‘Péh trouz zo ar en douar?’ (downloadable PDF)

$1.00

A stunning and rare 'noël' from Brittany, with harmonies included. Please see further below for more information and an audio sample.

Description

Translated as ‘What Is That Sound upon the Earth’, this carol is characteristically Breton with its ‘dark’, haunting modality. This version was sourced from the Noëls Celtiques album (1998) and argedour.bzh, and is set in the key of E-modal (Dorian). A harmony part, chord symbols, and first verse lyrics (with translation) are included.

[NB: Both the melody and harmony require the nontraditional note C-natural. This can be played on conically-bored chanters —e.g. Highland and Border pipes— with a ‘cross-‘ or ‘forked’ fingering pattern. On cylindrically-bored chanters without custom features —e.g. standard smallpipe chanters— you may need to apply a piece of tuning tape over the top 80% of the C soundhole.]

This is one of over 100 carols printed in the collection, On This Day Earth Shall Ring.

An audio sample, featuring Scottish smallpipes (A-chanter, with a custom C-natural hole for the lower thumb [tape will work, too]). The harmony part can be heard on the repeat, approximately halfway through the track: