Tag: MATB Book 3

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Jingle Bells

Introduction

This is a song about doing something fun with your friends. A lot of people think it’s a Christmas song, but it really isn’t!  Believe it or not, it’s really just a winter song.

In the song, the main character has a fun time riding in a one horse open sleigh in the wintertime. It is actually a pretty funny song because after the first verse, (that’s the part that goes, “dashing through the snow…”) something funny happens to the sleigh in each verse afterward.

Here are the lyrics with an explanation.

Lyrics

The Words

Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh

O’er the fields we go, laughing all the way
Bells on bob tail ring, making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing, a sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago, I thought I’d take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank, misfortune seemed his lot
He crashed into a drifted bank and there we got upsot.

A day or two ago, the story I must tell
I went out on the snow, and on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by in a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed at me as there I there lay, but quickly drove away.

The Explanation

Dashing is going fast and a one-horse open sleigh is a sleigh that has no top and is pulled by one horse, like the photo above. The bells are on the horse, a bobtail.  Making spirits bright means making everyone happy.

I think Miss Fanny Bright was his girlfriend, (yuck) and they went for a ride together.  Lean and lank means skinny and weak; not good things for a horse to be.  A drifted bank is a pile of snow blown by the wind. The horse crashed into a pile of snow and the sleigh flipped over.  “Upsot” is a poetic way of using the work “upset,” which is a play on words.  They flipped the sleigh and got angry, or upset.  Get it?  Hee hee.

This verse is simple.  He walks out on the snow and slips and falls on his back, (or backside) and some guy drove by in a one horse open sleigh and laughed and him and drove away.  Ouch!  How embarrasing!

Listen

The Lesson

Sheet Music

Piano
Piano ALTERNATE CHALLENGE VERSION

Looking for more of a challenge?  Try this one!!
https://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/score/JingleBells.html

Note: There are 2 G Clefs and 1 F Clef in that sheet music.  Here’s how they work:

Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

For Enjoyment

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De Colores

Introduction

This is a beautiful and very important song about the beauty of diversity in nature and people.

It is a Mexican folk song.

Please take the time, not only to learn to play the song on the piano, but to sing it and to share it.  Like in most folk music, the words are the really important part.  Music is a vehicle for self-expression and communication.  A language. 

Video

The Words

Spanish

De colores, de colores
Se visten los campos en la primavera.
De colores, de colores
Son los pajaritos que vienen de afuera.
De colores, de colores
Es el arco iris que vemos lucir.

Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.
Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.

De colores, de colores
Brillantes y finos se viste la aurora.
De colores, de colores
Son los mil reflejos que el sol atesora.
De colores, de colores
Se viste el diamante que vemos lucir.

Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.
Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.

Canta el gallo, canta el gallo
Con el quiri, quiri, quiri, quiri, quiri.
La gallina, la gallina
Con el cara, cara, cara, cara, cara.
Los pollitos/polluelos, los pollitos/polluelos
Con el pío, pío, pío, pío, pí.

Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.
Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.

De colores, de colores
Sí, de blanco y negro y rojo y azul y castaño.
Son colores, son colores
De gente que ríe, y estrecha la mano.
Son colores, son colores
De gente que sabe de la libertad.

Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.
Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mí.

English

In colors, in colors
The fields are dressed in the spring.
In colors, in colors
Are the little birds that come from outside.
In colors, in colors
Is the rainbow that we see shining.

And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors
And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors.

In colors, in colors
Brilliant and delicate is dressed the dawn.
In colors, in colors
Are the thousand gleams the sun treasures.
In colors, in colors
Is dressed the diamond we see shining.

And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors.
And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors.

The rooster sings, the rooster sings
With a cock-a-doodle, cock-a-doodle-doo.
The hen, the hen
With a cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck.
The chicks, the chicks
With a cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep.

And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors.
And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors.

In colors, in colors
Yes, black and white and red and blue and brown.
All the colors, colors
From people laughing, and shaking hands.
All the colors, colors
From people who know freedom.

And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors
And that is why I love
The great loves of many colors.

The Lesson

Sheet Music

Piano
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Digging Deeper

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Danny Boy

Introduction

This is a beautiful ballad, written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly in 1913, and set to the traditional Irish melody of “Londonderry Air”.

It is a sad song.  Sometimes the saddest songs are the most beautiful.  This is one of them.  Listen to it a bit and let it sink in.  When you play it, make sure you give it enough respect.  It’s a solemn song and it isn’t one that you should rush.

Feel it.

The Poem

Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling,
It’s you, It’s you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow,
It’s I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,—
Oh, Danny boy, Oh Danny boy, I love you so!

Video

The Lesson

Sheet Music

Piano
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Enrichment

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Cockles and Mussels

Introduction

Statue of Molly Malone in Dublin, Ireland

This is the unofficial anthem of Dublin, Ireland.  There is even a statue of Molly Malone in Dublin.

There is no evidence that the song is based on a real woman, of the 17th century or any other time. The name “Molly” originated as a familiar version of the names Mary and Margaret. While many such “Molly” Malones were born in Dublin over the centuries, no evidence connects any of them to the events in the song.  Nevertheless, the Dublin Millennium Commission in 1988 endorsed claims made for a Mary Malone who died on June 13,1699, and proclaimed June 13th to be “Molly Malone Day”.

Video

The Lesson

Sheet Music

Piano
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Enrichment

Cockles and Mussels
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The Cat Came Back

Introduction

Photo of Cat

This is a comic song that is about an old farmer that is trying to get rid of a cat that won’t leave his home.  No matter how far away he takes it, the cat keeps coming back!

There are a lot of different versions of this song, and you can even try to write some verses of your own.

The key is to remember that this song is filled with dark humor.  That means that the ideas are things that you’re not really supposed to laugh at, but you can’t help it.  One example is in Jingle Bells.  In the last verse, the guy walks out on the snow and falls on his back.  It’s kind of funny, as long as it’s not you, ya know?

Video

The Lesson

Sheet Music

Piano
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Backing Track (Sing Your Own Lyrics)

Sing Your Own Lyrics to this Backing Track
Sample Verses

He gave it to a man going up in a balloon
And told him for to take it to the Man in the Moon.
The balloon came down about ninety miles away,
And where he is now, well, I dare not say.

The cat was a possessor of a family of her own
With seven little kittens, till there came a cyclone.
It blew the houses all apart and tossed the cat around;
The air was filled with kittens, and not a one was ever found.

They took him down to Cape Canaveral and put him in a place
And they shot him in a satellite way into space
They thought that cat was beyond human reach
Then they got a phone call from Miami Beach, sayin’

Enrichment