Hello all,
I recently was going through the Shenandoah Harmony and was drawn to two tunes in it, LOCH LEVEN (118) arr. by Hayden from The Sacred Melodeon, and SOMERSET (230) by Samuel Wakefield from The Christian Harp. Both melodies draw from traditional practice of the British Isles, but the melody in Hayden remains firmly in the natural minor and the Wakefield tune makes a conscious effort to produce an initial Dorian sonority in the melody.
I went through the tunes in the book and found other historical sources that indicate a raised sixth fa in either the melody and/or the harmony including:
Europe
MARTYRS (374)
WORSHIP by Jeremiah Clarke (89)
New England
AUTUMN by Fisher (380)
MACHIAS by Maxim (213)
EXPERIENCE arr. Ingalls (206)
IN EVIL LONG arr. Mansfield (601)
Middle Atlantic
DIANA from Die Union Choral Harmonie (201)
KERSHAW from David's Harp (120)
SWAIN by Davisson (182)
South
MOUNT WATSON arr. Hauser (76)
This was a widespread practice and within these tunes, not all of the six fas are raised, but maybe once or twice occasionally. The point of this intro. is not to rehash the well trod issue of whether to raise 6ths, but rather to point out that some tunes naturally call for a raised 6th such as WONDROUS LOVE of course and others seem to be based upon the whim of the songwriter.
I've seen in past posts that Micah John Walter likes to Dorian-ize some tunes, both original and arranged. I was wondering how others on this list specify when or if they want the six fas raised, and/or expect singers in the sing to instinctively raise their sixths? Are others ambivalent and like a clash?
I'm curious because I've been experimenting with writing some tunes with an intentional raised six and was curious if some other people on the list do the same. I've seen that in addition to Micah, Dan Brittain and Judy Hauff do as well.
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Nikos Pappas