Rhapsody On An Ancient Carol

For the past few years, Paul has done a special recorder work for the second issue, set with full orchestra and giving you several options for your players. Our ancient carol is one of the oldest, "Adeste Fideles," often sung as "O Come All Ye Faithful." As with those recent extravaganzas, there are three recorder parts. Soprano 1, the more difficult of the two soprano parts, plays most closely to the melody. Soprano 2 is much easier, just requiring that the players play B, A, and G. There is also an optional alto recorder part that is at about the same level of difficulty as soprano part 1. The way the work is scored, it can be performed with any or all of the recorder parts, even just the easy soprano part.

This rhapsody presents the song with drama and a good bit of contrast. Let your students listen to the performance, with and without recorders. It will give them a good start toward the musicality you are striving for.

In the magazine, we provide the three recorder parts. A nice reduced score of the work is provided on our web site. (See details following.) While you're there, be sure to check out all of the other neat things we make available.

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