(bottom of page)
I offered to host a SOTM for December and decided to go for a Christmas Carol. My favourite is the (15th-16th Century) ‘Wexford Carol’ (background + lyrics). You can find a whole host of example performances on YouTube. Two are shown below.
As in all carols (and many songs), the basic melody is repetitive over different verses. I have a few favourite vocal and instrumental recordings. What makes them (for me) appealing are three main things:
- the 'expression' of the soloist (dynamics, variations, etc.) both within and between verses
- variations in the 'backing' which often start relatively simply, gradually become richer and either continue or wind down to again become relatively simple
- (occasionally) the way soloists tailor their 'expression' to match the changing 'richness' and dynamics of the backing
@rhysonsax has worked his magic (and has gone above and beyond!) in producing two different versions. You can find them on Box. As a bonus for all sax players, @rhysonsax has added 'backing track with guide melody' mp3's so members can hear how a sax sounds against a backing track. And he added a special bonus for B♭ sax players, giving them the choice to play the melody in either the lower or higher registers (or alternate between them).
The first two-verse version (at 66 bpm) has fairly easy-to-play sheet music.
The second four-verse version (at 55 bpm) more closely mirrors Alison Krauss/Yo-Yo Ma’s version (see below). Both in terms of instrumentation and in terms of the vocal inflections included in the sheet music. You are of course free to include, ignore or simplify these ‘inflections. The second version provides more scope for variation and/or improvisation on one or two verses.
The basic melody is the same in both versions so (with two minor differences) you can play the sheet music for the first version against the backing track for the second or vice-versa. The only two differences are:
Wexford Carol (Alisson Krauss/Yo Yo Ma)
View: https://youtu.be/yxDZjg_Igoc?si=oJ2LMro6mkfpPb73
Wexford Carol (Sam Levine)
View: https://youtu.be/jRr4B6CF4dY?si=nnHxe_PrFYG4dQdU
As in all carols (and many songs), the basic melody is repetitive over different verses. I have a few favourite vocal and instrumental recordings. What makes them (for me) appealing are three main things:
- the 'expression' of the soloist (dynamics, variations, etc.) both within and between verses
- variations in the 'backing' which often start relatively simply, gradually become richer and either continue or wind down to again become relatively simple
- (occasionally) the way soloists tailor their 'expression' to match the changing 'richness' and dynamics of the backing
@rhysonsax has worked his magic (and has gone above and beyond!) in producing two different versions. You can find them on Box. As a bonus for all sax players, @rhysonsax has added 'backing track with guide melody' mp3's so members can hear how a sax sounds against a backing track. And he added a special bonus for B♭ sax players, giving them the choice to play the melody in either the lower or higher registers (or alternate between them).
The first two-verse version (at 66 bpm) has fairly easy-to-play sheet music.
The second four-verse version (at 55 bpm) more closely mirrors Alison Krauss/Yo-Yo Ma’s version (see below). Both in terms of instrumentation and in terms of the vocal inflections included in the sheet music. You are of course free to include, ignore or simplify these ‘inflections. The second version provides more scope for variation and/or improvisation on one or two verses.
The basic melody is the same in both versions so (with two minor differences) you can play the sheet music for the first version against the backing track for the second or vice-versa. The only two differences are:
- Version 1 has a 4-bar intro while Version 2 has a 3-bar intro
- Version 2 has an added 9-bar (backing) outro
Wexford Carol (Alisson Krauss/Yo Yo Ma)
Wexford Carol (Sam Levine)
