Matchmaker Song from
Fiddler on the Roof
The Matchmaker song from Fiddler on the Roof is a favorite with young girls. Check out this free sheet music that connects the beginning and the end!
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
What do I mean, connect the beginning and the end?
Well, at the beginning of the song, the sisters are happily dreaming about their future husbands - men as yet unknown to them. Unknown, yet surely WONDERFUL.
They sing, "For Papa, make him a scholar... for Mama, make him rich as a king. For me, well, I wouldn't holler if he were as handsome as anything!"
But in the next verse, they have changed their minds - no longer are they in a hurry to find a "match."
Why not? In the shortened version of the song that you find in Fiddler On the Roof, Vocal Selections, you are not told. Here is the whole scene:
The full score of Fiddler on the Roof, with the funny Part B of Matchmaker is $80 currently at Sheetmusicplus... but one of my students, a senior, really wanted to sing it with an ensemble. It's her last year of singing with me, so I wanted to make her happy!
But I wasn't happy with the abridged song.
I looked high and low for sheet music that included the humorous bantering of the sisters - I even bought a choral arrangement of a medley for SSA of Fiddler on the Roof (6 copies - grrr!), all to no avail.
The missing scene wasn't there either. And an $80 book was out of the question (unless I was going to produce a full-blown high school musical play!).
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
I begin this piano interlude right at the end of verse one, after the girls sing "Night after night in the dark I'm alone, so strike me a match... of... my... own."
Then, what we have planned during these two pages of music is a bit of acting to contrast with verse one.
During the singing of that verse, the starry-eyed girls were gazing at "photos" of very handsome, eligible young men - perhaps Disney princes!
But now suddenly, the "matchmaker" will appear (another girl, wearing a scarf), with her own page of photos, made up of dismal-looking villains. (Both pages will appear on the screen up front so audience members can enjoy the contrast.)
The music I have written, with minor chords echoing chord patterns that were previously major, will encourage the girls to act out their dawning recognition of the possible dangers of matrimony to a stranger.
They will, hopefully, recoil in horror and give meaning to the second verse, when they re-enter with the words "Matchmaker, Matchmaker, you know that I'm still very young... please take your time..."
Anyway, that's the plan! I'll let you know how it goes.
UPDATE:
Yes, we had the recital, and this song was fabulous! However, using photos didn't pan out.
Instead, the girls pantomimed a little act of appealing to the matchmaker ((seated off to the side a bit) regarding the necessary qualities of their future bridegrooms. The matchmaker made notes in a journal.
Then, during the minor-key interlude, she rose from her chair and shared her notes with the girls, who recoiled in horror! It was pretty funny.
Because this creation is an original work, new music, I do not believe it violates copyright law. If anyone can prove me wrong, I will pull this page down.
Till then, it is free for anyone who wishes to make use of it (unless YOU are charging money for a performance, in which case you need my permission to use my work).
The link for the Matchmaker music PDF:
Download Matchmaker song interlude
Comments
Do you have a funny story about this music, or does it remind you of something you'd like to share with other readers? Do you have a question? I'd love to hear it!
Please note that all comments are moderated, and will not appear until I have approved them. Also, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR MUSIC THAT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOUR REQUEST WILL BE IGNORED. That's pretty much any music written in the last 75 years...
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Mary Did You Know
I really would like to learn how to sing Mary did you know with my sister, so I'd like a duet. I love this song!
Dana:
Because this song is copyrighted, …
Is the Matchmaker interlude music the same as in the movie?
Hello! Does this interlude sound anything like the one in the video? My group really wanted to have the eldest girl saying Tzeitel's lines, but if the …
Dianna:
Your website is a light in the darkness. THANK YOU for all you do in helping to spread the love of music. It matters!
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