( Myscha )'s posts with tag: english
Morris dancing is the English national dance form. Or a good way to make a prat of yourself, depending on which pub the Morris Men are dancing outside. Watch these two clowns put their own unique spin on the Morris, and sing a couple of songs with lyrics that, well, let's just say they could have been adapted a little better. Import.flv (15.6 MB)
"'at's Queen Mary. She choked on a plum." "she did not. You bin listenin' to Possle again encha? 'E don't know nuffin' so 'e makes it up." My two young advisers are a couple of Thames mudlarks, urchins who, in the absence of better employment, contribute to their families welfare by searching the mud of the riverbank at low tide for dropped valuables and the occasional coin. Although they're equally likely to be found knocking hats off unwary heads with a well-aimed stone. And only the sharpest wits are ever likely to see exactly where the missile originated. "'ere 'e is nah. Wotcha Possle!" "Permit me to introduce myself sirs. I have the honour to be your humble servant, Oliver Postlethwaite, apothecary surgeon". Possle is a rather tatty-looking character with stockings that don't quite match and a pervasive odour of stale urine. "If I may be so bold sir, your complexion suggests that you suffer from a weakness of the stones, for which I can offer a very efficacious remedy." He may be half-wasted, but Possle's diagnosis is worryingly accurate, at least to the point of identifying that I have a very feminine appearance. We are here on the edges of a crowd that is still assembling outside Westminster Abbey to pay our final respects to the late Queen Mary(or just take advantage of an excuse to close the shop for an hour or two). As the funeral procession approaches, the drumbeat changes while remaining consistent. Tan tan tan ta-ta tan Tan ta-ta tan tan tan Ta-ta tan tan ta-ta tan Tan tan ta-ta tan tan Until inside the Abbey, a final TAN-TAN! marks the halt. I can't see anybody signalling from here at the back of the crowd, but it seems somebody has performed a very deft sleight-of-hand, because, precisely as the catafalque entered the abbey, the organ began a sombre tune in perfect time to the drumbeat. Among the other vendors working the crowd is a ballad-seller with something very unusual, and very interesting to me: a copy of Purcell's Ode on the Birthday of Queen Mary composed only eight months earlier for the celebrations. 
T:Strike the viol % title
C:Henry Purcell % composer
O:William F. Long transcription % origin.
N:http://www.drdrbill.com/music.html
M:3/4 % meter
L:1/8 % length of shortest note
Q:60 % tempo
%%staves Ct { ( Hr1 Hr2 ) ( Hl ) }
V:Ct name="Countertenor" sname="Ct" % voice 1
V:Hr1 name="Harpsichord" sname="Hp" clef=treble
V:Hr2 clef=treble
V:Hl clef=bass
K:C % key
%1======================2============================3==================4=============================
[V:Ct] Z | Z |: e>d c2 dB | c2 A2 z2 |
w:Strike__ the_ vi-ol,
[V:Hr1] [ECA,]4 [EDB,]2 | [ECA,]2 z [FCA,] [EB,^G,]2 |: [ECA,]4 [EDB,]2 | [ECA,]2 z [FCA,] [EB,^G,]2 |
[V:Hl] A3 a ^ge | a2 z d eE |: A2 z a ^ge | a2 z d eE |
%
%5======================6============================7==================8============================
[V:Ct] e>d c2 dB | c2 A2 z2 | c2 z2 B/c/d | B2 z2 cG |
w:strike__ the_ vi-ol, touch, touch,__ touch, touch_
[V:Hr1] [ECA,]4 [EDB,]2 | [ECA,]2 z [FCA,] [EB,^G,]2 | [ECA,]4 [FB,A,]2 |[FB,G,]2 z [DB,G,] [ECG,]2 |
[V:Hl] A3 a ^ge | a2 z d eE | A3 a fd | g2 z g ec |
%
%9===============================10==================11================12============================
[V:Ct][L:1/16] ABc2 BA3G3 ^F |[L:1/8] E4 z2 | A^GAc B2 | c4 z2 |
w:touch,__ touch__ the Lute; wake___ the Harp,
[V:Hr1] [FCA,]2 z [FCA,] [DB,G,]2 | [ECG,]4 [EB,^G,]2 | [ECA,]4 [EDB,]2 | [ECA,]2 z [FCA,] [EB,^G]2 |
[V:Hl] f2 z d gG | c2 z d eE | A2 z a ^ge | a2 z d eE |
%
%13====================14==========================15========================16============
[V:Ct] A^GAc B2 | c4 z2 | cBce d2 | e4 dc |
w:wake___ the Harp; wake___ the Harp, in-
[V:Hr1] [ECA,]4 [EDB,]2 | [ECA,]2 z [FCA,] [EB,^G]2 | [ECA,]2 z [ECG,] [DG,]2 | [ECG,]6 |
[V:Hl] A2 z a ^ge | a2 z d eE | A2 z c BG | c2 z d ec |
%
%17=======================18========================19========================20==================
[V:Ct][L:1/16] B3cABcdc3 B |[L:1/8] c4 z2 | cBcd e2 | e4 dc |
w:spire______ the Flute; wake___ the Harp, in-
[V:Hr1] [FB,A,]4 [FB,G,]2 | [ECG,]3 [FCA,] [DB,G,]2 | [ECG,]2 z [ECG,] [DG,]2 | [ECG,]4 [GCG,]2 |
[V:Hl] f3 d gG | c3 d GG, | C2 z c BG | c3 d ec |
%
%21========================22==================23========================24=============================
[V:Ct][L:1/16] B2c2Bcd2c3 B |[L:1/8] c4 z2 :| c4 z2 |: z2 G2 G2 |
w:spire_____ the flute; flute; Sing, your
[V:Hr1] [FB,A,]4 [FB,G,]2 | [ECG,]4 [EC^G,]2 :| [ECG,]2 z [FCA,] [DBG]2 |: [ECG,]2 z [FCA,] [DB,G,]2 |
[V:Hl] f3 D gG | c2 z d cB :| c2 z F GG, |: c2 z F GG, |
%
%25============================26==========================27===============28===========================
[V:Ct] G4 G2 | ABAB c2 | B4 z2 | z2 d2 d2 |
w:Pa-tro-ne----ss's praise, Sing your
[V:Hr1] [ECG,]2 z [ECG,] [DG,]2 | [ECG,]2 z [ECA,] [^FCA,]2 | [GDB,]4 [ADC]2 | [GDB,]2 z [GEC] [^FDA,]2 |
[V:Hl] C2 z c BG | c2 z A dD | G2 z g ^fd | g2 z c dD |
%
%29===================30==========================31================32===============33==================
[V:Ct] d3e d2 | dedf e2 | f4 d2 | z2 B2 e2 | z2 A2 cB |
w:Pa--tro-ness's____ praise, Sing, sing, sing, sing in_
[V:Hr1] [GDB,]4 [ADC]2 | [GDB,]2 z [FDA,] [E^CA,]2 | [FDA,]4 [ADA,]2 | [GDB,]4 [GEC]2 | [FCA,]4 [FDG,]2 |
[V:Hl] G2 z g ^fd | g2 z d aA | d2 z e fd | g2 z g ec | f2 z f dB |
%
%34=======================35=========================36================37=======================
[V:Ct] ^GE/^F/GFGF/E/ | AA/B/cBc/B/A | dB/c/dcd/c/B | cc/d/ede/d/c |
w:cheer----------
[V:Hr1] [EB,^G,]4 [^GEB,]2 | [AEA,]2 z [^GEB,] [AEC]2 | [GDB,]4 [GFB,]2 | [GEC]2 z [GFD] [EC]2 |
[V:Hr2] Z36 | z4 GA |
[V:Hl] e2 z B eB | c2 z e ae | f2 z d gd | e2 z d cA |
%
%38=============39==========================40==========================41====
[V:Ct] fedc B A | AB A/B/c BA |[1 A4 z2 :|[2 A6 |]
w:----full and har--mo---nious_ lays.
[V:Hr1] [^GFB,]6 | [AEC]2 z [FCA,] [EB,^G,]2 |[1 [ECA,]2 z [ECG,] [DG,] :|[2 [ECA,]6 |]
[V:Hl] e2 z B cA | e2 z d eE |[1 A2 z c BG :|[2 A6 |]To convert the code above to sheet music, or listen to the tunes, copy the code for a single song, then paste it here and [submit].
 To listen to the Funeral March for Queen Mary II, click the gramophone.
I don't know about you, but after the funeral, I feel like something a bit more cheerful. What say we totter along to Drury Lane and see if Mr.Dryden has something new to entertain us?  
We're going time-travelling again. This time, to the early 13th century, to the administrative office of one of the larger abbeys. Put this black habit on and tie the rope girdle. You'll have to exchange your shoes and socks for these rope sandals. Your identity will be that of Brother Raynaud, a foreign visitor within the same order. The reason for our visit; brother prior has been sorting through documents that are no longer needed and has found a parchment with directions that have long since been outdated, but the back side is clear and he is writing a love song. Something rather daring for a senior official in a monastic order, but he is being very proper and writing it in a courtly style; aspiring to love but without hope of real fulfilment.
Perhaps brother prior heard this song from one of the abbey's noble guests, hostelled during one of the great festivals for the saints, or maybe it is a song he learned before taking holy orders. In any case, this is the first example of a love song written out in England. In all likelihood, the prior was the first person with knowledge of the song and also skilled not only in letters, but in the novel idea of writing music down! |  |  | For more than a century the monks have sung their liturgy not only from songs learned by rote, but from books crafted by hand, the words matched with neumes which indicate the movement of the melody to those taught to read the symbols.
Within two more centuries, the first information revolution will lay the foundations for the reformation as Gutenberg develops a printing process that makes book production a commercially viable business and the place of the monastic libraries as the greatest repositories of knowledge will begin to fade.
| Disclaimer: any similarity between the first few bars of this 13th century song, and "I only have eyes for you" is either bad luck on the part of the latter or a good example of musical serendipity!
X:51 % number
T:Bryd One Brere % title
C: % composer
O:Early 13th C. English % origin.
S:http://home.uchicago.edu/~atterlep/Music/Songs/brydonebrere.htm
M:3/4 % meter
L:1/4 % length of shortest note
Q: % tempo
K:G % key
V:1 % voice 1
A2 G/F/ | E2 E/F/ | A A G/F/ | E2 E | c2 B |
w:Brid o-ne bre--re, brid, brid o-ne bre-re, Kind is
w:Ich am so bli-the so bryg-hit o-ne bre-re, Whan I
w:Mik-te hic hi-re_ at wil-le_ ha-ven, Ste-de-
(3c/B/c/ A B | c/B/ c/A/ B | c2 c | c/B/ A B |
w:co---me of lo-ve, lo-ve to- cra-ve. Blith---ful
w:se___ that hen---de in hal-le Yhe__ is
w:fast___ of lo-ve, lo-ve-li, tre-we, Of__ mi
A2 B | B/A/ G/A/ G/F/ | (3d/c/B/ d c/B/ |
w:bri-d on_ me_ thu_ re----we_
w:quit of lime,_ lo--ve-lich, tre---we, Yhe_
w:sor-we yhe_ may_ me_ sa----ven;_
G/F/ (3G/F/E/ F | G2 B | B/A/ G/A/ G/F/ | G2 G |]
w:or_ greith,__ lef, greith thou me---- my-- gra-ve.
w:___ ys__ fayr and flur___ of_ alle._
w:Ioye____ and blise were eere___ me_ ne-we.
To convert the code above to sheet music, or listen to the tunes, copy the code for a single song, then paste it here and [submit]. Visit this site for more information about " Bryd one brere", including a translation into modern English. Find Y! Groups about: 
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