Next, we take a day trip to the Caribbean and learn a syncopated and upbeat song, Yellow Bird.
Yellow Afterglow| Waiʻanae Range at dusk | Peter Kun Frary
Yellow Bird Musings
Yellow Bird is a late 19th-century Haitian song, Choucoune, written by Michel Mauléart Monton with lyrics by Oswald Durand. It was rewritten with English lyrics in the 20th century and retitled Yellow Bird. Arthur Lyman, a Hawaiian musician, recorded it in 1961, mingling hints of calypso and Hawaiian music. He scored an international hit, lighting up the Billboard charts at number 4.
Yellow Bird Lyrics
Yellow bird, up high in banana tree
Yellow bird, you sit all alone like me.
Did your lady friend leave the nest again?
That is very sad, makes me feel so bad.
You can fly away, in the sky away.
You're more lucky than me.
I also had a pretty girl, she's not with me today.
They're all the same those pretty girls.
Take tenderness, then they fly away.
Yellow bird, yellow bird.
Did your lady friend leave the nest again?
That is very sad, makes me feel so bad.
You can fly away, in the sky away.
You're more lucky than me.
Wish that I were a yellow bird, I'd fly away with you.
But I am not a yellow bird, so here I sit Nothing I can do.
Yellow bird, yellow bird.
Study Tips
Yellow Bird is a trio, a piece with three separate guitar parts: guitar 1 (melody), guitar 2 (chords) and guitar 3 (bass). Your instructor will assign parts. The PDF scores for the individual parts are linked at the bottom of this page.
Rest Symbols
The guitar 1 part uses symbols called rests during the vamp (introduction). A rest is a measured period of silence.
Yellow Bird Rests| Guitar 1 is silent for 4 measures while guitars 2 and 3 play the vamp. Guitar 1 players should count 1-2-3-4 four times before playing.
Rest Names
Memorize the names and values of the rest durations below: whole rest, half rest, quarter rest and eighth rest. Beat durations are for quarter note meters, e.g., 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4.
The whole rest always indicates an entire measure of silence. For example, a whole rest in a 4/4 meter is worth 4 beats whereas in 3/4 meter it gets 3 beats.
Playing Rests
How do you play a rest? You don't! You simply count out the rest duration and play when the normal notes begin. If a note is ringing over a rest, touch the string to stop it from ringing (or lift the fretting finger off the note).
Yellow Bird should be performed at an allegro tempo (120+ BPM).
Listen to the Track
Listen to the audio track and familiarize yourself with the sound and feel of Yellow Bird. If playing guitar 1, practice counting out the vamp rests with the audio track.
Learn your part before rehearsing in class with your ensemble partners. To get used to the sound of different parts while you play, practice with the audio track.
Yellow Bird Musings
Study Tips
Rest Symbols
Playing Rests
Listen to the Track
