This blog is dedicated to the amateur or beginner musician with music written in a simple and easy to read Alpha Notes format and with Chords for the left hand. This is to assist those with little or hardly at all note reading skills. This is a blog that shows all the chords in Alpha Notes format too which you can find the notes for the chords in one of the blogs. Please feel free to leave a comment or any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!
This song originates from Tobago and is a popular circle game with various versions.
First, the song is catchy and easy to memorise. Action songs
are always a fun way to promote literacy. The narrative nature of the Sandy
Girl demonstrates how to tell a story. The rhyming of 'stone' with 'alone'
possibly will arouse some older children's interest in looking for rhyming
words. A useful tip is finding rhyming words for each other's name.
Another interesting learning outcome could be related to
social development. The lyrics suggest a positive attitude/ strategy to make
friends and initiate relationships. The song helps children to develop empathy,
as they would learn to comfort a sad peer by playing with her. From my
experience, when a younger child saw another child in distress, he might think
she missed her mummy, whereas an older child might recognise the other child
possibly needed company and friendships as well.
As always, action songs promote interests and knowledge in
creativity. Children sing along will understand the difference between a
singing voice
and speaking voice. Also, the dramatic component encourages
children to improvise and express with body language and facial expression. I
particularly like the ending of the song when the couple collaborate some sort
of dance. While some children have a rich repertoire of dance moves, other
children may not. The teacher may take advantage of the opportunity to guide
the children, such as swing your hips and arms; hammering with your fists and
so on. Remember, playing is learning, like the Australian early childhood
curriculum says.
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
There was a little sandy girl sitting on a stone,
Weeping, crying all de day alone.
Rise up sandy girl, wipe your tears away,
Choose the one you love the best and run, run away.
other versions:
See the little Sandy Girl (or Boy) Sitting on a stone Weeping, crying, all the day alone Stand up Sandy Girl (or Boy) Wipe your tears away Choose the one you love the most and dance, dance away (child picks someone from the circle and they hold hands and dance)
(same tune) Tra la la la la la la la la la Tra la la la la la la la la la
The Meeting of the Waters is a wonderful song that conjures
up a sense of warmth and friendship and links them to a beautiful location.
It was written by Thomas Moore, one of the greatest Irish
poets and songwriters of all time.
Moore wrote numerous songs which have become Irish classics
such as The Minstrel Boy, The Last Rose of Summer, and Believe Me If All Those
Endearing Young Charms.
Thomas Moore Irish songwriter (National Portrait Gallery)
wrote many Irish folk songs and ballads
Thomas Moore
Moore wrote the lyrics to The Meeting of the Waters in 1807
and it was later set to an old Irish melody with the rather curious title, The
Old Head of Dennis.
The Meeting of the Waters is the name of a well known beauty
spot in the Vale of Avoca in Co Wicklow in Ireland.
As the name suggests, it’s the place where two rivers – the
Avonmore and the Avonbeg – meet and flow into each other and form the River
Avoca.
It’s not hard to see why Moore was enchanted by the scene
and felt inspired to write his song. It was, and still remains, beautiful and
idyllic.
However, it’s not just the natural beauty of the scene that
gives the song its power and its appeal; it’s the evocation of love and
friendship.
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet,
Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.
Ere the [D]bloom of that [G]valley shall fade my heart.
Yet it was not that Nature had shed o’er the scene
Her purest of crystal and brightest of green
‘Twas not her soft magic of streamlet or hill
Oh! no, it was something more exquisite still.
‘Twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom were near
Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear
And who felt that the best charms of nature improve
When we see them reflected from looks that we love.
Sweet Vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest,
In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should
cease
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.
'The Lover's Curse' was written by by Herbert Hughes (1882 - 1937).
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
This one and that one will court him,
but e'er he gets any but me
both daily and hourly I'll curse them
that stole lovely Jamie from me.
Far in the land of the stranger
six hundred long miles o'er the sea,
to fight in the lowlands of Holland
they stole lovely Jamie from me.
Sadness and weeping are on me
for the lad that is over the sea,
but daily and hourly I'll curse them
that stole lovely Jamie from me.
YOUNG MAY MOON [1], THE. AKA and see "Dandy O (2) (The)," "Gallant Tipperary," "Gallant Tippeary Boys (The)," "New May Moon," "Old Figary O'." English, Jig and Morris Dance Tune; Scottish, Jig. England, North West, Dorset. Scotland, Low Lands. D Major (Barber, Raven, Trim, Wade): C Major (Carlin, Kerr, Robbins, Williamson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Raven): AAB (Williamson): ABB (Wade): AABB (Barber, Kerr, Robbins, Trim): AA'BB (Carlin). According to Robin Williamson, the tune was popular in the 19th century as a jig for country dances in South Scotland. The tune is in use as accompaniment for a single step dance in the North West (England) morris dance tradition, and (as "New May Moon") appears in a Yorkshire MS collection of the mid-19th century as well as the Hardy family mss. (Dorset) and Welch ms. It appears in a number of English and Scottish musicians' music manuscripts and printed collections of the early 19th century, including Davie's Caledonian Repository for Violin (1816), Glazier, Masters & Co. A Complete Preceptor for the Clarionet (c. 1828), and Z.T. Purday's Royal Keyed Bugle Tutor (c. 1830). However, the earliest appearance of the melody was printed as “Irish Air from Robin Hood” in Thompson’s Hibernian Muse of 1786 (No. 38).
The tune was employed as the regimental march-past of the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of the British army until 1881 (after which “Wha Wadnae Fecht for Charlie” was adopted (Murray, Music of the Scottish Regiments, 1994, p. 207).
The title "Young May Moon" comes from a song set to the tune by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) and published in his Irish Melodies; specified to be played to the air of "Dandy O (2) (The)."
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
The young May moon is beaming, love. The glow-worm's lamp is gleaming, love. How sweet to rove, Through Morna's grove, When the drowsy world is dreaming, love! Then awake! -- the heavens look bright, my dear, 'Tis never too late for delight, my dear, And the best of all ways To lengthen our days Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear! Now all the world is sleeping, love, But the Sage, his star-watch keeping, love, And I, whose star, More glorious far, Is the eye from that casement peeping, love. Then awake! -- till rise of sun, my dear, The Sage's glass we'll shun, my dear, Or, in watching the flight Of bodies of light, He might happen to take thee for one, my dear.
The words of the song are credited to Edward Mordaunt Spencer and the music to Charles William Glover, but a story circulated in connection with the festival claims that the song was written by William Pembroke Mulchinock, out of love for Mary O'Connor, a poor maid in service to his family.
In 2019 the Rose of Tralee International Festival, as part of their 60th Anniversary living history promotion, employed the services of Dr. Andrea Nini, a forensic linguist working on cases of disputed authorship. His report concluded that a poem written by Tralee poet William Pembroke Mulchinock called Smile Mary My Darling was published and passed off by Edward Mordaunt Spencer in 1846 in his book of poetry The Heir of Abbotsville. This poem was adapted into a poem called The Rose of Tralee with the air being re-set by Charles William Glover from one of his previous ballads.
It was sung by the cast at the end of the play Thirst (1942) by Flann O'Brien.
In the film The Luck of the Irish the song is sung by Irish tenor Jimmy O'Brien, who completes the song without missing a beat despite the outbreak of a brawl.
The Rose of Tralee is referenced in the title track of Tom Waits' 1985 album Rain Dogs.
In the film Auntie Mame (1958), Brian O'Bannion (Robin Hughes) sings the first couplet of "The Rose of Tralee" as he finishes dressing to escort Mame (Rosalind Russell) to a black tie event to consider optioning the film rights of her autobiography to Warner Brothers.
In the movie Caddyshack "The Rose of Tralee" is mentioned by the character Maggie O'Hooligan, played by Sarah Holcomb, while working the dining room with Danny Noonan at Bushwood Country Club.
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
Lyrics:
The pale moon was rising above the green mountain,
The sun was declining beneath the blue sea;
When I strayed with my love to the pure crystal fountain,
That stands in the beautiful Vale of Tralee.
She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,
Yet 'twas not her beauty alone that won me;
Oh no, 'twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning,
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.
The cool shades of evening their mantle were spreading,
And Mary all smiling was listening to me;
The moon through the valley her pale rays was shedding,
When I won the heart of the Rose of Tralee.
Though lovely and fair as the Rose of the summer,
Yet 'twas not her beauty alone that won me;
Oh no, 'twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning,
That made me love Mary the Rose of Tralee.
In the far fields of India, 'mid war's dreadful thunders,
Her voice was a solace and comfort to me,
But the chill hand of death has now rent us asunder,
I'm lonely tonight for the Rose of Tralee.
She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,
