Spanish Ladies, with a new performance-ready sheet for you & your student guitarist. Take a look at the new music and you will see at once that it will be easy to read & sing the lyrics (& play the chords!) in a recital!
I have arranged this great song in several keys. Here is page one of the new LARGER LYRICS version, suitable for singing on stage:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
This is a swashbuckling song of old England, a sea chantey. Your students are sure to enjoy this free sheet music for voice, piano, and guitar!
Here is a look at page two of the new "stage performance" ready lyrics:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
This is VERY FUN to play and sing... you might be surprised to know that even little boys will belt this out! I've had two different boys play AND SING it with me at recitals in the last year.
Here is a vocal duet for lower voices:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Though the parts look as if they are for two men, I actually arranged this duet for a sister and brother. She is capable of singing quite low, so I set the melody as for a tenor (admittedly, rather a high tenor).
Her brother's voice is changing - that is, he is in the middle of puberty! - so I didn't want to send his voice too low.
The bottom part is almost exactly the same on pages 1 & 2, until you get to "From Ushant to Scilly, it's thirty-five leagues!", where I have got the bass line moving stepwise. It may be a bit tricky...
If the parts seem either too high or too low for your singers to execute well, have them learn it anyway, and transpose it.
Now for the BEAUTIFUL piano arrangement!
While the piano part is probably too challenging for younger students, with an accompaniment similar to Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier, it is enjoyable to play, with a bit of delicacy called for at the beginning, giving way to big chords that you can push on if you want!
For players who aren't ready to play inversions, the melody is quite doable as single notes, with careful fingering, and simple block chords in the left hand can take the place of the arrangement offered here.
See the free lead sheet with guitar tabs at the bottom of the page - it is in the key of A minor, almost as easy as this song gets. (Even easier- Check out the Middle C version for piano.)
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Though I first heard this old sea shanty sung by the captain in "Jaws" (only a tiny part, and sung rather badly), I later came across it in Cecil Sharp's "One Hundred English Folksongs", a treasure trove of old folk songs.
My piano arrangement is quite different from his, which has giant chords in the right hand and lots of octaves in the left.
A word about pronunciation: after careful listening to several video versions of Spanish Ladies, I decided that "From Ushant to Scilly" should be pronounced "from OOO-shunt to SEE-lee".
I hope I'm right; I like the way it sounds and it's fun to sing.
Update: In "Poldark" Season 2, there's an episode where smugglers are stopping off in Scilly, and they pronounce it just as I thought: SEE-lee.
And here are the guitar tabs for this great song, in the key of Am.
The key of Am is the easiest for guitar players, though it is a bit high for some singers. Or too low! So make this a capo song (I like it from frets 3 to 5) and both you and your student will have a fun song to practice the capo with.
This is the arrangement I ponied off of to make the "larger lyrics" version at the top of the page... both my student & I were peering at the tiny words here:
For younger students who want the fun of playing this song on the piano in a simple version (and even playing a duet version) go to this page to check out the Middle C arrangements... one is in Cm, and one is in Dm.
Have fun!
The new guitar version with easy-to-read lyrics:
Download new guitar arrangement of Spanish Ladies with large words
The vocal parts:
Download vocal duet for baritone and tenor (or low alto!)
The links to the piano arrangements:
Download piano sheet music free printable Spanish Ladies in Am
Download free printable sheet music Key of Gm
Download free folk sheet music in Em
The link to the original guitar music, with all the verses:
Download free guitar tabs for folk tune in Key of Am
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All the Pretty Little Horses - a soft and repetitious lullaby, quite pretty
Ash Grove - a famous and lovely song from Wales
Auld Lang Syne - the New Year's Eve song!
Colorado Trail Song - an American tune written by a real cowboy
Come By the Hills - another popular Irish melody
Down By the Salley Gardens - a famous and pretty song, very sweet
Green Bushes - a brisk little song that is pretty while being good for breath control training
Grenadier and the Lady - my favorite folk song of all. Find out why
I Gave My Love a Cherry - the "Riddle Song" is very pretty
Loch Lomond - the famous and sad song about never meeting again
Mari's Wedding - a singable tune with bouncy chords that is fun to play or sing
Minstrel Boy - a lovely and patriotic song about a warrior-poet
Molly Bawn - a sad story of a young hunter who thought he was shooting at a swan
Morning Has Broken - a beautiful melody made famous again by Cat Stevens
Once I Had a Sweetheart - "but now I have none!" Very pretty, and little-known.
Parting Glass - a well-known Irish tune which my singers always love
Raggle-Taggle Gypsies - a story about a young bride who abandons her wealthy new husband to go off with the gypsies. A catchy melody!
Scarborough Fair - an old and famous tune of lost love
Shenandoah - a famous and lovely American tune with ambiguous lyrics
Skye Boat Song - a pretty song from Scotland about the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea
Spanish Ladies - a minor key sea chanty that swings energetically along - BOYS like singing it too!
The Spanish Lady - Upbeat and energetic, this Irish song is fun to perform with a group
Star of the County Down - LOTS of fun to sing and play! An excellent ensemble piece
The Wellerman - a sea chanty that is very singable, and very fun!
All the first-year material I give my beginner students.
Piano keyboard sheets, scales, chords, note-reading exercises, and over 256 pages of music!
This beautiful song book for piano & voice "Esther, For Such a Time as This", available as a digital download, tells the riveting story of the time when Jews in ancient Persia faced a foe named Haman, and how a brave young queen risked her life to save her people.
A good choice for a singing story-teller, an operatic group, a short theater production, or a class of children!
This book is also available from Amazon as a paperback.
This book is available as a digital download from this site. Visit this page to see some free examples from the book.
It is also available from Amazon as a paperback!
This is the perfect easy start for little pianists.
And when they start reading white-key notes on the staff, this is a fun easy resource to say each week, "Choose a new black-key song at home this week and figure it out to show me next lesson!" They will be spending more time at the piano.
A perfect read aloud storybook
for little boys or girls.
The Adventures of Tonsta highlight the travels of a very young boy with a good heart, who goes about helping folk in trouble.
With a red cap on his head and a sack of tools slung over his shoulder, Tonsta seems to meet people in distress wherever he goes.
Lots of trolls in this book - including one who gives him a Christmas gift!
Krista:
Thank you thank you thank you!! I have recently started my own vocal studio, and though I have studied music education for years in college, a private studio is a daunting task for me.
Your site has made everything seem so simple and straightforward and has helped me to really get started. It is so comprehensive and well put together. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge so that music can be shared everywhere. :)
Dana:
Good for you! Yes, I know just what you mean. Every new endeavor requires a little bit of chutzpah -- not to say just brazening it out a bit, because you just can't be an expert at anything until you've done it for a while. We teachers have to learn how to teach... and you have to start somewhere.
Audrey:
I just wanted to tell you that I have found your website EXTREMELY helpful!
I have a young group of children that I have started a youth choir with and I was searching for music ideas and I came across your website. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
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...
Hi, I'm Dana! (Say that like "Anna".) I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.
Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.
You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.