Variations On An Ancient Christmas Round

This great old round has been rattling around the world for centuries with different names and in varying forms, but this basic melody has been a favorite since the heyday of the round as an entertainment, perhaps as early as the 1600s.

Our setting this year is typical of recent holiday recorder offerings: a full-orchestra accompaniment and parts for two soprano recorders and an alto recorder. The first soprano recorder part is harder while the second part is easier. The alto part is optional, though it adds a nice depth to the setting while providing a playable challenge for your young alto recorder players.

Plan to teach a Theme and Variations unit - While this isn't the simplest of theme and variations settings, it is a good tune to teach the basics of the form. Start by having one player play our short and simple theme. One good place to find it is at bar 13 for four bars on the soprano recorder part 1. As a matter of fact, let one of your recorder stars play it. (You might even consider letting that player play those bars in front of your performance of the work. It would be a nice addition to the performance.)

Recognize the melody - Now, have your class listen to the recording of the work, raising their hands each time the melody or a fragment of it shows up. Keep in mind that it can appear primarily as quarter notes (like at bar 13) but it also shows up half that tempo, or primarily as half notes. That happens in the introduction and several times thereafter.

Create your own variations - The melody here arrives in a fairly recognizable form every time, but there are other ways of varying it. One can make most notes staccato (not legato) or with varied rhythms against the same melody. One can change the style of the arrangement of any variation, making it a march, a 2-beat dance tune, a Latin-style piece, a segmented scherzo, or even a waltz.

With all of this in mind, have your group dream up a bunch of options, then flesh out a few. If they are simple enough, make them an intro to the work. You could, for instance, start with just the melody in recorders, then have a short variation that is recorders, flute or keyboards, and perhaps bass xylophone, all in the key of the work so you can begin the work whenever you like. Experiment with textures you have access to for variety and teachable moments.

We have provided a slower rendition of both the full performance and instrumental track online for this piece in case it is useful to you. And as usual, you can find the piano/recorder score there, too.