This is a 2011 post which I thought I'd re-up. Years back, when I was getting download counts at Box.com, I checked in one day and was stunned to see that more than 1400 downloads had happened! I'm still stunned. (Only 1,327 of those were by me. Just kidding.) Anyway, the text explains all. Just pretend it's 2011 again, and my use of the present tense won't be a problem.
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So, I received my eBay copy of the William B. Bradbury tunebook, The Victory (1872 edition), and there on page 74 is James Pierpont's The One Horse Open Sleigh, a.k.a. Jingle Bells--only, with its original melody (!), which is different in spots from the one we know. So I put together a recording, with me at the Casio WK-3800 (Patch 071). This is tricky to play, because the tenor part is up top on its own line (and notated an octave up in the treble clef), which makes putting all four voices together a royal pain, since the tenor has to be added to the bass, alto, and soprano, and played an octave lower than written. Therefore, I recorded this four bars at a time and joined the results together. Which is actually less of a hassle than re-notating the thing for easier reading. Except for a couple rushed measures, this came out nicely, I think.
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So, I received my eBay copy of the William B. Bradbury tunebook, The Victory (1872 edition), and there on page 74 is James Pierpont's The One Horse Open Sleigh, a.k.a. Jingle Bells--only, with its original melody (!), which is different in spots from the one we know. So I put together a recording, with me at the Casio WK-3800 (Patch 071). This is tricky to play, because the tenor part is up top on its own line (and notated an octave up in the treble clef), which makes putting all four voices together a royal pain, since the tenor has to be added to the bass, alto, and soprano, and played an octave lower than written. Therefore, I recorded this four bars at a time and joined the results together. Which is actually less of a hassle than re-notating the thing for easier reading. Except for a couple rushed measures, this came out nicely, I think.
DOWNLOAD: The One Horse Open Sleigh (James Pierpont)--Your blogger at the WK-3800; 2011.
"I need one of those dish TVs. Hey, how come I only have two reindeer??"--Santa
Lee