Thursday, December 15, 2016

Christmas Song

Hi dear friends, Merry Christmas & Happy new year to all. AS This is a month of Christmas, I thought of playing the famous Christmas song, ie "Jingle bell, Jingle bell" in my  "Mridangam Tarang" series.
I have used 7 different Mridangams, starting from lower octave 'B' to 'A' for playing this song. For higher pitch 'A' I have used my new 'Synthetic Mridangam' ( Vegan Mridangam).

Jingle Bells:
"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857. It has been claimed that it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir; however, historians dispute this, stating that it was much too "racy" (and secular) to be sung by a children's church choir in the days it was written.Although not originally intended on having any connection to Christmas, it later became associated with Christmas music and the season in general.


https://youtu.be/eEJ7NgzhZQg

Jingle Bells- Lyrics.

Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

Bells on bob tail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh, hey

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Although less well-known than the opening, the remaining verses depict high-speed youthful fun. In the second verse, the narrator takes a ride with a girl and loses control of the sleigh:

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side,

The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh, hey

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
(Source: Wikipidia)
The song is set to Ragam ' Sankarabharana in Aadi thalam.

Notes are as follows:
1)  G E D C G. [Dashing through the snow]
      GGG E D C A
      A F E D B
      G G F D E
  
      G E D C G   [Bells On bob tail ring]
      G E D C A
      A F E D GGG
     GG A G F D C. G

     E E E  E E E  [JINGLE BELL]
     E G C. D E.
     F F F FF E E
    EE E D D E D. G

    E E E   E E E    [JINGLE BELL]
    E G C. D E .
    F F F FF E E
    EE GG F D C

     G E D C G.    [A day or two ago]
     GGG E D C A
     A F E D B
     G G F D E
  
     G E D C G  [The horse was lean & lank ]
     G E D C A
     A F E D GGG
     GG A G F D C. G