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A Little Word About Voicing

The fantastic thing about these carols is they were sung by choirs. We had:

• Sopranos
• Altos
• Tenors
• Basses

Melody and Support

So we always want a nice, strong, piercing soprano with the melody. And yet, we're always supported by a very meaty bass line.

A few kind of tenors and altos can sort of make their shining moment, say at about bar 13 or bar 14. You can always have a look at the change of harmonic rhythm. Look at the different colors that harmony makes.

The Role of Your Fingers

The fact that your ten fingers have different weighted ideas means you have the capacity to really play around with nuances and harmonic colors.

Exploring Harmony

We have some interesting harmony later on. For example, in bar nine, we have "brightly." It's the first time we don't have an octave, and it represents the highest point changing to "the moon that night." It's quite an unusual, jazzy chord there.

Then, with the word "cruel" coming up, it becomes a little bit more atmospheric and a little bit more emphatic.

Bar 12, 16, and 17 Insights

A little brief word about bar 12 and the ending, bars 16 and 17: we have repeated chords. Notice that I don't play the second one as loud as the first, and that's because I'm thinking of the word "cruel." You don't say "cruel" loudly, so you want to have the first one a little bit louder.

Again, think about the phrase ending in the same way with "fuel" at bars 16 and 17. Consider the upward motion a little less and then landing on the final cadence.

Word Painting

So we're looking at word painting all the time. It gets a little bit more intricate around bars 13 and 14, where "when a poor man came in sight."

It might be interesting there to really focus on that little bit of melodic bass line, which is rather interesting. And again, always remember: we're looking at the melody in the right hand, focusing on voicing.