Klarinet Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 2007/06

From: "K S" <krsmav@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Lease Favorite Work?
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 10:09:03 -0400

The Circus Polka is only a couple of minutes long. I'm not sure how a
big Ringling Brothers production number could be crammed into that
amount of time, unless they repeated it endlessly.

The subtitle is "For a Baby Elephant." As I hear it, the music is
highly satirical. A young, clumsy elephant tries to dance the polka
and falls down splat every bar or so.

It's usually played by student orchestras and bands, which miss the
point. They play it with the attitude "I'm playing the wrong notes,
but don't blame me. It's what that dumb old Stravinsky wrote." The
correct attitude is WITH ATTITUDE -- "I'm playing the wrong notes!
SPFL&#%T!!"

Ken Shaw

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