A carol for the wanderer
TB, optional piano
Music: Trad. arr. Andrew Adams
Words: Andrew Adams
A rousing pagan carol for a mid-winter concert, welcoming Odin (the Wanderer, or All-Father) to the feast...
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All for me grog
TBB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
All for me grog (a.k.a. Across the Western Ocean) is a delightfully rambling grumble about the tough life on board...
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Amo ergo sum
solo voice or choir, equal or mixed voices
Music: Sheena Phillips
Words: Kathleen Raine
Free-flowing setting of Kathleen Raine's ecstatic paean to the natural world. For solo voice or choir, equal or mixed voices....
Read More »Awake were they only
TTB
Music: Trad. Welsh melody, arranged by Sheena Phillips
Words: English by K.E.Roberts (1877-1962), based on the original Welsh
A strong carol for a cappella male voices, in the harmonious Welsh plygain tradition....
Read More »Billy the Kid
TBarB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
A retelling of the famous ballad, collected by Alan Lomax, of gunfighter and outlaw Billy the Kid....
Read More »Bird rounds
equal or mixed voices
Music: Sheena Phillips
Words:
Four varied rounds about birds - from the humble sparrow to the majestic eagle, chattering linnet to soaring skylark. Texts...
Read More »Blood red roses
TBB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
Second in the set is Blood red roses, a long haul shanty with pairs of rising and falling phrases and...
Read More »Boney
TBB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
Boney is a cheerful and scathing narrative of Napoleon's adventures in Europe and his eventual defeat at the hands of...
Read More »Bound for South Australia
TTBB
Music: Trad. arr. Frances Cockburn
Words: Trad.
A hearty shanty from the days of emigration to Australia....
Read More »Christmas canon a 6 voci
6 equal or mixed voices
Music: David Johnson
Words: Late mediaeval English anon
“There is no rose of such virtue, as is the rose that bare Jesu”. A late-medieval English text set as...
Read More »Christmas round a 4 voci
4 equal or mixed voices
Music: David Johnson
Words: Martin Luther, trans. the brothers Wedderburn
Adoration of the Christ child is expressed here in a lovely canon. The text is based on Martin Luther's famous...
Read More »Come buy my cherries
3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
Music: Dr. Stevenson, ed. Sheena Phillips
Words: Anon
Each line of this cheerful and raucous round forms a competing set of street market cries: “fine parsnips”, “fruit in...
Read More »Come hither boy
3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
Music: Sheena Phillips (ed.)
Words: Anon
This mischievous round is a lesson for apprentices in business: often borrow, seldom lend, and never, never, never pay....
Read More »Dle dle
TBarB
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad. (vocables)
A catchy patter song from the Van district (once in Armenia, now part of Turkey). Easy ranges for changing voices....
Read More »Eagle
equal or mixed, 3 parts
Music: Sheena Phillips
Words: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
One of four Bird Rounds...
Read More »Here we come a-wassailing
TTBB
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad. English
Lively arrangement of a traditional wassail song from Yorkshire in the North of England — with a barrage of trumpets...
Read More »I saw three ships
3 or 4 equal or mixed voices/instruments
Music: Trad. arr. Paul Ayres
Words: Trad. English
A flexibly scored Christmas rollick, shanty style, with a peal of bells to finish...
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Lassie, lie near me
TTBB
Music: Peter Hill & Sheena Phillips
Words: Robert Burns (1759-1796)
'Lang hae we parted been, lassie my dearie; now we are met again, lassie lie near me'....
Read More »Let me in this ae night
TBB
Music: Frances Cockburn
Words: Trad. and Robert Burns
The timeless tale of boy seeking girl, given a witty and folky musical setting....
Read More »Linnet
equal or mixed, 4 parts
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
One of four Bird Rounds...
Read More »Masters in this hall
TB, optional piano
Music: Trad. arr. Andrew Adams
Words: William Morris (1834 – 1896)
A rousing carol for a midwinter concert. Also available for SATB....
Read More »My true love hath my heart
TBB
Music: Sheena Phillips
Words: Philip Sidney
A wonderful renaissance text about love given a lilting and harmonious setting. Great wedding piece....
Read More »Noël
TTBB
Music: Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
A glorious a cappella fanfare — or a peal of vocal bells — to open a Christmas concert....
Read More »Pokarekare ana
TBB
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: 20th C. Maori love song
Beautiful Maori love song (words in Maori) originating in army camps in Auckland in World War 1...
Read More »Jane Chattock rounds
3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
Music: Sheena Phillips (ed.)
Words: Anon
From Jane Chattock's hand-written book of rounds for social singing, dated 1832...
Read More »Santiana
TBB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
First in the set is the rousing Santiana, popular both as a pumping shanty and as a capstan shanty...
Read More »Silent O Moyle
TTBB
Music: Trad. arr. Mark Burstow
Words: Thomas Moore
Traditional Irish song lamenting the plight of Fionnuala, who has been turned into a swan by her stepmother Aiofe...
Read More »Six sea shanties
TBB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
Shanties (or chanteys) were an essential part of the rhythm of life and work on board ship. Here are six...
Read More »Skylark
equal or mixed, 4 parts
Music: Sheena Phillips
Words: Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1832)
One of four Bird Rounds...
Read More »Sounds of the singing school
5 mixed/equal voices
Music: P P Bliss
Words: P P Bliss
A round about singing from the 19th century American singing school tradition...
Read More »Sparrow
equal or mixed, 3 parts
Music: Antonio Caldara (1670–1736) arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)
One of four Bird Rounds...
Read More »Tall men riding
TBarB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Omar Barker (1894-1985)
Nostalgia for a way of life and work long gone but not forgotten....
Read More »The best of mornings
TTB
Music: Trad. Welsh, transcribed by Sheena Phillips
Words: English by Sheena Phillips, based on the original Welsh
A strong carol for a cappella male voices, in the harmonious Welsh plygain tradition....
Read More »Coventry Carol (TBB)
TBarB
Music: 16th. C. anon. arr. Mark Burstow
Words: Anon
An arrangement for male voices of the beautifully austere 16th century English lament for the young children slain by Herod....
Read More »The dead horse
TBB, piano
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips
Words: Trad.
A less well known shanty, The Dead Horse was traditionally sung after 30 days at sea...
Read More »The sweet delights of love
3 or 4 part equal or mixed voices
Music: Sheena Phillips (ed.)
Words: Anon
This round sets out in praise of love, but foresees a lamentable end: six squalling brats and a scolding partner...
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