Table of Contents
Trad. Irish Danny Boy, arr. Nikki Iles ABRSM Piano Exam 2025-2026 sheet music, Noten, partitura
Danny Boy
“Danny Boy” is a popular ballad that was written in 1910. Many people associate the song with Ireland, even though lyricist Frederic Weatherly was a British lawyer. The connection came when his Irish-born sister-in-law sent him a copy of the tune “Londonderry Air” in 1913. Upon receiving it, Weatherly modified his lyrics to fit the meter of the tune.
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“Londonderry Air” was discovered by Jane Ross in 1851 when she heard a traveling fiddler playing on the street of Limavady, Ireland. Ross asked if she could notate the music for her friend in Dublin who was trying to preserve the ancient music of Ireland. A video on the history of the song states, “Sadly [Ross] did not note the fiddler’s name, and he may forever remain anonymous.”
Throughout the years “Danny Boy” has been considered an unofficial anthem by Irish Americans and Irish Canadians. It became popular for funerals and memorial services despite not being an official part of the ceremony and was even banned from funeral masses by some churches. A retired Irish American police officer, Charlie McKenna, from Rhode Island said, “I want ‘Danny Boy’ sung at my funeral mass, and if it isn’t, I’m going to get up and walk out.”
A recent hit song, “You Raise Me Up,” which was popularized by Josh Groban, has been said to have a strong resemblance to “Danny Boy” in parts of the melody, demonstrating the song’s staying power and influence.In 2009, during the Central U.S. Tour, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed “Danny Boy” at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
In 2009, during the Central U.S. Tour, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed “Danny Boy at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. Watch “Danny Boy” live at Red Rocks.
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Danny Boy Lyrics:
Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountainside,
The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling,
It’s you, it’s you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow,
It’s I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so!
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Ye’ll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Ave there for me;
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!
Come to me!
Nikki Iles
Nikki Anne Iles BEM (née Burnham; born 16 May 1963) is a British jazz composer, pianist and educator.
Iles was born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, on 16 May 1963. She started her musical education at primary school, where she learnt to play the harmonica and the clarinet, and at eleven years old she won a junior exhibition at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied clarinet and piano from 1974 to 1981.
She became a member of the Bedfordshire Youth Jazz Orchestra. She went on to the Leeds College of Music (1981–1984).
After graduating from the Leeds College of Music, she decided to settle in Yorkshire. After marrying trumpeter Richard Iles, she changed her surname from Burnham. She joined his band Emanon, with which she played some of her compositions.
Iles also began playing with several London-based bands, such as those led by Steve Argüelles, Mick Hutton and Stan Sulzmann.
Iles won the 1996 John Dankworth Special Award at the BT Jazz Festival. Following a serious car crash after a gig, Iles opted to settle in London.
Iles was a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, and has taught at the University of York, Leeds College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music, and in Bulgaria, Holland, France, and Finland.
Iles was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to music.
As a founder member of the hugely innovative Creative Jazz Orchestra in the early 90s, Nikki Iles came to prominence working with musicians such as Anthony Braxton, Vince Mendoza, Mark Anthony Turnage, Kenny Wheeler and Mike Gibbs.
Mike subsequently booked her for one of her first recording dates with great American musicians, Steve Swallow and Bob Moses on the CD “By The Way” on AH HUM records. For many years, Nikki served a lengthy apprenticeship in the North of England playing with the cream of British and American jazz such as Peter King, Iain Ballamy, Art Farmer, Peter King , Tina May , Tim Garland and Jim Mullen.
Many of these relationships were re- kindled later ,when after a car accident, Nikki finally decided to make the move to London in 1998. Here she joined the groups and toured and recorded with musicians such as Steve Arguelles, Mick Hutton, Martin Speake, Stan Sulzmann and Julian Arguelles and Norma Winstone .
Several awards followed with the BT British Jazz Award and an IAJE Award in America for services to Jazz. Although well known as a pianist, composition still remains a major part of her musical life.
The breadth of Nikki’s artistic vision has led her to disregard the arbitrary boundaries of the jazz scene and most notably, commissions have included a collaboration with American dancer Mimi Cichanowicz , the UMO Jazz Orchestra in Finland, “A Gentle Prayer “ – London Sinfonietta , “Red Ellen” – Tim Garland’s Northern Underground Band, “Carillion – The LPO’s Renga ensemble and this year “The Caged Bird” from the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers.
Nikki was honoured to have her piece HUSH commissioned by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra featured at the 2012 Proms ( BBC TV) and more recently write for the great American singer, Kurt Elling and The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.
Recently she has been particularly busy – she was awarded the prestigious Ivors Academy Gold Badge and the Ivor Novello Award – winning the best large ensemble composition in 2021.
Thorough lockdown, she won The Seattle jazz composition prize and was a recipient of both The British Jazz and Parliamentary Jazz Awards and in the Queens New Years Honours list 2022, a British Empire Medal for services to music.
An inspirational teacher, she was also awarded an Honorary RAM from The Royal Academy of Music and a Fellow of Birmingham Conservatoire for outstanding contributions to the music. As a player she remains much in demand with over 35 recordings to her name.
Recent work has taken her across the world as a member of the Julian Arguelles Octet, The Kenny Wheeler Big Band, Claire Martin and “The North “, a Scandinavian/Anglo/Canadian collaboration featuring Percy Pursglove and Anders Morgensen.
Her most recent recordings are – “Hush “ with Americans, Rufus Reid and Jeff Williams. “Mirrors “ with Kenny Wheeler and Norma Winstone, Lush Life with Stan Sulzmann and Dave Holland and with her own group, The Printmakers “Westerly”. The last few 3 years also marks a new chapter in her long and distinguished career with writing for larger forces.
This new music will be taking her across the world directing bands in Hungary, Germany ,Prague, Ireland and Colorado, which has culminated in a post as artist in residence with the great NDR radio big band in Hamburg for 2023.
With a parallel career as a widely respected teacher in composition and arranging, Nikki is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. She also gives masterclasses around the world and has been a driving force behind the innovative Jazz syllabus at the ABRSM and continues to publish extensively with Oxford University Press and EVC Music.
Awards and Commissions
2024 Nominated in the German Jazz Awards for best production for the Album, Face to Face with the NDR Bigband . (result April )
2023 Composer in Residence with the NDR Big Band in Hamburg
2022 Awarded British Empire Medal in the Queen’s New Years Honours for services to music
2022 Nominated as most inspirational teacher /composer Music Expo
2022 Commission Tommy Smith Scottish National Jazz Orchestra for Kurt Elling
2022 Commission the UMO Jazz Orchestra , Finland
2021 Winner of the best composition in the Ivor Novello Awards
2020 Winner Covid Commission From the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers USA
2020 Winner of the Seattle Jazz Orchestra best Composition Award
2020 Winner of the Best Ensemble Award with the Jazz Orchestra in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards
2019 Ivor’s Gold Badge Award for exceptional contribution to Music
2020-2024 Commission EVC Music publishing. Piano Tales for Alice and Piano tales for Peter Pan
2018 Nominated Jazz Educator of the Year, Parliamentary Jazz Awards
2018 Nominated Best Pianist in The British Jazz Awards
2018 Commission “Wild Oak “ The National Youth Jazz Orchestra
2018 Commission “Awakening “ for the Emulsion Festival
2017 Best Pianist in 2017 British Jazz Awards
2016 Oxford University Press Jazz violin and piano, Jazz in Autumn
2015 Oxford University Press “Grooves for Two” Jazz piano duet
2015 Piano Mix (ABRSM) arrangements in books 1,2 and 3 as part of a collection of pieces for a new series 2015 “Blink” Commissioned by The National Youth Jazz Collective
2014-15 Commission new book of originals and arrangements for solo piano and another for Jazz violin and piano (Oxford University Press ) “Jazz in Autumn” and “Jazz on a Winter’s Night”
2012 Commission new book of originals and arrangements for solo piano (Oxford University Press “Jazz in Springtime”
2011 Commission New book of original pieces and arrangements for solo piano (Oxford University Press) “Jazz on a Summers Day ”
2011 Commission “Hush” big band piece for The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (Featured in the Proms)
2010 Awarded Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (HonARAM)for special contributions to the Academy
2009 Commission – Oxford University Press “Jazz on A Winter’s Night” 12 arrangements for piano of Christmas music including classics by Mel Torme and Nat Cole but also some English carols such as “In the Bleak Mid Winter” and Peter Warlock’s “Balulalow”
2007 Commission – Oxford University Press. A contemporary piano duets for four hands.
2006 Three Commissions – Faber Music for “Fingerprints”, new editions of contemporary pieces for flute, cello and alto sax.
2005 Commission – Faber Music 3 pieces for “Fingerprints”, the new edition of Contemporary piano pieces
2005 Commission – Tim Garland’s Northern Underground Band “Red Ellen”
2002 Award International Association of Jazz Educators Award for outstanding services to jazz education (California ’02)
2000-2026 Commissions – The Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music . Many arrangements and original composition in the piano,horns and flute syllabus. (ABRSM publishing)
2002 “ECHO” – a setting for large ensemble and voice of the Christina Rossetti poem – Commissioned by ‘New Perspectives’.
2001 “FIRE AND ICE” – a suite for Jazz Quintet inspired by the short stories of A.S Byatt – Commissioned by ‘Sheffield Jazz’
1999 “IN ALL MY HOLY MOUNTAIN” – for large ensemble – with poet Roger Garfitt – Commissioned by ‘New Perspectives’
1999 “A GENTLE PRAYER” – for Jazz Orchestra – Commissioned by The London Sinfonietta.
1998 “NINE SWALLOWS – NO SUMMER” – for large ensemble – celebrating the work of Sculptor ,Barbara Hepworth – Commissioned by the ‘New Perspectives’ ensemble.
1996 “ALMA VENUS” – for soprano sax and piano – Commissioned by Rob Buckland and Peter Lawson
1996 Winner of the ‘John Dankworth Special Award’- British Jazz Awards.
1994 “THE PRINTMAKERS SUITE” – celebrating the role of Women in Jazz – Commissioned by ‘The Creative Jazz Orchestra’ (featured on Radio 3)