The Coast of High Barbary
Background information: This ballad is an American variant of the sea shanty "The Soldier's Joy", which dates back to before 1595. The words were changed around 1795 when American ships were often attacked by the notorious Barbary pirates. This continued for many years until the government became involved in battling the pirates in 1801. The pirates were not defeated until 1815 (Brethren of the Coast, 2000).
This ballad is a variant of the Child ballad #285, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake". The original words were about a confrontation between a French and an English ship (Nelson, 1996).
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Video recording
Lesson Plans
Idea #1
-Sing the first verse of the ballad.
-Ask students what that song makes them think of or what it reminds them of.
-Discuss what sea shanties are and why they were used. This is a good resource for information about sea shanties that can be used to pull ideas from: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/sea-shanty-facts-history-meaning - This source also includes examples of sea shanties.
-Have students learn the response or group part by rote.
-Sing the rest of the ballad in this way.
Idea #2
-This song is in 6/8. The rhythms for most of the song are simple and mainly use the dotted quarter note and the quarter note and eighth note.
-Students can read or learn by rote the rhythms using rhythm syllables. The second group line is a good example to highlight for this.
