Cool breezes off the water beckon us to beat July's heat by sailing the waves.
The melodies in this month's sightreading handout* are two well-known shanties and a hornpipe from centuries of British sailing tradition that have been reused in decades of American cartoons, from the one who eats his spinach to the one who lives in a pineapple under the sea. All three tunes will be familiar.
But one of them is also the rollicking climax of yet another British tradition resuming every July since 1895: "The Proms", which is an 8-week series of daily summer concerts, originally in a park where people could promenade freely about while the music played. The intent has always been to cultivate popular appreciation of classical music in an informal setting at an easily afforded price. "Prommers" can still get cheap standing-room tickets even in the concert hall. It's been called "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival".
You'll have to download the pdf and follow its links to really appreciate the back stories for this music, but it's also fun just to do the sightreads and see how few notes it takes to recognize them. Maybe just four or five? Click below to try it yourself!