Gower Wassail – Resource Pack

A lively alternative to the standard Christmas repertoire, Gower Wassail is a fun, festive folk song from South Wales. As befits the tradition of wassailing, lyrics concern masters, mistresses, poor wassail boys, and of course, the production (and consumption) of cider.

As with many arrangements I write, this song can be done using virtually any combination of singers. As indicated in the score, the parts can be taken down an octave if necessary. Directors of mixed choirs might also wish to create mixed voice parts that span an octave. Choir leaders know their choirs’ voices far better than arrangers, so it down to your discretion as to how you would like to organise your choir to sing this song. However, in an ideal world this is the configuration I would suggest, depending on the make up of your choir…

All women: voice 1 – soprano, voice 2 – soprano, voice 3 – alto
Women with a small number of men: voice 1 – soprano, voice 2 – soprano and tenor (an octave lower), voice 3 – alto
Two thirds women / One third men: voice 1 – soprano, voice 2 – tenor (an octave lower), voice 3 – alto
An equal number of men and women: voice 1 – soprano and tenor (an octave lower), voice 2 – soprano and tenor (an octave lower), voice 3 – alto and bass (an octave lower)
Two thirds men / One third women: voice 1 – tenor (an octave lower), voice 2 – tenor (an octave lower), voice 3 – alto
Men with a small number of women: voice 1 – tenor (an octave lower), voice 2 – soprano and tenor (an octave lower), voice 3 – alto
All men: voice 1 – tenor (an octave lower), voice 2 – tenor (an octave lower), voice 3 – bass (an octave lower)