In lieu of being able to sing together with people this winter, I transcribed Thomas Ravenscroft’s “Remember, O Thou Man” carol (from Melismata, 1611) into 4-shape notation.

I left in most of the notational oddities and old spelling, although I did fill in the missing bar in the alto part with what seems to be the generally accepted version. The empty bar at the beginning is necessary to persuade Musescore to let me notate a dorian piece in 4-shape notation — that’s also why the second system has the wrong key signature (it doesn’t look like that in the editor, only the export.) Hopefully they will either fix that soon, or I’ll find a good way of getting ABC notation typeset in shapes.

Anyway, here’s the score. Enjoy!

Remember, O Thou Man.pdf

“Lord, what a thoughtless wretch was I,
To mourn, murmur and repine,
To see the wicked placed on high,
In pride and robes of honour shine.

But oh their end, their dreadful end,
Thy sanctuary taught me so,
On slippery rocks I see them stand,
And fiery billows roll below.”

— Isaac Watts, 1719, still relevant 300 years later :/

It’s number 183 in the 1991 Sacred Harp, if you feel like singing it to suitably epic music.

MONTHS of going [r] [r] [r] [r] nearly non-stop have finally paid off! I can roll an [r] and am DISPROPORTIONALLY HAPPY ABOUT THIS. Next step: sustaining it.

Noticed an English pronunciation habit: I say “the” as [ði] (thee) when the word afterwards starts with a vowel, and [ðə] (thuh) when the next word starts with a consonant.