The Water Is Wide (O Waly Waly)
Duration: 5:24
Score: 10 pg. 121 ms., MM quarter = 94, final verse MM quarter = 80, common time
Solo part: 3 pg.
Piano part: 4 pg.

A thought-provoking arrangement of a Traditional Scottish Folksong. Probably most widely known as "The Water Is Wide,"
it is also well known by it's more ancient title: "O Waly Waly." The tune is also known as " When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and "The Gift of Love."
This is an original arrangement from the ground up.

Programming:
If you are looking for something with new contrapuntal and harmonic adventures for a Lenten prelude or a meditation during Holy Week, this will fit the bill.
It could also work well in a recital setting because it fits well on the instrument, and provides a chance to show off long, sensitive musical phrases.
Some of the figures in the descant verse are a wee-bit more advanced so, this is for intermediate players rather than beginners.

Keep in mind these performance ideas:
1. It's a simple tune that needs to unfold in the due course of time, so don't rush it. A slight ritardando at the end of each verse may help if you want to further delineate the verses.
2. There is a lot of interesting counterpoint here, so be prepared to give-and-take on the dynamics more than what I have indicated.
3. The final verse is much slower and more mysterious, and the dynamics are crucial - the quieter the better. Piano - the last chord: take your time on the roll, make it nice and slow.

Synopsis of the arrangement:
verse 1: Simple quiet duet with the melody in the solo instrument.
verse 2: Melody in the solo instrument accompanied by a 2-part canon in the piano.
verse 3: Melody in the piano in 4-part harmony.
verse 4: 3-part canon on the melody (with a free accompaniment voice).
verse 5: 2-part canon with a free accompaniment in the solo part
verse 6: Melody in octaves with free bass in octaves; descant in the solo part - loudest verse.
verse 7: Very quiet ending verse - Modulates down a fourth, melody in the solo part accompanied by simple quartal/quintal
piano clusters over bass chords that suggest submerged church bells.

For better insight into the performance of this music: express the emotion indicated by the lyrics:

The Water Is Wide:
The water is wide, I cannot get over
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I
A ship there is and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not so deep as the love I'm in
I know not if I sink or swim
I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
So did my love prove false to me
I reached my finger into some soft bush
Thinking the fairest flower to find
I pricked my finger to the bone
And left the fairest flower behind
Oh love be handsome and love be kind
Gay as a jewel when first it is new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew
Must I go bound while you go free
Must I love a man who doesn't love me
Must I be born with so little art
As to love a man who'll break my heart
When cockle shells turn silver bells
Then will my love come back to me
When roses bloom in winter's gloom
Then will my love return to me

The lyrics for "Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bonny" from Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany (1724).

O Waly, waly (a lament ? "woe is me") up the bank,
And waly, waly doun the brae (hill),
And waly, waly, yon burn-side (riverside),
Where I and my love wont to gae.
I lean'd my back into an aik (oak),
I thocht it was a trusty tree;
But first it bow'd, and syne (soon) it brak (broke),
Sae my true love did lightly me.

O waly, waly, but love be bonnie (beautiful),
A little time while it is new,
But when 'tis auld (old), it waxeth cauld (cold),
And fades away like the morning dew.
O wherefore should I busk my heid (adorn my head)?
Or wherefore should I kame (comb) my hair?
For my true love has me forsook,
And says he'll never love me mair (more).

Now Arthur Seat shall be my bed,
The sheets shall ne'er be fyl'd by me,
Saint Anton's well shall be my drink,
Since my true love has forsaken me.
Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw (blow),
And shake the green leaves off the tree?
O gentle death, when wilt thou come?
For of my life I am weary.

'Tis not the frost, that freezes fell,
Nor blawing snaws (snow) inclemency,
'Tis not sic cauld (such cold) that makes me cry,
But my love's heart grown cauld to me.
When we cam in by Glasgow town,
We were a comely sight to see;
My love was clad in the black velvet,
And I my sell in cramasie (crimson).

But had I wist (known), before I kiss'd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lock my heart in a case of gold,
And pin'd it with a silver pin.
Oh, oh! if my young babe were born,
And set upon the nurse's knee,
And I my sell were dead and gane,
For a maid again I'll never be.[4]
(Lyrics courtesy of Wikipedia)


For more information, please feel free to contact me at: jmsgu3 "at" gmail.com
James M. Guthrie, ASCAP
jmsgu3 publications

An arrangement of the national anthem of China arranged for Symphony Orchestra. There are alternative versions for Symphony and Brass Quintet in my stores

The "March of the Volunteers"[5][6] is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China, including its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Unlike most previous Chinese state anthems, it is written entirely in the vernacular, rather than in Classical Chinese.

Its lyrics were composed as a dramatic poem by the poet and playwright, the Japan-educated Tian Han in 1934 and set to music by Nie Er from Yunnan Province the next year for the film Children of Troubled Times. It was adopted as the PRC's provisional anthem in 1949 in place of the "Three Principles of the People" of the Republic of China and the Communist "Internationale". When Tian Han was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, the march was briefly and unofficially replaced by "The East Is Red", then played without words, then played with altered words. Restored to its original version, the "March of the Volunteers" was raised to official status in 1982, adopted by Hong Kong and Macau upon their restorations to China in 1997 and 1999, respectively, and included in the Chinese Constitution's Article 136 in 2004 (Article 141 in 2018).

For more of my original music, great arrangements and all the national anthems of the world, check out my on-line stores: https://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/keithterrett1http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/search?Ntt=keith terrett Need an anthem fast? They are ALL in my store! All my anthem arrangements are also available for Orchestra, Recorders, Saxophones, Wind, Brass and Flexible band. If you need an anthem urgently for an instrumentation not in my store, let me know via e-mail, and I will arrange it for you FOC if possible! keithterrett@gmail.com If you perform this arrangement in public, make a recording or broadcast it through any media, please notify the PRS (UK), or ASCAP (USA), or SOCAN (Canada), or APRA (Australia) or KODA (Denmark) or the equivalent organisation in your own country, giving the name of the arranger as Keith Terrett.

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Song List: Gentle Mary He Is Born Miracle Of Love Miracle Of Love Reprise Rejoice And Sing The Fathers Love The Promise What Child Is This