THE BONNY LABOURING BOY
Noted by Miss L. E. BroadwoodSung by Mr Lough, Surrey
Mixolydian
As I roved out one eve - ning, being in the blooming spring,
I heard a love-ly dam-sel fair most grie-vously did sing,Say-ing
“Cru-el were my pa - rents that did  me so an - noy.They
did not let me  mar-ry with my  bon-ny la-b’ring  boy.”

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CHRISTMAS CAROL AS SUNG IN
NORTH YORKSHIRE
Æolian Mode
God rest you merry, merry gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay,Re-
member Christ our  Saviour was born on Christmas day,To
save our souls  from Satan’s pow’r that long had gone astray,Oh,
tidingsofcomfort andjoy, andjoy,and
joy,Oh,tidingsof comfort and joy,andjoy.

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In addition to modal tunes we have a certain number of folk-airs built upon a “gapped,” or limited, scale of five notes instead of the usual seven. This “pentatonic” scale, which appears to be very characteristic of the primitive music of all nations, was formerly held as an infallible sign of a Scottish origin, and the old recipe to produce a Scottish air was—“stick to the black keys of the piano.” It is quite true that a large number of Scottish melodies have the characteristics of the pentatonic scale, but so also have the Irish tunes, and there are a lesser number that may claim to be English.

Much nonsense has been written to account for the existence of the pentatonic scale, the general conclusion arrived at being that it arose from the use of an imperfect instrument that could only produce five tones. Whatever the instrument so limited may have been, it was neither the primitive flute (like the tin whistle) of six vents, which is sufficient to produce well over an octave, nor was it the human voice. The universal use of the five note scale among many nations wide apart has never been satisfactorily explained. The following is an Irish pentatonic traditional air.

THE SHAMROCK SHORE
Pentatonic

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