Where do I find sheet music for sea chanteys?

May 30, 2019 8:52 PM

I play harp for fun, and it turns out playing sea chanteys is really fun. Can you help me find more sheet music (especially books!) so I can learn a wider variety of them? I can play from a written melody with chord markings, or any arrangement for piano or similar. I'm especially looking for any written versions of "Santianna" that match this variation.

I know that traditionally these are learned by ear, and I'm working on that, but my ear isn't good enough yet on its own! I also know that harp is not a traditional instrument for these, and that's part of why it's great.

Here's what I've found so far:

• Sea Chanteys and Sailor's Songs: An Introduction for Singers and Performers, and a Guide for Teachers and Group Leaders from the Kendall Whaling Museum (sheet music starting on page 15 of the PDF) - this book is amazing, I want more like this.
• Sea Songs and Shanties Pack from Bristol Sings Music - this is also nice.

These don't have "Santianna" though! I found that Shanties for mixed choir has it, but I can't figure out how to convert those into anything that sounds right on harp. This arrangement is close, but it's not quite the right sequence of notes. This version is not right either. I think the version in that YouTube video might be a one-off, so I can just work with my harp teacher on it or ask for help at chantey sing night, but it still seems fun to try to find closer-matching sheet music versions to help me.

Happy to get suggestions for online PDFs, books I can buy, and things I might be able to find in the San Francisco Public Library system. Thank you!

posted by dreamyshade to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas has melodies and lyrics. Stan Hugill was a fascinating guy -- the last of the living tall ship Chanteymen
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:40 PM on May 30, 2019

There are some Cornish songs here, with both chords and keyboard arrangement. Technically they are not shanties I think but they tend to get rolled in with them in local singing. There are also some recordings of kids singing them, you can probably find them being sung by (predominantly male) choirs around the web if you want to get a better idea of how they should sound.

Also popular here is 'South Australia' which is much more in the line of a shanty.
posted by biffa at 12:56 AM on May 31, 2019

The sea shanty festival is at Mystic Seaport festival in Conn next weekend. I know they have a "sea chantey" staff. I wonder if you contacted them if they could refer to you to a good source.
posted by beccaj at 4:19 AM on May 31, 2019

I don't know anything about Jellynote but I found this entry for Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads: Volume 5: Bawdy Sea Shanties 1958 by Oscar Brand, an album which Mr. Botanizer owned when I met him. If I remember correctly the lyrics are suggestive rather than explicit. It is probably still lurking around but I don't have a turntable.
posted by Botanizer at 5:43 AM on May 31, 2019

Best answer: That's a nice version - another one to learn! Previously.

Here's an ABC transcription of it - paste this into an ABC converter (like this one) to get sheet music.

X:1
T:Santiano
C:Pyrates Royale
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Bm
"A"f2|"Bm"B2 Bc dd ee|"D"f2 gf "A"e2 ag|"Bm"f4 B3 d|de "A"e8
ee|"D"f2 d2 "A"e2 c2|"F#m"d2 d2 c2 fe|"Bm"d3B "A"c2 A2|"Bm"B2 BA B8

posted by offog at 11:34 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Not helping with the question, just chiming in to say “hello fellow harper-for-fun”! I’m an adult beginner, so I’m very excited about these chanteys. (Well, I’ve been playing for six years, but have had the last two off because of illness.) I’m very interested in following your journey!
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 1:51 PM on May 31, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks all, this is really fun! That Stan Hugill book looks amazing -- and offog, that's perfect, thank you so much! Here's a first effort at what it sounds like on my harp. Once I figure out a good arrangement for it, I'll post it to Music just for fun.

Hi Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer, always happy to meet another harp person! I played classical harp as a young person very seriously for several years, but only recently picked it back up with an interest in folk music, especially work/labor-related music with histories that mean something to me. Along with sea chanties, I've been really enjoying working with O'Carolan tunes (the Sylvia Woods arrangements) and songs from the Little Red Songbook, and I'm poking around at this political folk music site for more.
posted by dreamyshade at 9:50 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]