Wassail, Wassail All Over the Town
Wassail, Wassail All Over the Town, now with an EASY & FUN duet arrangement for early beginners, plus an intermediate solo arrangement for your older students.
A solo, or duet primo for beginners:
Don't be concerned about the eighth notes
If you sing this song as you play it, and share the terrific performance of the Waverly Consort in the video above, your students will certainly catch on to the quick-moving notes.
A lot of verses
Explain to your students what "wassailing" is, if they don't know... here in our town, it is similar to our custom of "Julebukking", though we don't do any singing, just eating, at one establishment after another!
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Picturesque lyrics from another time
Your students may chuckle over the words "a good Christmas pie," "Broad May," and "Fillpail", and even enjoy singing them.
A bouncy but pretty secondo
This secondo will be challenging for students who are beginning to understand chord inversions. They are fairly simple, and repetitive, but they move so fast!
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
How to use the lyrics
When singing and playing with your students, try following the example of the Waverly Consort, and interspersing each verse with a return to verse 1, like a chorus. Your student will enjoy this return to the same lyrics, growing more familiar with each repetition!
This is music from another era
This is the kind of music that you hear in old-fashioned Christmas movies such as "A Christmas Carol."
Not only are the lyrics fun to sing, but this piano arrangement has bounce! Altogether it makes for an irresistible Christmas carol.
What IS wassailing?
Lots of kids in this generation have no idea what "wassail" means. Perhaps you don't know either. I will tell you!
Wassail is both a verb and a noun.
"Wassailing" is going from house to house, and perhaps store to store, and stopping (usually outside the door or windows) and singing Christmas carols with friends, to friends (or even strangers).
If the store owner or householder is pleased with your merry-making, then they may bring to you some "wassail" beverage for you to imbibe!
This custom originated in England, I believe; if you know differently, please do tell! It is Christmas carolling, but with the addition of the "wassail bowl."
A question from an alert reader:
I had a question from a fellow musician named Steve:
"Hi, is it wa-SAIL or WAH-s'l?"
The answer: It is BOTH! But in this song, the strong "three-ONE" feeling dictates that you sing "wa-SAIL". In a different song, "HERE we come a-WAS-sail-ing" it is the opposite emphasis.
A piano solo
For confident late elementary/ early intermediate piano players, this left hand part should fit nicely into the hand. Mostly open chord inversions plus a few moving root chords, it is very fun to play!
This song is also known as the "Gloucestershire Wassail."
The duet links:
Download Wassail duet primo (easy solo)
Download the secondo arrangement
The intermediate piano solo link:
Download Wassail, Wassail All Over the Town
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!
Recent Articles
-
Angels We Have Heard on High - Free Christmas Songs Arrangements
Angels We Have Heard on High: children love the fancy "Gloria" chorus, and you can download multiple arrangements for piano, violin, & guitar! -
Gospel Song Jesus Loves Me: Beginner & Easy Piano, Plus Lead Sheets!
Gospel song "Jesus Loves Me" is well-known to many children. Here are easy arrangements to learn the music & each word to Jesus Loves Me, for early piano. -
Easy Piano Sheet Music Swan Lake -Beginners & Intermediate Pianists!
Easy piano sheet music Swan Lake, lovely solos & duets, with lyrics in the beginner arrangements for dreamy students who love imagining. New arrangements! -
The Wellerman Sheet Music: Easy Piano & Lead Sheets!
The Wellerman: Tabs, sheet music & lyrics for piano, guitar, & more! Such a fun, high-energy song to sing & play - learn it fast with letters in the notes! -
Christmas Carol Lyrics Song from the Bible: Free SATB and Guitar Tab
Christmas carol lyrics from the Bible and an old-fashioned carol-like tune combine in this free Christmas song for SATB choir or a solo vocalist with guitar.
Interested in songs from the Bible for your students or church? Check out my other website, SingTheBibleStory.com!
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!
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!!
Bidur Kumar:
Thanks a lot for building such a nice site where people can easily find and free download sheet music for beginners. I am going to start teaching piano to kids.
I was just searching for some basic interesting songs for my pupil. Here, I found a wonderful site where I spent more than 3 hours and downloaded some music. Thanks again for making my day easier.
Becky:
A thousand thanks for your beginning piano and guitar songs.
I've already printed several for my children, including the Pretty Little Horses TAB and Carol of the Bells for piano. What a wonderful resource!
About the Author
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.
Recent Articles
-
Angels We Have Heard on High - Free Christmas Songs Arrangements
Angels We Have Heard on High: children love the fancy "Gloria" chorus, and you can download multiple arrangements for piano, violin, & guitar! -
Gospel Song Jesus Loves Me: Beginner & Easy Piano, Plus Lead Sheets!
Gospel song "Jesus Loves Me" is well-known to many children. Here are easy arrangements to learn the music & each word to Jesus Loves Me, for early piano.