This is a Christmas carol that the high school choir used to sing. I know nothing about it except they called it “the Giblet” and it is obviously Baroque in style.
Normally I play this with recorders–gasp! the horror! –but thought it would be neat with whistles. The descant and alto are a very tweaked Guinness D, the tenor and bass are a Susato Low D.
I hope you enjoy this.
Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy Holiday Season to all,
I learned this piece by ear, from a recording of the choir singing it.
If you’d like, I could write out the parts for it and post them here.
I wish I knew more info about this music, but I graduated high school in 1984 and haven’t kept track of anyone who was in the choir. (I wasn’t–no voice worth talking about–but I loved to hear them sing!)
I’ll see if I can get some ABC’s put together for this…gimme a couple of days and hopefully I’ll have something to post.
Hi James,
Very nice!
I’ve been going through your website again, while listening. It’s a wonderful place and an engaging diversion from making whistles…better get back to work now.
Thanks much!
Mack
Is that “The Giblet” as in the bits you pull out of a Christmas goose before cooking it, and can allegedly make into soup or stock, but which everyone actually throws away after finding them still in the fridge several weeks later?
Thanks for sharing this, Jim. It’s a great carol. It sent me on a quest to try and find information on it. So far no luck. Now I’m contemplating trying to procure a copy of The New Oxford Book of Carols (not that this song is in it).
On 2002-12-16 10:53, Martin Milner wrote:
Is that “The Giblet” as in the bits you pull out of a Christmas goose before cooking it, and can allegedly make into soup or stock, but which everyone actually throws away after finding them still in the fridge several weeks later?
Grandma always made some pretty good gravy out of them at Christmastime.
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe that this song is from the Baroque era. It is too 4X4 (classical), where Baroque would go on and on (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring). It is also too melodic, where Baroque would tend to outline chords, except in the late Baroque, but then it would be Bach or Handel, and it doesn’t sound like them. Maybe it might be a renaissance piece. But it definately sounds English, which really never was at the top of its game, musically, compared to Italy, France, or Germany. -JP
Had to edit, because I had the wrong title of a tune. Drat!
[ This Message was edited by: JohnPalmer on 2002-12-19 01:09 ]
[ This Message was edited by: JohnPalmer on 2002-12-19 01:10 ]
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On 2002-12-17 14:54, Walden wrote:
Thanks for sharing this, Jim. It’s a great carol. It sent me on a quest to try and find information on it. So far no luck. Now I’m contemplating trying to procure a copy of The New Oxford Book of Carols (not that this song is in it).
[quote]
It might be in there, actually, under a different name, or with slightly different words. I have a copy, and I’ve been surprised at the carols in there that don’t seem familiar until I actually start sight-reading them.
The words sound a bit like they might be a translation…I wonder if this carol originally came from Eastern Europe? Hmmm…I’m going to have to do some research!
I tried to find some information on the term “gimlet” that was mentioned, but wasn’t able to come up with any meaning that seemed to apply to music. Can you elaborate? Is is a kind of round or fugue?
I remember more than one kid calling this tune “The Giblet” but changing up words or names of tunes in a funny way is a common thing for choir kids to do. You don’t want to hear some of the words I’ve heard sung to Frosty the Snowman, for instance…but I do think old Frosty would melt if they had really done that to him…
Help, please, somebody!!!
I copied and pasted the ABC notation for this carol and when I pasted it and submitted it at the Concertina site, nothing came up…
–but thought it would be neat with whistles. The descant and alto are a very tweaked Guinness D, the tenor and bass are a Susato Low D.
