Shepherds' Hey!
 Percy Aldridge GRAINGER (1882-1961)

Shepherds' Hey! for wind orchestra dates from 1918. Cecil Sharp, an authority on British folk songs, gave Grainger the tune. Shepherd’s Hey is a so-called Morris Dance. Like the dancers join in and leave the dance group, depending on their condition, various instruments take solo parts in playing the tune. The bells and xylophone parts are worth mentioning, giving the setting a fresh sound. The ‘Hey!’ from the title refers to a certain dance step of the Morris Dance. But, alas, in the foreword Grainger says that ‘This setting is not suitable to dance Morris Dance to.’  

In a way this composition shows the influence of Karl Klimsch (according to Grainger his only true and worthwhile composing teacher): ‘If you have no theme or melody in your head, don’t compose at all. If you have a theme or melody, start off with it right away and the moment your melodic inspiration runs out stop your piece. No prelude, no interlude, no postlude: just the pith of the music all the time’.

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