I will often play this tune in a medley with "Scarborough Fair" and selected it for "Strings for a Season" as an example of a simplistic, yet beautiful tune. It is a favorite selection of my students as they enjoy learning this popular piece for the holidays, playing the melody "Greensleeves" with the lyrics of "What Child is This?" Written by William Chatterton Dix (1837 - 1898), a writer of hymns and carols, the first three verses are adaptations from his poem titled, "The Manger Throne".

This piece, although simple to play, has a couple of measures worthy of some special attention in order to create a smooth flow without any internal hiccups. Make note that when entering measure 10, there is an F hinge bar to deal with (after the initial beat 1, the left hand index finger arches up, holding down the bass note while making room for the open 2nd string to be played).

On beat 1 in measure 6, be sure to roll the right hand fingers - p, i, m, and a in an arpeggio fashion and in measure 13 you may employ a 'thumb drag' with your right thumb (p) sort of falling down through string 4 after string 5 is played, followed by a smooth and consistent 3 finger arpeggio roll with the remaining fingers.

Allow the piece to relax and flow without rushing - give it plenty of room to breathe. It also might be quite effective to play the piece with the capo at the 3rd or 4th fret since the tune lives in that spot rather nicely.

"What Child is This?" is the 8th track from "Strings for a Season", available from www.richardgilewitz.com.