This was another arrangement written for my family. The first verse and the three-note transition into the second verse popped into my head one night as I lay awake in bed. I looked this carol up in our Christmas music books and read the lyrics, and I worked harder to reflect the meaning of the lyrics in this arrangement than I did in the previous one. As in many other compositions, I wanted to use the music to tell a story, in this case the story reflected in the words of Coventry Carol.
I think it is a really neat Christmas melody, one that isn’t used very often. I used the same methods in creating this arrangement as I did with the first one. The arrangement continues to build in volume and momentum as each instrument is individually added. The more melancholy verse that gives the melody to the bass is the verse that mentions Herod the king. The last verse is meant to be the positive conclusion to the story. I hoped that we as a family would perform this arrangement for church. We played through it a few times, but I don’t think we ever got around to an actual performance.
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