Celia Learning on the Spinnet

John Isum’s Celia Learning on the Spinnet is a delightful short canon for three equal voices, setting a humorous English text. The lyrics paint a vivid scene of a young woman, Celia, being taught to play the spinet by her tutor. The humour arises from a double entendre, as Celia’s tutor exclaims in frustration at her playing, “Zounds ‘tis a long prick, a long prick’d Note you touch!” This secular Renaissance part-music captures a moment of lighthearted domesticity and playful misunderstanding.