Cumulative Song - Example With Two-line Stanza

Example With Two-line Stanza

A example of a simple text with an addition to each second line is The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Chrismas my true love gave to me

Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

and so on until

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a milking, seven swans a swimming, six geese a laying, five gold rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

The first five gifts are sung to varied melodic phrases, and with a change of tempo for five gold rings. Otherwise the wording of each new gift is sung to a repeated melodic phrase.