The resource content has been designed as teaching notes and activities for students in years 7 – 12

in preparation or as follow-up to attending a QSO Concert or as a stand-alone resource.

MOLLY ON THE SHORE – PERCY GRAINGER

Performed by Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Secondary Showcase Song to Symphony

5 March 2015

Percy Grainger

• Born on 8 July 1882 in Brighton, Victoria,

Australia.

• Toured as a pianist at the age of 12 and then

went to Germany and London to study as a

pianist and composer.

• Good friend Edvard Grieg inspired Grainger

to study and gain inspiration from folk

songs.

• Grainger gathered folksongs from many

countries and composed using these

melodies as inspiration.

• Died in 1961. His body was flown to

Adelaide where he is buried.

Web sites

• The International Percy Grainger Society

• Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne. The

museum was set up by Grainger in 1930s.

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Interesting Facts

• The U.S. Geological Survey and NASA have approved

the name Grainger named after Percy Grainger for

one of the craters on the planet Mercury.

• Grainger’s father was an architect in Melbourne and

designed the Princes Bridge.

• Percy Grainger was also an artist and seriously made a

decision to follow music rather than art. He learnt from

Frederick McCubbin (Heidleberg School of Australian

Art) and was also good friends with artists, Tom

Roberts and Norman Lindsay.

The Composer – Percy Grainger

Percy Grainger

• Country Gardens. This composition was based on the old English Song English Country Gardens.

• Irish Tune from County Derry. Grainger uses the Irish melody also known as Danny Boy or

Londonderry Air. Performed by Melbourne String Ensemble.

• Children’s March (Over the Hills and Far Away). Vision of children from around the world and though

all eras.

• Shepherd’s Hey. Showcase traditional style performances with piano accordion, Violin (fiddle),

guitar and Irish bagpipes with orchestra accompaniment (starts at 2:40).

• Tribute to Stephen Foster. Featuring American folk songs with choir and unusual “instruments” such

as glasses of water and a marimba played with a violin bow in the slow section.

The Composer – Percy Grainger – Famous Compositions

• Composed in 1907 as a birthday present for his

mother.

• Grainger originally composed this for string quartet

or string orchestra (double bass added).

• In 1920 it was then arranged for both concert band

and orchestra.

• Features woodwind section and opens with clarinet.

• Arrangement of two contrasting reels, Temple Hill

and Molly on the Shore.

Grainger wrote to Frederick Fennell about composing

Molly on the Shore,

"in setting Molly on the Shore, I strove to imbue the accompanying parts that made up the harmonic texture with a melodic character not too unlike that of the underlying reel tune.

Melody seems to me to provide music with initiative, where as rhythm appears to me to exert an enslaving influence.

For that reason I have tried to avoid regular rhythmic domination in my music - always excepting irregular rhythms, such as those of Gregorian Chant, which seem to me to make for freedom.

Equally with melody, I prize discordant harmony, because of the emotional and compassionate sway it exerts”.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Molly on the Shore – Percy Grainger’s Composition

Percy Grainger

• Molly on the Shore performed on piano – follow the piano score.

• Molly on the Shore performed on violin and piano.

• Molly on the Shore performed by an orchestra.

• Molly on the Shore performed as a Celtic reel.

• Grainger plays Pergodas by Claude Debussy and speaks about Debussy’s inspiration

from Javanese music. This was recorded in 1948.

Listen and Watch

Molly on the Shore - Original Irish melody

Molly on the Shore

Percy Grainger used two Reels (dance melodies) from County Cork in Ireland to create the composition, Molly on the Shore.

Molly on the Shore is No.902 in the book The Complete Petrie Collection of Ancient Irish Music edited by Sir Charles Villiers

Stanford.

Temple Hill – Original Irish melody

Temple Hill

Percy Grainger used two Reels (dance melodies) from County Cork in Ireland to create the composition, Molly on the Shore.

Temple Hill is No.901 in the book The Complete Petrie Collection of Ancient Irish Music edited by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford.

Molly on the Shore is a dance melody

and originally written for a ‘fiddle four

some’ (string quartet).

• http://thesession.org/tunes/3741

• http://www.percygrainger.org/prognot7.htm

Molly on the Shore – the elements

Key of G Major (note F#)

Repeat signs.

Find the other

repeat sign.

1st and 2nd time endings

Time signature is 4/4

which means 4

crotchet beats in

each bar.

Find the triplets.

Play 3 notes evening

in the beat.

Anacrusis

4th beat of this bar is the

anacrusis at the

beginning of the melody

The tempo for this dance, and in Percy

Grainger’s composition is Presto.

Presto means very fast.

Woodwind

Piccolo

2 Flutes

2 Clarinets

2 Bassoons

Brass

4 French Horns

2 Trumpets

3 Trombones

Tuba

Percussion

Kettle Drum (Timpani)

Molly on the Shore – Instrumentation for full orchestra

Percussion

• side drum

• Cymbals

• Glockenspeil

• Xylophone.

Celeste

Hawkes Resonaphone (like a

Bass Glockenspeil or a marimba)

Strings

Violin

Viola

Cello

Double Bass

Opening – the melody

The tempo (or speed) of Molly on the Shore is Presto – Lively and fast.

Percy Grainger is renowned for using unusual combinations of instruments in his compositions. In Molly on the Shore the

melody is introduced by the viola .

Read the melody written in alto clef. The first note is a B

How fast can you play the melody?

Molly on the Shore – About the Music

The alto clef is used by the viola.

Middle C is written on the middle line.

The cellos keep the beat.

Opening – the melody (cont.)

The cellos and double basses then take over the melody followed by the bassoons. They are all low sounding instruments.

The higher strings are playing an accompaniment on the 2nd and 4th beats.

Read the melody written for cello and double bass and one octave distance in bass clef.

Molly on the Shore – About the Music

The bass clef is used by the low sounding instruments

including double bass, bassoon, trombone and tuba.

The Accompaniment

Percy Grainger wrote at the beginning of the piece :

“N.B. Keep 4 beats ( l l l l) hammering away in every bar throughout the piece, even in the soft bits.”

The violins, often the instruments which plays the melody, pluck notes to the beat as the accompaniment to the melody.

Play the accompaniment or listen for the accompaniment pattern in the music.

The strings, when they do not have the melody, use pizzicato – plucking the strings with the fingers to play the notes on the

beat.

Molly on the Shore – About the Music

The middle section

Finally the violins, then flutes take a turn at the melody while the clarinets and bassoons keep the beat “hammering away”.

The brass make their appearance with the trumpets playing a counter melody and horns, trombones and tuba joining in.

The melody is continuing and then the Timpani (also called the Kettle Drums) appear….

Molly on the Shore – About the Music

The middle section (cont.)

The second violins introduce the second melody taken from the Irish melody Temple Hill. Again, it is unusual for the second violins to

take the lead over the first violins.

Long notes played by the flutes, violas and cellos and dynamics marked pianissimo very soft, give this section a different feel.

For how many beats are the tied notes held?

Molly on the Shore – About the Music

Glissando (gliss,.) slide from the 1st note to the 2 nd note

Tied note –

the sound is

held for the

required

number of

beats.

The middle section (cont.)

The keyboard instruments, Glockenspeil, Celeste and Resonaphone (like a bass Glockenspeil) take over the steady beat.

Molly on the Shore – About the Music

Celeste Glockenspeil

The Ending

The instrumentation becomes thicker with all instruments playing.

Just before the end, all instruments except for the strings stop playing.

The strings play with mutes (con sord) and also double pianissimo ppp very, very soft and then decrescendo getting softer.

All instruments then play the last chord quadruple fortissimo ffff, very, very loud.

Molly on the Shore – About the Music

Decresendo –

gradually getting softer

Staccato (stacc.) short and detached

Australian Curriculum – Music Molly on the Shore – Percy Grainger

Elements of Music

Foundation to Year 2

Years 3 and 4

Years 5 and 6

Years 7 and 8

Years 9 and 10

Rhythm Beat Crotchet, quaver Fast Presto

Quaver, semi-quaver Beat sub-divisions

Time signature

Triplet chromaticism

Pitch Pitch direction Melodic shape Treble clef Staff

G major scale Bass clef

Alto clef

Dynamics & Expression

Forte, piano (de) crescendo Fortissimo, pianissimo and gradations

Accent Articulation Pizzicato Arco

Form and Structure

Introduction Same/different patterns

Repeat sign 1st & 2nd time bars

Theme, motif phrase Folk Song (Reel)

Anacrusis

Timbre How sound is made Recognise orchestral instruments by sound

Viola Clarinet

Recognise instrumental groups

Identify instruments by name and sound production.

Texture Melody accompaniment

Patterns 2 or more voices

Contrast of texture Orchestration

Creating beat and rhythmic patterns

Performing Keep beat Rhythmic patterns

Playing melody

. Awareness of ensemble

Responding Australian composer

Historical context Celtic music

Prepared by Pam Lowry, Education Officer

Queensland Symphony Orchestra