Poor Barbara, by William Shield
Every score here is public domain, free to read, print and keep. Open it in the browser and it plays, at whatever tempo you can read it.
Get the practice plan for Poor Barbara
Here it is. Check your inbox for day 1.
- Hear it through at Slow (60 bpm). Open it in the reader, choose Slow, and follow the page with your eyes without playing. As it plays, count 4 to the bar.
- Learn the right hand of bars 1 to 8 on its own, in E♭ major. Say the note names out loud the first time through, then play it three times without stopping.
- Find the chords under it: B♭, E♭, F and E♭6. Play each one as a block in your left hand and say its name, so you know what the harmony is before the left hand has to move.
- Learn the left hand of the same bars on its own. Keep it quiet and even: it is the floor the tune stands on.
- Put hands together at Slow, 60 bpm. Bars 1 to 8 only. Stop after every wrong note and play that bar again before moving on.
- Move up to Steady (90 bpm) once Slow feels easy three times in a row. Then learn the next 8 bars the same way: right hand, left hand, together.
- Play the whole piece (about 1 minute) from the start, at whatever speed keeps it going. A steady run with a few slips beats a fast one that stops.
About this piece
Poor Barbara is a partsong by William Shield, who lived from 1748 to 1829. The words are by William Shakespeare. Here the choir's four parts are set on two staves for piano, soprano and alto in the right hand and tenor and bass in the left.
How to play it
Practise each hand alone first, then together, and listen for the tune on top staying clear above the other three voices. Choose a calm tempo you can hold from the first bar to the last, and breathe at the ends of the phrases.
Reading it, and printing it
The score opens in Artform's reader, which shows the music as engraved notation and plays it back so you can hear the line before you try it. You can slow the tempo down, loop a passage that is not working yet, and print the page when you would rather have paper on the stand.
The file itself is MusicXML, which MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale and Dorico all open, so the notes are yours to keep whatever you read them in.
More free William Shield sheet music
Who William Shield was
English composer, violinist and violist who wrote music for the London theatre. His tunes include the melody some believe Auld Lang Syne is sung to. He became Master of the King's Musick.
Learn the music behind it
Reading a piece and understanding it are different skills. If you want the harmony under this one, the chord trainer teaches chords the way songs use them, and the scale pages cover the fingering for every key, including E♭ major.