Away in a manger

Away in a manger... one of our most familiar carols, found in every Christmas anthology.

...but what is this? I don't know this tune!

It turns out that Away in a manger is sung to different tunes, depending upon where you hail from. In the UK, we usually sing it to "Cradle Song" by the 19th century American composer, William Kirkpatrick, while Americans prefer to sing it to "Mueller" by James Murray. It has at varying times been sung to a whole host of different melodies - see Wikipedia for more details.

Looking at the two competing melodies, it struck me that they might sound interesting sung or played over each other, in counterpoint. So I have arranged them for two recorders, one high, and one low, with the high recorder taking first the "Mueller" tune, and switching to "Cradle Song" for the second verse, while the low recorder does the reverse. They could also be sung by voices or played by other instruments in the appropriate range.

The arrangement is in C major, and both parts have a low note of F, and a high note of G in the next octave, so the low part could easily be played on either a tenor or an alto / treble recorder, while the high part could be played on either a soprano / descant or a sopranino recorder. The descant and sopranino sound an octave higher than notated, while the alto and tenor are notated at their true pitch, so these two parts will sound in different octaves.

I have used the ukulele to provide a very simple intro and accompaniment, using the C and low G strings to give an alternating base, with the higher strings tinkling along above that. Use your thumb for the first bass note in each bar, and alternate fingers on the second and first stings for the rest of the bar. Keep the bass note ringing throughout the bar.

Away in a Manger lo-G-Score_and_Parts

If I feel well enough, I will try to make a recording of this next week, but I am migrained out right now, so in the meantime, here is a nasty wav file made on MuseScore!

Away in a manger wav

This could also be played on a low D baritone ukulele or the top four strings of a guitar, capoed at the fifth fret, but I have also provided a transposition to G major, to be played on open strings on these instruments. To be honest, I'd be more likely to use different patterns across all six strings on a guitar, but this pattern would work.

This tuning makes it harder to keep within the range of all the recorders - the bottom part can be played on a tenor, and the top part either on a descant, OR on the higher notes of a treble recorder - I provide notation for both options.

Away in a manger baritone uke score and parts

If you try any of these arrangements, please let me know in the comments, I'd love to know how  you get on! And if you spot any mistakes, then I'll do my best to correct them.