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Showing posts from November, 2018

Thanksgiving Piece: Over the River and Through the Wood

(Blogpost only - no podcast episode) I'm always looking for ways to use song material in fresh, new ways.  One of the songs I enjoy using around Thanksgiving time is "Over the River and Through the Wood."  Not only is the meter in 6/8, which is a nice change from typical duple meters, it offers an opportunity to create new sections based off of small building blocks of rhythms within that meter.  Additionally, the song only uses 4 chords so it can be used easily with bass xylophone accompaniment or ukulele! Over the River and Through the Wood A brief history of the song: The song originated as a poem called "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day" by Lydia Maria Child and was first published in 1844 in the book Flowers for Children, Vol. 2 .  There were originally twelve verses in total.  We often sing it at Christmastime, but the original versions of the first two verses are: Over the river and through the wood To Grandfather's house we go The ho