Category: Holst

Most of Holst’s music has just gone out of copyright, so I thought it’d be nice to learn some folksong arrangements.

Thanks to our friends at the Internet, here’s some (free) sheet music:

http://liverpoolchoir.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/999_conbined_HOLST_6_choral_folksongs_.pdf

It would help if you could print this out, but it might be a good idea to tick ‘double-sided’ on your printer setup before clicking OK.

Sightreading without the rest of the choir is miserable and confidence-sapping, so we’re going to work through these with backing tracks for each part. There’s a page for each song.

1. I Sowed the Seeds of Love
2. There Was a Tree
3. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
4. The Song of the Blacksmith
5. I Love My Love
6. Swansea Town

Rehearsal files:

• All voices
• Soprano 1
• Soprano 2
• Alto
• Tenor
• Bass 1
• Bass 2

Rehearsal files:

• All voices
• Soprano
• Alto
• Tenor
• Bass

Rehearsal files:

• All voices
• Soprano 1
• Soprano 2
• Alto 1
• Alto 2
• Tenor
• Bass

Rehearsal files:

• All voices
• Soprano 1
• Soprano 2
• Alto 1
• Alto 2
• Tenor 1
• Tenor 2
• Bass 1
• Bass 2

…and the same but slower:

• All voices
• Soprano 1
• Soprano 2
• Alto 1
• Alto 2
• Tenor 1
• Tenor 2
• Bass 1
• Bass 2

Rehearsal files:

• All voices
• Soprano 1
• Soprano 2
• Alto
• Tenor
• Bass

Rehearsal files:

• All voices
• Soprano 1
• Soprano 2
• Alto
• Tenor
• Bass

[Errata: The tune is wrong in bar 15 in the score : the last two notes should be E C# for T/B, not F# E. And in bar 21, tenors should be in unison with everyone else – ‘live’ is on a B, not an A. You get what you pay for with free sheet music.

Also, the last semiquaver of the bass part in bar 40 is an E not an F#.]