Marissa Ko
Marissa Ko is a Class of ‘24 graduate from Harvest Christian Academy. She took up the piano at the age of four and violin at six years old, and continues to play them both. When she was in eighth grade, an opportunity for her to try out the viola was given to her. She quickly fell in love with the sound, and has been playing it ever since. Currently, she plays in the Tumon Bay Youth Orchestra, of which she has been a member ever since its establishment in 2018.
Fantasia on Greensleeves - R. Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), arr. Watson Forbes
Adapted from Williams’s own opera Sir John in Love, Fantasia on “Greensleeves” consists of two traditional English folk songs, “Greensleeves” and the melody of “Lovely Joan.”
“Greensleeves” is (alternatively recognized as “What Child Is This?”) one of the most well-known tunes in the world. As music director for 1913 productions of Stratford-upon-Avon, Williams used the song in Shakespeare plays Richard III and The Merry Wives of Windsor. The true meaning of the lyrics to the song are heavily disputed, but most agree that the lady with the “green sleeves” is promiscuous, referencing the grass stains on a woman’s dress…
“Lovely Joan” tells the story of a man trying to romance Joan with his horse and ring, but Joan tricks him and steals his horse and ring, riding back to her true love.
Performer notes: Oh what fun, folk songs that paint women in a bad light! Also, “Lovely Joan,” for some reason, does not sound like how it is originally. It’s incredibly repetitive in terms of melody, but even then, I couldn’t hear it when I played it every time.
In all seriousness, Greensleeves has (and always been) one of my favourite pieces to listen to. Being able to perform the tune on the viola, which in my opinion, has a great tonal quality for a song like this (second to the cello), makes me extremely glad I practiced this piece in the first place. It’s definitely difficult, in terms of keeping intonation consistent, and the provided fingerings do not help at all, but the end result is just as beautifully mournful as the original source material.
Marissa Ko is a Class of ‘24 graduate from Harvest Christian Academy. She took up the piano at the age of four and violin at six years old, and continues to play them both. When she was in eighth grade, an opportunity for her to try out the viola was given to her. She quickly fell in love with the sound, and has been playing it ever since. Currently, she plays in the Tumon Bay Youth Orchestra, of which she has been a member ever since its establishment in 2018.
Fantasia on Greensleeves - R. Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), arr. Watson Forbes
Adapted from Williams’s own opera Sir John in Love, Fantasia on “Greensleeves” consists of two traditional English folk songs, “Greensleeves” and the melody of “Lovely Joan.”
“Greensleeves” is (alternatively recognized as “What Child Is This?”) one of the most well-known tunes in the world. As music director for 1913 productions of Stratford-upon-Avon, Williams used the song in Shakespeare plays Richard III and The Merry Wives of Windsor. The true meaning of the lyrics to the song are heavily disputed, but most agree that the lady with the “green sleeves” is promiscuous, referencing the grass stains on a woman’s dress…
“Lovely Joan” tells the story of a man trying to romance Joan with his horse and ring, but Joan tricks him and steals his horse and ring, riding back to her true love.
Performer notes: Oh what fun, folk songs that paint women in a bad light! Also, “Lovely Joan,” for some reason, does not sound like how it is originally. It’s incredibly repetitive in terms of melody, but even then, I couldn’t hear it when I played it every time.
In all seriousness, Greensleeves has (and always been) one of my favourite pieces to listen to. Being able to perform the tune on the viola, which in my opinion, has a great tonal quality for a song like this (second to the cello), makes me extremely glad I practiced this piece in the first place. It’s definitely difficult, in terms of keeping intonation consistent, and the provided fingerings do not help at all, but the end result is just as beautifully mournful as the original source material.