Response from Radio 4

I've got to pop out for a bit but then I'm going to have a look at Brian Kay's Light Programme website. Quite a few composers on there.

Galen I don't think it's the Ha tikvah. feetlebaum will know.

Transpose it into C. Then look in Clarks musical directory.

I've just played it and I recognised the tune straightaway but I'm going to have to dig deep in my memory to get the name.

You used to hear it on BBC Light Programme. It's one of those tunes that was written for light entertainment by composers like Ronald Binge and Trevor Duncan.

And I'm going to have it in my head all day now.

Is it the Israeli 'song of freedom' which I think is their national anthem?

It's a little like 'I had a little nut tree'

Musical brother, when asked, said
"Is she sure she hasn't missed out a bar? I feel like it should have 8, maybe a whole bar between bars 3 and 4?

(Actually I suspect that there are four bars and the note values are half what she has transcribed them as) Maybe something like the attachment ...

Unfortunately I still don't recognise it!"

I shall put the attachment onto my profile, in case anyone wants to try that out and see whether it becomes recognisable.

You can type it in on the pretend piano on here. Somehow I set all the all the possibilities going at once and couldn't stop them.
www.musipedia.org/flash_piano.html

Daisydoo if you made that up you should be a composer.

You have a lot of us intrigued now and we want to solve the mystery.

I am not musical enough to explain why it works as a tune but it just "sounds right." I am sure someone must know what I mean by that.

It sounds like an older tune but the story appears to have been set in the future. Its very dignified and gentle tune I would suggest Edwardian or earlier.

I will copy it again on manuscript paper now I know the proper timings, and try again.

There is an app Daisy (but for the life of me I don't know what it is called) which can recognise a tune and identify it for you. SIL used it once when we were trying to put a name to a piece of music - I had guessed the composer but he got the piece. Do you have a suitable IT /iPhone savvy relly or friend who could help?

There is a website www.midomi.com/ where you can sing or play a snatch of a tune and it will identify it for you. Worth a try?

Thanks to Simtib I could read your manuscript Daisy so am confident I've played it properly, but although there's something slightly familiar about it, that's as far as I've got! Sorry!

No. I'm intrigued.
I will try tomorrow! It's about time I retuned my harp anyway!
( I can't really play it, but I'm trying to learn. Picking out a series of notes I should manage!

The slashes are bar lines Galen. I'm losing confidence fast here!

So bar 1. is ABAC (4 crotchets) (middle C) (starts A above middle C)
2. G. G (dotted minim and crotchet)
3. C. C (dotted minim and crotchet, same note) (8ve above middle C)
4. BCBD (4 crotchets)
5. ABAC (4 crotchets) (middle C)
6. GAGC (4 crotchets) (middle C)
7. F. (dotted minim) (incomplete bar)

Any failures here are absolutely mine! Please don't let it be a nuisance!

Its all Greek to me..I feel such a dunce..music (in it's written form) remains an utter mystery to me!!

Because I could not sing in tune at choir auditions I was not advised to do music! Ihad NO music education after the age of 11

Ah! Got it.
Can you repeat in lines, with the dot
Eg
ABAC
G?

I'll have a go tomorrow on recorder, violin and harp! Don't understand what the notes after the slashes are? Elucidate please?

Daisy I tried to play it on my piano, but no inspiration I'm afraid! Let us know if you find out what it is!

I'm really impressed with the trouble you are taking and your determination; I'm sitting here losing my nerve and sorry I started this! My musicianship isn't really up to writing down tunes. I will find out what it's called and let you know! Thank you again.

It's in 4/4 time, in the key of F (Bb is the key signature). The notes are crotchets except in bars 2 and 3, which are a dotted minim and a crotchet; the last bar is incomplete, a dotted minim.

ABAC/G. G/C. C/BCBD/ABAC/GAGC/F.

The first C is middle C, the next two an octave above, then the last 2 are middle C again.

It's like when you say a word over and over again, it begins to sound tedious and odd! It sounds great when it's orchestrated! (honest).

I think I'm fated never to know its name and I'm beginning to wonder if I made it up - but then it was on Radio 4.

Its not so much a question of making the picture bigger but not shrinking it, or rather letting the system shrink it down when you upload it.
I think there is an automatic "resize function" which wants to make the image smaller to save space when its being uploaded.

Here goes musical types.

I cannot clearly see if the notes are quavers or what.

I think the key signature just has a B flat.

Notes on the stave in capitals.
Notes below the stave lower case.

The tune sort of works, but the last three notes I have guessed at don't.

ABCA c| F G| C C| BCB d |AAG c |GAG c | ?FFG

I could make that version bigger, but then it was too fuzzy to see any better.

Daisy I've come up against a brick wall.
The Testament of Jessie Lamb was broadcast from June 17th in 5 episodes, and although you can still hear the first 45 minutes of Woman's Hour for that week, the Testament of Jessie Lamb is 'no longer available'.
I guess it's something to do with copyright.
Unfortunately I can't save your manuscript to a kind of file that I can open on my computer, and it's too small for me to read
Perhaps I'll put a question on the tech forum asking how to make pictures bigger<idea>

I have transcribed it as far as I can but its hard to see if the notes listed are quavers or whatever.

I assume the key signature is B flat from peering hard at it. Its a nice little tune but either the bar spacing is wrong or it is the problem about not seeing what time value the notes are.
I cannot recognise the tune but it sounds like it should be a song.

I will persevere.

It's there but it looks very small. I don't know how to make it bigger - sorry.