jan Holdstock Background info: This is a 12 bar exact canon in three parts. One voice begins and the others enter at a certain distance creating a polyphonic texture. This canon has an ostinato in the accompaniment. An ostinato is a repeating melody or accompaniment throughout a piece Tonality-Major Mood- Reverent and full of anguish Tempo- Allegretto Form-ABC Melodic Features: Range of a 9th, ,Repeated notes Rhythmic Features: Repeating rhythms in each phrase. Syncopation- where the emphasis is placed on the weak or half beat. |
Chosen songs notes – CATEGORY- CHURCH MUSIC AND CAROLS
Title: Away in a manger Composer- W.J. Kirkpatrick (1838-1921) Background info- The music of this hymn originates in America as a cradle song by a gospel song composer. Type: Carol and Cradle song Key- F major Time- ¾ time Form: ABAB’ Features: Range (9th). Repeated notes, simple rhythm (crochets and quavers), simple form ABAB’ |
Irish folk songs- ‘She moved through the fair’
Category: Irish folk songs Composer: Unknown Background info: Herbert Hughes collected this melody in County Donegal in 1909. The lyrics are from a poem by Padraic Colum. Features: Ornamentation, Flattened 7th, Repeated note at the end. Form: ABBAFolk Songs from other countries- ‘Banana Boat Song’Composer: Unknown Features: Call and response, repeated notes, triplets Form: Verse and Chorus |
Songs from musicals
Title: We go together from the musical Grease (1978) Lyrics and Music by: Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs Background info: set in the late 1950s at the height of the rock and roll scene. Tonality: Major Metre: 2- split common time -2 minim beats in a bar Features: Repeated notes in the melody, a syncopated rhythm and nonsense lyrics. |
Folk Songs from other countries- ‘Banana Boat Song
Category:Folk songs from another country Origin: Jamaica Composer: Unknown- Made famous by Harry Belafonte Features: Call and response, repeated notes, Rhythmic features: Syncopation and triplets Form: Verse and Chorus |