Lydia Maria Little one became a significant Nineteenth-century civil rights activist, author, and journalist from Medford, Massachusetts, who wrote “Over the River and through the Wood(s)” as a Thanksgiving tune celebrating her childhood recollections of visiting family throughout the holidays. Before every little thing printed in Little one’s Flowers for Adolescence, Vol. 2 (1844), it remains a favored popular amongst younger of us and adults to love an very most attention-grabbing time Thanksgiving and the Christmas season.
This intention travels through three various keys, transferring from F well-known to C before ending in G. After a four-measure intro, the melody begins over a Travis-fashion bass/chord accompaniment in 6/8 time. Most on the entire, the melody appears to be like over a single bass demonstrate or chord, but infrequently the picking-hand fingers outline an arpeggio as a have confidence throughout melodic pauses (as in measures 8 and 12).
Though the melody notes might unbiased aloof sound certain from the underlying accompaniment, it’s on the entire most efficient to defend down a total chord shape while articulating the various parts as crucial with your picking hand. As an instance, in measures 5–8, agonize the entire chord voicings for the F, Bb, and C chords till you bump into the following chord swap, and let the picking hand attain the work to develop the actual person parts.
The A portion in F well-known is played twice before modulating to C in measure 27. The melody within the B portion is slightly more advanced in that the melody has the same eighth-demonstrate rhythms but functions fuller chord voicings than these define within the principle A portion. The B portion additionally introduces a few fresh harmonies, esteem the C#dim7 passing chord in measure 30 and the F#dim7 in bar 39. As with the A portion, the B portion is played twice before modulating to the remaining key of G well-known.
By the time you gain to the C portion in measure 49, your fretting hand might possibly be feeling the burn. If that is so, be sure that that that to rob frequent breaks throughout note sessions, stretch out your hands, and feel free to abbreviate this intention throughout live performances. The C portion is highly an identical to the principle two, but additionally introduces a few fresh chordal textures such because the Dadd4 in bar 50, Bm7 in 61, and Csus2 chords in measures 51 and 59. Measure 65 begins a four-measure outro to rob the tune home. Be contented to play these measures slower and more freely to add a dynamic, lyrical quality to the ending.
This intention is excerpted from the book Holiday Songs for Fingerstyle Guitar, accessible at store.acousticguitar.com.
