Description
Enjoy the Holidays All Year Long!!
What the world has been waiting for: a fife & drum Christmas recording! Includes many of the classic holiday favorites with an MCV twist.
On Christmas Day liner notes – free download!
You may now purchase all the music scores (Fife or Flute arrangements) from this album!
Selections
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Belli Holiday – MP3 (268 KB)The Holly and the Ivy / Holly’s a Smart Ilex / Ding Dong Merrily on High / Ives Swapping.
The Holly and the Ivy is found in many old collections, and appears in broadsides as early as 1710. Our source, The Oxford Book of Carols (OBC) (Dearmer, Williams, Shaw; Oxford University Press, 1928) suggests it was originally sung and danced simultaneously; the Holly representing the masculine elements and the Ivy the feminine elements of the story. Ding Dong Merrily on High is a traditional French melody. Holly’s a Smart Ilex Quartet: Sarah MacConduibh, Devon Schudy, Jane Law, Paul Joseph (bass fife).Fife Arrangement: John Ciaglia
Drum Arrangement: James Martin Clark
De Profundis – MP3 (300 KB)De profundis / Il est Ne, le Divin Enfant / Good Christian Men Rejoice / Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella / Ad profundis
Often set to Psalm 129, the ancient melody De Profundis is our introduction. Il est Né, le Divin Enfant is based on the traditional melody. Good Christian Men Rejoice is set to a 14th century German melody. Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella is a seventeenth century French carol.Fife Arrangement: John Ciaglia
Drum Score: James Martin Clark
Patapan – MP3 (300 KB)While the melody has been attributed to Bernard de Monnoye (1641-1728), the lyrics so appropriate to our instrumentation are derived from a traditional Burgundian Christmas carol. ‘Willie, bring your little drum / Robin, bring your fife and come / And be merry while you play / Tu-re-lu-re-lu, Pat-a-pat-a-pan / Come be merry while you play / Let us make our Christmas gay! / When the men of olden days, to the King of Kings gave praise, on the fife and drum did play/ Tu-re-lu-re-lu, Pat-a-pat-a-pan / On the fife and drum did play / So their hearts were glad and gay! / God and man today become more in tune than fife and drum / So be merry while you play / Tu-re-lu-re-lu, Pat-a-pat-a-pan / So be merry while you play / Sing and dance this Christmas day!’Full Arrangement: James Martin Clark
We Wish You a Merry Christmas – MP3 (260 KB)Theme / Hornpipe / Minor (An Excess of Eggnog?) / Saltarello / Intemperate Inversion / Choral. Based on the traditional tune, these trifles came to the arranger in a single sitting, their birth eased by two good bottles of Dolcetto. The fifers had to settle for fine single malt while delivering this one!Fife Arrangement: John Ciaglia