The Holly and the Ivy
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with that stalwart of Christmas English Choral Music, Carols for Choirs, but they have for many years provided choirs all over this country and others, with the main bulk of their Christmas rep. They contain pretty well all the well-known carols in various well-executed arrangements – most of them now classics all thanks to the very talented Sir David Willcocks, Reginald Jacques and John Rutter.
Well, they are having a go at updating the whole thing. They’ve approached various arrangers to come up with new ideas for standard carols.
We definitely got the short straw:
The Holly and the Ivy.
They asked if it could have a contemporary, funky feel to it.
Now before you continue to read on, I urge you to hum through the carol out loud or in your head.
Done it?
So now you know why we are groaning. Notice the 8 bar verse (of which the first 2 bars are pretty well identical to bars 3 & 4). Now sing the chorus. Yep, that’s right, it’s identical to the verse. Then notice that there are 5 verses (with their identical 5 chorus’s). Basically we are working with 10 lots of identical 8 bar melody. That would surely stretch anyone’s powers of imagination.
I had 3 ideas, only 2 were any good and James had 3 good ideas but that’s still only half the carol arranged. My suggestion of bunging each verse up a semitone was met with a withering stare from James. As for the contemporary, funky feel, I must point out that one man’s cool is another man’s Dad attempting to disco dance at your cousin’s wedding.
So, all suggestions gratefully received. We’ve got till the end of the month.
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david
8:54 am, September 24, 2010
sounds a bit of a prickly challenge!. Hopefully some of the blog members who have more musical ability than me (and that is not difficult
) will come up with some nice ideas,
best wishes
David
Lee
9:09 am, September 24, 2010
This is definitely one for David Cowlishaw. He the musical genius among us poor mortals.
Lee
david
9:36 am, September 24, 2010
how about a rap version?
Lee
7:02 pm, September 24, 2010
I would prefer it to have a Flamenco tang to it.
anita
10:20 pm, September 24, 2010
Won`t they let you swop to Silent Night, or even Little Donkey…I`d ask if I were you….
robbo
7:19 am, September 27, 2010
Just a thought, but what about changing the time sig. to 2/4 or 4/4 to try and give it a bit of dance or rock feel? no idea if it could be worked, but first thing that popped into my head.
robbo
david
7:22 am, September 27, 2010
well done Robbo.. some valuable input from one who knows a bit about the subject
…Mine was tongue in cheek…from one who does not!!
Juliette
3:09 pm, September 27, 2010
Sadly can’t swap carols but thats not a bad idea at all Robbo. Thanks very much.
As for the rap – not sure your average tenor in his local church choir would be that game but maybe I’m being unfair!
david
3:23 pm, September 27, 2010
You are probably right Juliette……mind you some Church music can be quite contemporary these days
… any other thoughts Robbo ?
David Cowlishaw
9:55 am, October 1, 2010
Thankyou Lee for that glowing reference and I shall put on my thinking cap. Certainly Juliette you ahe been given a shortish kind of straw to deal with. I shall need to sit at the piano (only 2ft away from me) and do some serious note bashing as I am not very successful with a pencil and manuscript paper and I have not got enough courage to invest in Sibelius yet.I might even ask my children’s advice as they both teach music.
The idea of changing the time signature is attractive, but if you do not have to stick rigidly to the original words, and bearing in mind it is a very old carol which must have gone through changes in language during its life, could a version be attempted which uses old english dialects and styles.I might be talking out of the top of my head but it strikes a chord with me.
Best of luck and best wishes,
David