'Listen! while we join with angels, who in love have gathered near...'
January! A new year! A new round! A new interest in the slightly unusual singing practices of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing? Nothing says Happy New Year like an impending apocalypse :)
This round was adapted from the Shaker hymn 'A New Year Greeting', (Shaker Music: Inspirational Hymns and Melodies Illustrative of the Resurrection Life and Testimony of the Shakers, (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co., 1875), p. 29. The round was created for our friends Muldoon's Picnic, for use in a workshop as part of Celtic Connections 2017.
This round was adapted from the Shaker hymn 'A New Year Greeting', (Shaker Music: Inspirational Hymns and Melodies Illustrative of the Resurrection Life and Testimony of the Shakers, (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co., 1875), p. 29. The round was created for our friends Muldoon's Picnic, for use in a workshop as part of Celtic Connections 2017.
Using the round
- This round goes into loads of parts. We really enjoyed singing it with entries at every bar (see score/recording), but it also works with entries at the half bar, or every 2 bars.
- Adding drones, on the tonic (do) and dominant (so) works nicely, and you can try altering the drones by one step in either direction to get some interesting additional harmonies. There is a demonstration of Madrigirls attempting this in the audio links above.
- Watch out for too much ssss in the final syllable of the first word (Listen)! Because it's a longish note on a strong beat, it's very easy to end up sounding like a choir of parseltongue speakers.
There are some additional lyrics, if you wanted to build a seasonally appropriate piece out of the round.
2. Clean shall be our future pages,
Stamped upon our memory clear;
Fraught with joy, and full of gladness -
Record of the coming year.
3. And we'll touch the muse, to waken -
those who are to us so dear;
Wishing all a happy morning,
And withal a happy year.
- Adding drones, on the tonic (do) and dominant (so) works nicely, and you can try altering the drones by one step in either direction to get some interesting additional harmonies. There is a demonstration of Madrigirls attempting this in the audio links above.
- Watch out for too much ssss in the final syllable of the first word (Listen)! Because it's a longish note on a strong beat, it's very easy to end up sounding like a choir of parseltongue speakers.
There are some additional lyrics, if you wanted to build a seasonally appropriate piece out of the round.
2. Clean shall be our future pages,
Stamped upon our memory clear;
Fraught with joy, and full of gladness -
Record of the coming year.
3. And we'll touch the muse, to waken -
those who are to us so dear;
Wishing all a happy morning,
And withal a happy year.
About this round...
Adapted from 'A New Year Greeting', (Shaker Music: Inspirational Hymns and Melodies Illustrative of the Resurrection Life and Testimony of the Shakers, (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co., 1875), p. 29 by Katy Lavinia Cooper, for Muldoon's Picnic Celtic Connections workshop 2017.
Included in the Glasgow Madrigirls' A round a month project with permission.
Katy Lavinia Cooper © 2017
Included in the Glasgow Madrigirls' A round a month project with permission.
Katy Lavinia Cooper © 2017
NEW for 2021!
Full choral arrangement for upper voices now available, as featured on The Scotsman Sessions.
Free to download, use and copy. Please credit the source, arranger and Madrigirls!
Free to download, use and copy. Please credit the source, arranger and Madrigirls!