Thursday, December 15, 2016

Advent Calendar Day 15: Shepherds Swing

As promised, here is the recording of my annual Christmas composed song.  This year, I actually wrote it in August, the idea came to me very quickly. I knew that I was missing a Shepherd-based song for my Complete Nativity and I immediately knew I wanted it to have a swing feel to it.  Usually I compose my own lyrics but this time I decided to use someone else's lyrics.

I confess that I find the regular tune to While Shepherds watched their flocks by night quite a dirge.  It just seems to go on and on so I decided it needed spicing up. Whether or not you agree with this, I love these lyrics which are pretty much lifted from Luke's gospel verbatim and I wanted to enjoy singing them.

The accompaniment came first- it's pretty much a standard swing rhythm and I guess rather derivative.   But hopefully a little catchy... I knew I wanted a break in the middle with some comedy scatting (Baaaaaa- baaaaaaaaa- get it???) and a starring part for my year 6 recorder players seemed to suggest itself.

Hope you enjoy it!

xx
P.S. Forgive my dodgy piano playing...



14 comments:

  1. I love it! The children sound adorable and your piano playing is wonderful!

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  2. I love this Kezzie, and you're right, the tune is a lot more upbeat ad the swing feel makes it more modern too - it's lovely. - Tasha

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  3. I love your piano playing, and that swing rhythm! The kids seem to enjoy it, too! Good work, Kezzie :-)

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  4. Awww, they are so cute. I imagine it's a wonderful time for them, so excited about Christmas and singing Christmas-themed songs. It's lovely.

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  5. Oh wow! that's great

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  6. That is lovely and an excellent take on the usual version - yours is so much better!

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  7. Great change, the children actually sound as though they are enjoying singing it. I like it
    Briony
    x

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  8. FAB - YOU - LUSS! Really good fun! Well done you.

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  9. Oh my gosh, what a fabulous song. I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear and my toes were just so excited with the beat, even my typing had the tempo. lol. A job well done and the kids were great. Bravo.

    Thanks for sharing this wonderful Shepherds' Swing song with us. It brightened my day.
    Hugs,
    Julia

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  10. Hey Kezzie, just popping across very quickly to say, I've posted off your Christmas card but I'll wait until the New Year now to write to you as I'm not sure of how regular the post will be from now on and I ran out of time before I went to the post office today, so I'll send you a letter soon! :D - Tasha

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  11. Ah, it's nice and swing-y! Good job. :-)

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  12. Oh, Kezzie, what a wonderfully catchy song! The baaaa baaaa part is such a good find. I'm already singing it in my head! xxx

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  13. I actually haven't hear this song before so I can't make comparisons..but it seems to me a beat is a bit faster and kind of jazzy (not that I can really compare but I imagine that the regular version of this song less fun, as often these kind of songs are) ...I'm enjoying listening to it right now. The voices of kids are adorable! I liked your piano playing too:).

    Having heard all of this song, I can tell you that you composed a lovely tune! It matches the lyrics nicely. I couldn't make out all the lyrics in this first hearing, but I like how you modernized them with the tun. The kids sang it really well too! Great job!

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  14. Toe taping stuff, love the recorders. I can just imagine everyone having a big smile on their faces listening to this.
    Lisa x

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