Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Molly Malone (Repertoire #2)

Here's a link to the score: http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/b/bd/SchK-Molly.pdf

Molly Malone is a traditional Irish song from Dublin.  It is a sea chanty/drinking song, but it is about a girl, which is a rarity.

This piece would be appropriate for a Freshmen ensemble, or if you choose to do away with the baritone line, it would work for a Freshmen women's group.  The consistent parallel motion would not be ideal for a group just beginning to sing in parts.

The soprano part is a very reasonable range: from D to D.  The tessitura is around G.  This is a very reasonable tessitura for early high school singers.  The alto line sits lower: from B to G.  The tessitura is around C.  The baritone range is D to B, but the tessitura is around G.  This would not be an ideal tessitura for a group of changing voices.  I would strongly consider using this as a women's piece, and do away with the baritone line.

This song could easily be used to teach about the sea chanty tradition.  It would also be easy to teach internalized beat and dance motion.  I would also teach story telling and interaction with the text.  It would also be an opportunity to teach differentiation in strophic songs.

The text is about a woman, but shows her as valuable outside of her appearance.  There are quite a few words that are outdated or unfamiliar, and this would be an opportunity to teach them.

Like I said, I would likely use only the soprano and alto line in this song.

Fun song, and free!

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