Sample played by Burning River Brass

10070 - I Saw Three Ships

Trad English

Arranged by Roger Harvey

Difficulty: Medium

Price: £22.50

Programme note:

The legend, told in the verses of this carol, about sailing into landlocked Bethlehem can be traced back to the 12th century when three ships brought the relics of the purported Wise Men to Koln, Germany. From this story evolved the English folk carol "I Saw Three Ships," probably from the 15th century. The "three ships" refers to the belief that there were three Wise Men — which comes from the number of gifts. As the years passed, the Holy Family was substituted for the Magi and as the text moved from village to village, and from country to country, the song acquired numerous different variations in texts and tunes. The earliest printed text is from 1666.

Performance note:
Trumpet 1 is piccolo. Trumpet 4 is flugel throughout. Percussion is optional but desirable. If there is a 2nd percussion player available a tubular bell (pitch G) may be added in bars 72 and 76 and a side drum in the last cadence (bars 83-84: dotted crotchet rest; roll dotted crotchet; short quaver)
Play in a jovial manner.
From A keep the melody light and dance-like while the accompaniment is smooth.
The accompaniment at D can be lightly bell-like with a gentle, unobtrusive marcato.
Although G has a stronger feel avoid becoming heavy or aggressive - keep the jovial manner.
The changes of tempo for the final verse should be slight, just sufficient to give a little weight to the first few bars of the melody; the accel should not be too frantic, more like a return to the main tempo plus a lttle bit more to give a positive finish.