O, What Is Figgy Pudding?

We all seem to be quite at home singing of such things as figgy pudding and partridges in pear trees. But did you ever stop to think of the words you were singing long enough to realize how very odd some of them are? That's the essence of this lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek carol. While it could be sung as a unison piece (the "holes" are covered in the orchestration), the real fun comes from singing all the parts, too. That's why this is a great piece for older groups with a variety of singers, including changing, changed, or older voices.

The most important performance advice we can give you is to enunciate well enough for the lyrics to be understood. That's sort of the point of the song. Other than that, singing seriously in a choral way will further emphasize the silliness of it all, especially when singers also adopt serious expressions. Your audience will love it.

To help learn or just inspire, we have isolated part 2 and part 3, as well as an a cappella performance of all vocals, and put them on our web site for you. We also have a complete lyric page (with all three full parts as opposed to the reduced version in this issue) online, too. (See details following.)

Online extras - The free, downloadable extras mentioned can be found under the Graphics and Extras for Volume 20, No. 2 at MusicK8.com