Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Despite the mention of bells and Christmas in the title, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is as much an antiwar song as it is a Christmas song. In fact, the poetry of this renowned carol was crafted by the great American literary figure Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the midst of the American Civil War. On Christmas Day in 1863, Longfellow wrote the familiar lines in response to the horror of the bloody fratricidal conflict in general and to the personal tragedy of his son, who was severely wounded in November 1862.

It was not until sometime after 1872 that the poem, which was originally titled “Christmas Bells”, was converted into a carol. The composer of the tune, organist John Baptiste Calkin, was the most famous of a family of accomplished English musicians. At first Calkin's melody was published with the 1848 American hymn “Fling Out the Banner! Let It Float” by George Washington Doane. Ironically, “Fling Out” was an old-fashioned militant missionary hymn which contrasted greatly in purpose and spirit from the more permanent partner of Calkin's music.

Although Calkin's melody, which is actually titled “Waltham”, is beautiful, at least three alternative tunes have been tried. Among these, the wafting melody by Johnny Marks (who is most noted for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”) has become particularly popular. Marks' composition is now often used for modern recordings of the song, while Calkin's melody was notably featured in recordings by Elvis Presley, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Jimmie Rodgers.

Tune of the Day: Get Up Early

The earliest appearance of this tune is found in Edward Bunting's collection The Ancient Music of Ireland, published in Dublin in 1840. Bunting obtained the melody (which is described as “Very ancient”) from R. Stanton, Westport, County Mayo, in 1802.

Tune of the Day: Study in G major by Gariboldi

This is étude No. 18 from Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives. It focuses on the alternation of binary and ternary rhythms.

Tune of the Day: Andante by Köhler

Here is a new duet from the first volume of Ernesto Köhler's Forty Progressive Duets, Op. 55. This Andante in D major is made up of a very simple melody, accompanied by a series of arpeggios.

Tune of the Day: Away in a Manger (Cradle Song)

This is the tune to which “Away in a Manger” is most commonly set to in the United Kingdom. (In the US, the hymn is more often sung to the tune Mueller.) Originally titled “Cradle Song”, this tune was written by American musician William J. Kirkpatrick for the 1895 musical Around the World with Christmas. Kirkpatrick, like others before him, attributed the words of the hymn to Luther.

It seems that more than 40 different tunes have been written for “Away in a Manger”, and this multiplicity of settings can really become a source of confusion. There's even a story of a school teacher who had been teaching her children to sing the hymn to one tune, while the Sunday schools in her town were telling them to sing it to another. Both the day school and the Sunday school song books gave their tune as composed by Martin Luther. Which tune did Luther really write? Ironically, the answer is: neither!

Tune of the Day: With All My Heart

This jig appears to be unique to Francis O'Neill's collection The Dance Music Of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. It is part of an extended tune family including “Ask My Father” and “Oh! Hag You Have Killed Me”.

Tune of the Day: Study in A major by Köhler

This étude in A major is taken from the second book of Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies by Italian composer Ernesto Köhler.