The folk ensemble here at First Unitarian in New Bedford will be singing “The Friendly Beasts” in the worship service this Sunday. Above is the simple descant part that the high voices will be singing. A soprano recorder will double the high voices on the descant part this Sunday (the folk ensemble will also include guitar, mountain dulcimer, and mandolin). Click the image for a full-size PDF file.

This descant part is easy to learn and sounds good, so I thought I’d share it here in case you’re looking for a way to spice up your Christmas carol singing. You can find the basic melody of “The Friendly Beasts” in Singing the Living Tradition, the current Unitarian Universalist hymnal, as hymn #243, under a different title.