"The turkey gobbler's ball." Word by Havez and Donnelly, Music by James Blyler.
Last year In the Muse celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with Geo. W. Morgan’s “National Thanksgiving hymn“, from the Historic Sheet Music, 1800-1922 collection in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. This year the same collection gives us our featured holiday sheet music. As I noted last year, “The turkey gobbler’s ball” is not actually about Thanksgiving but is “a barnyard animal sing-along led by the eponymous song bird.” Nevertheless, the culinary adventurer may wish to supplement this piece with “The little chickens in the garden” and “When father carves the duck” to complete a musical turducken for the whole extended family. If you’re planning to gather by the old Steinway to singalong to our proposed carnivorous medley, be sure to listen to the Record of the Week, a selection from The National Jukebox chosen by our colleagues in Recorded Sound. This week’s record is “The Piano Tuner,” performed by Ada Jones and Steve Porter. Recorded Sound Specialist David Sager writes, “with the coming of the holidays, it is a good idea to send for a piano tuner. Ada Jones’ bitonal rendition of “The lost chord” is admirable.
Happy Thanksgiving!