The “Contra Dance Birthday Round”
For many years in Western Massachusetts - in particular the Greenfield and at the now goneby Northfield dances - there has been a contra dance tradition of honoring people’s birthdays by singing them the “contra dance birthday round”. This song and tradition have now spread by word of mouth, far beyond the borders of Massachusetts - I heard it at a contra dance in Seattle recently - but most people do not know the origin of the song.
Here is a consolidated history (as much as I have it) of the song, based on notes from lydia ievins, David Kaynor and Ralph Sweet:
The Birthday Round was written by Dorothy Dushkin, a composer who founded Kinhaven Music School and summer camp in Weston,VT with her husband David in 1952. The song appeared in the Kinhaven cookbook and was sung at the camp on a regular basis. According to Ralph Sweet: ”We found the melody for that round (with non-birthday words) in an old Girl Scout Song Book (no longer in print) that we bought at a flea market.”
According to David Kaynor: “My cousins Chapin, Cammy, and Van Kaynor all went to Kinhaven and learned the round there. I believe Cam used to lead the round at Northfield dances and the old Monday night dances at the Unitarian Meetinghouse in downtown Amherst in the late 1970s. In 1980, I started leading it at Greenfield dances.”
I’ve attempted several times to contact Kinhaven for permission to share the song but have gotten no reply, so I’m assuming it’s OK to post the sheet music below. When you sing the song or pass it on, please be sure to credit Dorothy Dushkin as well as the Kaynor family for giving us this lovely round and tradition.
Usage: Though this is probably best sung as a three-part round, in practice at contra dances it is generally sung as just two parts, the second part starting in immediately after the first rather than singing it once through together in unison as is the practice for many rounds. (in this video, I tried to get everyone to sing it as a three-part round but habit is hard to change).
You can download the PDF of the sheet music at: http://amherstcontra.org/BirthdaySong...
Contra Dance Birthday Song camera iphone 8 plus apk | |
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| Music | Upload TimePublished on 1 Mar 2015 |
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