1. Taking a Traditional Song,
and Making it Your Own

2. What are Traditional Songs?
Traditional songs are often stories, usually old, about people’s lives – love, work, death, loss, and war
The often have a chorus or at least something to join in with
They sometimes celebrate annual customs – Christmas, May Day, the Summer time
They are easy and accessible and are usually learnt by ear – the oral tradition
They can be flexible and easily adapted to suit your play / work / theme at school
The have plenty of repetition with simple structure and usually have a rhyming pattern
They tell of where you come from – your personal story, your history, your national culture

3. How to find a Traditional Song
Oral tradition – learn it from someone else!
Local Studies Library – Ballads Box
Song books
The Full English Digital Archive at EFDSS
Mudcat Café
You Tube
CD / Record / Tape recordings
Try to find a version with the melody – or make your own up!!

4. One example of a Traditional Song
This is a song to start a Mummers’ Play off and introduces the characters:
We are brave actors bold
Never been on stage before
And we will do our best
And our best can do no more
In comes the Derby Ram
With horns up to the sky
The Eagles built their nest
You can hear the young ’uns cry

5. “We are brave actors bold”….

6. You can change the song and make it your own….
Change the pitch to suit the your voice
Choose which characters should be in your version of the song
Include your local stories and personalities
Play with the feel of the song, so you feel comfortable singing it
Think of new lines with rhymes at the end of the second and fourth lines
Change the tune to suit your singing

7. Here are a few examples of new verses
In comes old Rolls and Royce
They are a clever pair
They make our Derby proud
On the land and in the air
In comes Florence Nightingale
She made the Hospital clean
She always carried her lamp
‘Twas the brightest to be seen
In comes our Mrs Marks
She helps the students learn.
She’ll teach the dragon a lesson
And the mill he just won’t burn
In comes St George the knight
Our hero bold and brave
He’ll give the dragon a fight
But the Princess he will save
What will your verse be about?

8. Good luck with your song!