Click to hear a midi version of the tune

Beth yw'r Haf i Mi? (What is the Summer to Me?) This is a lament sung by a man whose partner has left him. He bemoans his loss and misery since she left. The long days of summer are now nothing to him and he pleads for her to come back when he will treat her better. Some slightly cynical famale activists describe it as a 'wife-beater's lament'.:  Beth yw'r haf i mi? Dim ond gaeaf llwm a dagrau'n lli. Er pan gollais ti, nid yw hirddydd haf yn ddim i mi. Gariad fach, 'rol cwyrdro'n ffôl, dwed y ddoi di eto'n ôl. Beth yw'r haf i mi? Dim ond hirlwm er pan gollais ti. It has the typical old Welsh tune structure - AABA. Part A is played twice: note the two dots at the end of the stave showing this; then part B is played once, then D.C. (dal capo - from the top) means that part A is played again until reaching Fine - the end.

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Player's guide

This is a fairly straightforward tune to play. The index finger follows the thumb in the first bar and this is followed by a thumb-over-index-finger cross over in the second bar. From then on, there are no crossovers.

Right hand guidance

Bar 1 - Start with the middle finger (3) on A' and follow with the thumb (1) on E' then follow with the index finger on E' so that the thumb (1) can follow with F' which is the next note up.

Bar 2 - The index finger (2) plays the E' then the thumb (1) crosses over to D', the next string down and the second finger follows it and plays the C'.

Bar 3 - The next note, B' is played by the ring finger (4) rather than the middle finger (3) so that the next three notes are played easily by (3),(2),(1) in turn: C', D', E'.

Bar 4 - The index finger (2) moves down a string to play C' and the next two fingers play the next two notes; B', A'.

For Section B, bars 5,6,7 and 8, the thumb and fingers locate on the C', B', A' respectively for the whole of the section with the thumb (1) playing C', the index finger (2) playing B' and the middle finger (3) playing A'.