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Product Description by our Music Experts
The ABRSM Songbook Book 4 (with CD) is a collection of 32 songs from around the world, arranged for grade 4 voice - many of these pieces are on the ABRSM grade 4 syllabus.
Grade 4 songbook
The collection of pieces in the ABRSM songbook book 4 contains 20 ‘Art Songs’, and 12 ‘Traditional Songs’, arranged for grade 4 standard voice by Carol Barratt. The ‘Art Songs’ include show songs like ‘I Feel Pretty’ and ‘One Hand, One Heart’ from West Side Story, and ‘Consider yourself’ from Oliver!, 17th century ayre ‘Since first I saw your face’, Canadian folksong ‘She’s Like the Swallow’, and ‘Silent Worship’ from Handel’s opera ‘Tolomeo’, and many more. The 12 ‘Traditional Songs’ are compiled from all over the world, taking you to Hungary with ‘A Mi Házunk Eleje’, to Malaysia with ‘Mak Inang’, to Spain/Latin America with ‘El Galán Incognito’, to Jiangsu Province, China with ‘Mengjiang Nü’ and back to England with ‘The Wings of a Gull’.
Pieces from the ABRSM grade 4 singing syllabus
The ABRSM songbook book 4 contains a range of pieces from the ABRSM grade 4 singing syllabus (‘Art Songs’), and other ‘Traditional Songs’, which can be used for the other part of your exam, where you have to sing a traditional song of your own choice. You are advised to check the ABRSM singing exam syllabus if you intend to sing any of these pieces for your grade 4 singing exam, for the full details on the requirements.
Interpretation of lyrics and music
Lyrics to all songs are printed in phonetic versions of the original language and English translations, where needed, so you can sing them in either language - on the included CD there is a pronunciation guide for all of the songs. Unlike the ‘Art Songs’, the ‘Traditional Songs’ do not have performance directions, giving you freedom to decide your own dynamics, tempo and ornamentation, and they are unaccompanied, so you can change the pitch to suit your voice. There are also useful guidance/background notes on the origin/intended meaning for all of the pieces in the ABRSM songbook book 4, to help you with your emotional interpretations of these songs.
Backing CD plus pronunciation guide
The CD contains ‘minus one’ piano accompaniments for the art songs for you to sing along to, and pronunciation guides for all songs.
Contents (by section, A-Z)
Art Songs
- A Cradle Song - R.V. Williams
- A New Year Carol - B. Britten
- A Smuggler's Song - C. Le Fleming
- Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind - T. Arne
- Clock-A-Clay - R.R. Bennett
- Consider Yourself (Oliver!) - L. Bart
- Die Waise (The Orphan) - R. Schumann
- Down By The Salley Gardens - Air: The Maids of Mourne Shore (arr. C. Barratt)
- Fy Nghalon - Welsh trad. (arr. C. Barratt)
- I Feel Pretty (West Side Story) - L. Bernstein
- Long Ago And Far Away (Cover Girl) - J. Kern
- Long Time Ago - Anon. (arr. C. Barratt)
- Love Quickly Is Pall'd - H. Purcell
- Med En Primula Veris (Mit Einer Primula Veris) (With A Primrose) - E. Grieg
- Cessate Di Piagarmi - A. Scarlatti
- One Hand, One Heart - L. Bernstein
- Seligkeit (Heavenly Bliss) - F. Schubert
- She's Like A Swallow - Trad. Newfoundland (arr. C. Barratt)
- Shiny - C. Cope
- Silent Worship - G.F. Handel (arr. A. Somervell)
- Since First I Saw Your Face - T. Ford
- The Dormouse's Carol - E. Poston
- The Woodcutter's Song - R.V. Williams
- When Daisies Pied - T. Arne
Traditional Songs
- A Mi Hazunk Eleje (Hungary)
- Black is the Colour (U.S.A)
- Buncloudy (Ireland)
- El Galan Incognito (Spain/Latin America)
- Greenland Whale Fishery (Devon, England)
- Mak Inang (Malaysia)
- Mengjiang Nü (Jiangsu Province, China)
- The Cage (Lancashire, England)
- The Donside Emigrant's Farewell (Corgaff, Aberdeenshire)
- The Wings of a Gull (England)
- Tudora (Bulgaria)
- Y Deryn Pur (Wales)