ÿþ<html> <head> <title>FolkWorld Column: Folk for Children</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#EEFFFA" link="#DC143C" alink="#FF3300" vlink="#4B0082"> <p><font size=4 color="4169e1"><font FACE="Maiandra GD">FolkWorld</font> Issue 42 07/2010; Children Music Reviews by <a href="../../fw/staff.html#staff">Michael Moll</a> (with the help of Yasmine, 2 years old)</font> </p><br> <center> <b><FONT SIZE=7 COLOR="#ff0000">Folk for Children</FONT><br> <font color="#008000" size="6"><i>Stories, Songs & Lullabies</i></font></b> </CENTER> <p><font size=4> We stay this time in the English spoken world, covering sheet music, lullabies and fairytales... </font> <P><a name="little"><table align="right" bgcolor="#add8e6" cellpadding=5 border=5 bordercolor="#EEFFFA"> <tr><td> <p><center><IMG SRC="../p/little.jpg" width=112 height=164 alt="Little Voices Folk Songs"></center> </td></tr> </table> <P><b>&quot;Little Voices Folk Songs&quot;</b> is a little book with sheet music for piano and lyrics for five traditonal songs from the British Isles: A-Roving, Bonny Mary of Argyle, Early one Morning, The Minstrel Boy and Salley Gardens. The music is easy to play on the piano, but may sound a bit basic if played without singing, yet is highly suitable as accompaniment to singing. The book includes a short CD containing complete vocal and piano versions of the songs sung beautifully by Sarah Eyden, as well as tracks of piano-only versions of the songs, perfect as a reference for those children (or adults) learning to play the songs. This book is from a larger series of &quot;Little Voices&quot; music books - it appears that the only other folk related book is &quot;Ballads&quot;. <P><a name="jennings"><table align="left" bgcolor="#add8e6" cellpadding=5 border=5 bordercolor="#EEFFFA"> <tr><td> <p><center><IMG SRC="../p/jennings.jpg" width=198 height=202 alt="Jennings &amp; Ponder, The King and the Thrush"></center> <p><IMG SRC="../../p/icon_sound_kl.gif" height=19 width=26 alt="Icon Sound"> @ <a href="http://www.folktale.net"><b>www.folktale.net</b></a> </td></tr> </table> <P>Moving on to something a bit different - storytelling. And with<b> Tim Jennings and Leanne Ponder </b>we have a real master story telling duo, and their latest album <b>&quot;The King and the Thrush - Tales of Goodness and Greed&quot;</b> does not disappoint. The duo from Vermont, New England masters the storytelling in a unique, very entertaining and engaging way. Their working together is extremely well oiled; the storytelling appears spontaneous and innovative - sometimes both talking some words simultaneously to emphasise, doing different voices and sound effects, and presenting the stories full of emotion and ideas. The stories they tell are traditional tales as humans have told their children for generations, and before that they may have been told also between adults as a main source of entertainment. The four stories on this album stem originally from Denmark, <a name="butler"><table align="right" bgcolor="#add8e6" cellpadding=5 border=5 bordercolor="#EEFFFA"> <tr><td> <p><center><IMG SRC="../p/butler.jpg" width=198 height=198 alt="Margie Butler, Celtic Lullabies"></center> </td></tr> </table> the Ukraine and India; they are unusual enough for me not having heard them before. Between each story, there are very short (less than a minute) little tunes which are as timeless as the stories. The album has been recorded live, in the true tradition of storytelling. Lovely. <P>After storytime now finally some more lullabies, but unfortunately this album, <b>Margie Butler's &quot;Celtic Lullabies&quot;</b>, does not hit it off with me. Even though I could have liked this - the instrumentation is pleasant featuring harp, guitar, accordion, violin etc, and Margie also has an overall pleasant enough voice - but why o why did they have to put an echo effect over the voice? It gives the whole album an esoteric feel, and some songs sound by this treatment simply awful to me. Margie Butler is the harpist and singer of the band Golden Bough. The songs on this album are traditional and come from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. <P>So much for now - more next time! <P><B>Details:</B> <table align="right" bgcolor="#add8e6" cellpadding=20 border=15 bordercolor="#EEFFFA"> <tr><td> <p><font size=4> <a HREF="../../41/e/child.html">Children (#41)</a> <br><a HREF="../d/kind.html">German Titles</a> </font> </center> </td></tr> </table> <B> <UL> <LI>Little Voice Book &amp; CD &quot;Folk Songs&quot; (2010). Novello Publishing Ltd, NOV941369. <a href="http://www.musicsales.com">www.musicsales.com</a> <LI>Tim Jennings &amp; Leanne Ponder CD &quot;The king and the thrush - tales of goodness greed&quot; (2009). Eastern Coyote Recordings ECP104. <a href="http://www.folktale.net">www.folktale.net</a> <LI>Margie Butler CD &quot;Celtic Lullabies&quot; (2008). ARC Music EUCD2150. <a href="http://www.arcmusic.co.uk">www.arcmusic.co.uk</a> </UL> </B> <br clear=all> <hr color="#0000CD"> <p><table align="center" bgcolor="#add8e6" cellpadding=20 border=5 bordercolor="#EEFFFA"> <tr><td> <p><center> <font size=4> <a HREF="index.html#up">Back to FolkWorld Content</a><br> <a HREF="../d/index.html#up">To the German FolkWorld</a> </font> </center> </td></tr> </table> <p> <font size=-1>&#169 <a HREF="../../fw/staff.html">The Mollis</a> - Editors of <font face="Maiandra GD">FolkWorld</font>; Published 07/2010</font> <p><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=-2>All material published in FolkWorld is &#169 The Author via FolkWorld. Storage for private use is allowed and welcome. Reviews and extracts of up to 200 words may be freely quoted and reproduced, if source and author are acknowledged. For any other reproduction please ask the Editors for permission. 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