This beautiful and significant revision to The Book of Canons is an incredible resource for music teachers-a sumptuously illustrated collection of more than 155 time-tested canons representing the absolute best music for children our culture has to offer. The songs are drawn from all over the world, and many are by some of the great composers throughout history-after all, rounds and canons have been enjoyed since the Elizabethan era. Each canon in this collection is ranked by difficulty and includes a general translation if needed. States John M. Feierabend in the introduction: "Here then is a collection to meet many needs, sacred and secular, humorous and serious, major, minor, and modal, simple to complex... but above all, I hope you will find all of them musically satisfying." Singing in canon is one of the oldest and easiest ways of singing in parts. Canons have survived both in the oral tradition as folk songs as well as in historical compositions. Canons are sung with one part beginning and other parts singing the same melody but starting at some point after the first part. Usually all parts will end or cadence at the same time creating a satisfying final chord. When brackets appear above certain notes in a canon they indicate where each part should cadence. Some canons work better sung as rounds where each part begins after the other but each part ends one at a time. This is a collection of songs which have been enjoyed by families as well as court musicians and their patrons and are special favorites of my family and friends. It is my hope that other families and friends will rediscover the pleasures of singing canons, in the car, as a grace before dinner, or anytime they gather. Canons bring harmony into peoples lives. |
