Five Songs From Mother Goose

SSA or SAB a cappella

Duration 3:15

Text by Mother Goose

Notes

I wrote this set of pieces originally as a sight-singing exercise. Every note in every part is diatonic, and each part moves only by step. That being said, it is not necessarily easy. I used different modes, and rhythmically it is challenging is places. It is doable by middle school choirs. I have done it with my high school singers as well as with my adult choir. These texts are not the most famous from Mother Goose, but I think that makes them that much more interesting.

Text

Jerry Hall, he was so small,
A rat could eat him, hat and all.

The fair maid who, the first of May,
Goes to the fields at break of day,
And washes in dew from the hawthorne tree,
Will ever after handsome be.

Molly, my sister and I fell out,
And what do you think it was all about?
She loved coffee and I loved tea,
And that was the reason we couldn't agree.

Three wise men of Gotham
Went to sea in a bowl;
If the bowl had been stronger
My song had been long-er.

There were once two cats of Kilkenny.
Each thought there was one cat too many;
So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,
Till, excepting their nails,
And the tips of their tails,
In-stead of two cats, there weren't any.