A la Claire Fountaine
This French folk song is also found in Quebec. The melody is in the alto line and verses can be layered. You can add a band as we did with fiddle, accordion, piano, guitar and foot percussion – or – simply sing it a cappella!
This French folk song is also found in Quebec. The melody is in the alto line and verses can be layered. You can add a band as we did with fiddle, accordion, piano, guitar and foot percussion – or – simply sing it a cappella!
A slow, soulful folksong from the Bulgarian part of Macedonia called Pirin learned at our Village Harmony Macedonia camp in 2011. Easy, rich harmonies with a repeating refrain, making the song accessible. Can be sung a cappella or with instruments. Comes with pronunciation guide.
O Pirin Mountain, how beautiful you are! In winter, full of snow.
In summer, many heros near every water, the leaders with rifles.
(A song from the time of the long Ottoman occupation)
A lively, fun, upbeat song found for SATB found in both Croatia and Serbia.
Hey, you and me, girl, our love we share once again.
Though I am small so are you. My hair is dark and so is yours!
Kiss me, hold me, throw me, love me and in the autumn take me to be yours!
A lilting, soulful, love song in SATB harmony from the “klapa” tradition of the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Easy and accessible harmonies. Comes with pronunciation guide.
Sail, o boat? The sea is deep. In the boat is Anka. Your eyes are as the sea. Anka, my heart and my soul!
A slow, quiet SATB song from the Dalmatian coast “klapa” tradition of Croatia. Rich, easy and intuitive harmonies make for a deeply satisfying and accessible song for mixed voices. Comes with pronunciation guide.
Oh, River Dobrić, your cool waters flow to three towns. You have deep wells of cool water.
There gather the young boys and girls from Šibenik town.
A traditional Scottish waulking song in an SATB setting. Waulking is the technique of finishing a newly-woven tweed by soaking it and thumping it rhythmically to shrink and soften it – all done by hand in the past. Waulking songs serve to keep the rhythm and lighten the work.
My setting of a beautiful Christmas carol from the 1953 Ruth Crawford Seeger collection of carols from the southern Appalachians. Can be sung a cappella or accompanied by chord instruments, fiddle, banjo.
A lively dance/song from Serbia in 7/8 rhythm arranged for SATB voices by Mary Cay Brass. Can be sung a cappella or with chordal accompaniment. The instrumental break can be played
by any melody instruments, but typically by accordion, fiddle, clarinet. Comes with pronunciation guide.
Let’s go Jana and dance the kolo. Let’s sell our horse so we can keep dancing. Let’s sell our house so we can keep dancing.
Good evening, Danica, oh honorable one who opens the gates of paradise and shines before dawn. (Danica is both a girl’s name and the morning star.)
When you lie down to sleep good night to you. Angels of paradise will watch over you.