Patapan - Carol for easy guitar quartet
by Derek Hasted
Guitar Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

PATAPAN - traditional carol - 4 GUITARS/LARGE ENSEMBLE
For Classical or Acoustic Guitar - sometimes it's erroneously listed here as Electric Guitar.

There are TWO ARRANGEMENTS in this one edition.

Derek Hasted writes "This Burgundian Carol, first published in 1720, usually has four verses in the French version and three in the English. This arrangement has three verses, all in slightly different styles.

The melody and the onomatopoeia in the lyrics are together meant to symbolise the fife (“Ture-lure-lu”) and the drum (“Pata-pata-pan”).

In both arrangements Guitar One has melody, and it fits nicely in a mix of IV and V position. There is no fingering, because your ensemble might want to choose between two different approaches...

A less experienced ensemble might prefer to venture up the neck just to reach for the A and B notes, and return to the first position as soon as possible...

A more experienced group might want to stay up the neck to get a more rounded tone throughout.
Depending on your choice of fingering, slurs might be possible to improve the flow.

There are two versions of the lower parts.
In the first arrangement, in “SATB” style, Guitar 4 plays the bass; Guitar 3 provides, in the three verses, percussion, a choral countermelody, and finally a Hurdy-Gurdy style drone; Guitar provides a countermelody.
In the second arrangement, the roles rotate at the end of each verse, so that all the accompanying players have three very different verses to play. Guitar 1 stays with the tune, because in a mixed ability ensemble, moving the tune about tends to highlight any weaknesses. This arrangement highlights the strengths!

Percussion (the X-headed notes) works well if you tap the guitar near the bridge to get a deep bass drum.

At the end, the brave amongst you can shout “Patapan” to bring the piece to a surprise conclusion...

I hope you enjoy this piece!"