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!
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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.
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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.
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