Book Review: “A Circle of Songs and Star Wished Night”

A Circle of Songs and Star Wished Night by Colin Tanser

Reviewed by John Clark, Ireland

(Special note: These books have been marked down
to half price in our online music sales store!)

Recently I was asked to do some singing and instrumental work with a young man living in a town near me, and when faced with the challenge to find the right thing to start with, I delved into my enormous collection of music and songs to find something that would engage him rather than challenge him to set us off on our musical journey together.

I found myself once more going through my collection of Colin Tanser’s books STAR WISHED NIGHT and A CIRCLE OF SONGS. I had Colin’s ring-bound editions produced by Colin himself with his beautiful clear musical calligraphy. Both of these books are replete with charming, useful, beautiful, catchy, serious, humorous, wonderful songs, and the problem of what to do soon became the problem of what not to do.

I was very pleased to find some old favourites as well as a few that I had not used before and which seemed less familiar to me.

A CIRCLE OF SONGS goes through the whole year. January Beats The Drum, February Wet Or Fine, March Canon, April Canon, April Fool, are such great songs for old and young, as is May Song and all the lovely other ones I haven’t done yet, right up to December.

STAR WISHED NIGHT, is Colin's collection of songs with a Day/Evening/Night orientation in a seasonal flavour. In addition to the useful Happy Birthday, there is the very lovely Venus In Spring, Bread Is A Lovely Thing To Eat, The Piece Of Christ, and the chirpy Threefold Dishwashing Song, not to mention the beautiful Silent Stones, which is Colin’s setting of Christian Morgenstern’s The Washing of the Feet.

My Waldorf teacher friends love these two collections. They are for everyone! If you don’t have either of them yet, what are you waiting for? Multiple copies would be a good idea!