Tune Req: The Swing (R.L. Stevenson)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SWING (R.L. Stevenson)
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 12:11 PM

I am seeking the melody for this poem from "A Child's Garden of Verses".
I have heard the first line of music (right up the music scale) from 2 different people (USA and Trinidad). I'm not interested in contemporary versions, but rather, a traditional one, probably from the 20's or 30's. The words are:

THE SWING
Robert Louis Stevenson

HOW do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!


Many thanks for any help.

Sheila

Subject: RE: Music for 'The Swing' (R.L. Stevenson)
From: Amos
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 01:46 PM

SHeila:

Interesting! I had not known these were put to music; there was no music attached to the original Stevenson book. Good luck with your hunt.


A

Subject: RE: Music for 'The Swing' (R.L. Stevenson)
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 02:06 PM

Hi Amos,
This is an example of a contemporary composition, but this is not IT!

http://www.howardblake.com/music/Choral/Childrens-Chorus-Orchestra/684/THE-LAND-OF-COUNTERPANE.htm

The first line, as sung to me by two different people from different places in the world, goes:
so, la, ti, do re mi fa mi re so
la so fa mi. do re.....

Please folks, rack your brains or ask your parents/grandparents.

Thanks, Sheila

Subject: RE: Music for 'The Swing' (R.L. Stevenson)
From: Jim McLean
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 04:03 PM

Sheila, there are so many settings but if you cut and paste this address you'll see what I mean. http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=15303

Subject: RE: Music for 'The Swing' (R.L. Stevenson)
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 06:37 PM

Jim, I'm so grateful for your lead. I did find this sample which is close enough to what I recall, and I can fill in the blanks. I'm assuming this is "traditional". Thanks again and again.


http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-You-Like-Swing/dp/B0012K4BZC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1234049495&sr=8-2

Subject: RE: Music for 'The Swing' (R.L. Stevenson)
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 07:34 PM

Actually, now that I think about it, the melody presented is the "Skye Boat Song", so I will persevere in my quest.

Sheila

Subject: RE: Music for 'The Swing' (R.L. Stevenson)
From: Jim McLean
Date: 08 Feb 09 - 06:17 AM

Interestingly enough, R L Stevenson wrote a version of the Sky Boat Song called Over the Sea to Sky. His lyrics and melody for the chorus are different from the better known version written by Boulton and MacLeod.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Swing (R.L. Stevenson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Feb 09 - 10:52 AM

These aren't traditional, but they're old enough to be in the public domain:

Music by Ethelbert Nevin, in A Second Book in Vocal Music by Eleanor Smith (New York: Silver, Burdett and Company, 1901)

Music by Clayton Thomas, in The Art-literature Readers by Eulalie Osgood Grover, Frances Elizabeth Chutter (New York: Kinson, Mentzer & Company, 1905)

Music by M. Esposito, in Natural Music Course: Melodic Third Reader by Frederic Herbert Ripley, Thomas Tapper (New York: American Book Company, 1906)

Music by Julius Röntgen, from Teacher's Manual for the Progressive Music Series by Horatio William Parker, Osbourne McConathy, Edward Bailey Birge, and William Otto Miessner (Sacramento: Department of State Printing, 1917)

Music by William Luton Wood, in Hollis Dann Music Course by Hollis Dann (New York: American Book Company, 1917)