A Carol to the King: a collaboration—fortunately!
Once upon a time…
Why do I seem to start a lot of posts that way? You’d think my life was a fairy tale. I guess in a lot of ways our lives really are like fairy tales–not every moment of every fairy tale is filled with enchanted coaches and beautiful ball gowns. Cinderella’s house had a mouse problem, Aurora had serious sleep issues, Snow White’s dad married one heckuva crazywoman…
Ahem… as I was saying…
Once upon a time…
…I wrote some words and a melody. And then I realized that my ability to actually set that melody as a choral and accompany it with really cool accompaniment was limited by A LEFT HAND THAT STILL DOESN’T FUNCTION PROPERLY. (At least when I whine, I do it in all caps. Boldface.)
Since I am the Queen of Plaguing People With Projects (see… the fairy tale theme continues!), I plagued a friend with this one.
Katherine Wright is an amazing musician, and writes a lot of really gorgeous stuff of her own. Take a look at her work here: http://www.wrightmusicstudio.com/sheet-music.html – her “Come Unto Jesus” setting is one of my all-time favorites.
She’s also a very tolerant friend, and has been since she was 16. (I was older. I won’t tell you how much older.) So Katherine did the choral setting and accompaniment (with only a bit of kibitzing by the other half of the team) and I did the words and melody (ditto).
The result was this year’s first Christmas offering: “A Carol to the King.” It’s voiced for SATB choir and piano.
Here’s a piano track:
Click the 
to download the free track for personal use.
There is no vocal recording for this one, since I STILL don’t own a choir or a million-dollar studio. (Silly me… I should get on that!) The piano supports the voices well enough, however, that you should be able to figure out what the parts sound like.
Katherine and I are quite the pair: we both sweat the small stuff, so getting to the happily-ever-after always takes us awhile. But since we’re finally there…
…and they all lived happily ever after.
(Until next time. Cue Evil Queen laughter…)
Next up: a Christmas solo gets SATBed by request, and TTBBed as well. (Abbreviations can verb too….) 😉
Links to material in this post
Handy info…
Since you asked: How to Find Translations on This SiteFinding translations here is super easy. This is what you do: […]
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Love deford music.
Beautiful!
This is just beautiful! Glorious! Thank you and thank you to Katherine Wright for the collaborative efforts that have rendered a glimpse into heaven through this lovely musical piece! ♥
Bless you (and your left hand)!
Thank you so much for this gift, Sally.
Please accept our gratitude for this wonderful collaborative gift of Christmas music, Sally. The words and melody are heavenly. Please also express our gratitude to Katherine, who contributed much to the beautiful choral setting and accompaniment.
As you said, it is good to have an “introductory” piece which does not give away the whole story!
Best wishes to you and your family!
This song is gorgeous! Thanks so much. I played the choir parts on a “choir” setting on the keyboard and mixed it with the accompaniment track. We will definitely do this next Christmas.
We appreciate your efforts! We are introducing your music down here in Mexico City. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts and talents.
What a beautiful song lyrics in a Carol to the King. You are an amazing person to write such beautiful music and be willing to share them with all of us. What a blessing you are. Thank you for your willingness to bless others through your talent. I have used several of your songs both as solos and as a choir director.
Thank you
A Carol to the King is really beautiful, and I’m wondering if you have the sheet music to it, as I’m sure our pianist would enjoy playing it for us – a prelude?
The sheet music is already posted in this page. Look right above the Comments section: “Links to Materials in this Post”.
Thank you so much for your beautiful music.
our choir is working on 2 of your songs for Christmas.
We love your music.The songs are Gesu Bambino and
Born to wear a crown. we love them. Thanks again.