Old Abram Brown

Category:   CHILDREN & YOUTH
Composer:   Benjamin Britten
Arranger:   NA
Publisher:   Boosey & Hawkes
Edition:   M060014857
Voicing:   SSAA
Setting:   Tom Tiddler’s Ground

Reviewer:   

Beth Egger
Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs
R&R Chair Children & Youth
elizabeth.a.egger@gmail.com

I’m a HUGE fan of rounds. I’m a HUGE fan of Benjamin Britten’s Friday Afternoons songs for children’s voices. This one is my favorite in the set and the rest are worth going down a repertoire rabbit hole. The e-minor tonality, combined with the text, makes it a really dramatic sing. The octave jump is a great opportunity to master switching vocal registers. In addition to the typical canonic style in two and four parts, Britten adds a section layering the melody with a rhythmic extension of that same melody and it’s super effective. In the final section at m.41, my singers looked left, right, up, and down between the short phrases to create an even more dramatic ending: “Old Abram Brown (look left) is dead and gone. (look right) You’ll never (look down) see him (look up) more. (look forward)”

Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FvpIlwd4BM

Link:  https://beta.jwpepper.com/old-abram-brown-4001152-1192232/p