Whims: 15 Easy Vignettes

Once upon a time, in a far-away country, there lived a very kind King. Every summer he gave a magnificent fair — free to every child. There were tents with flags, dancers, monkeys, clowns and many surprises. The royal piano will play the music for this story, and if you listen carefully, you will hear in the music many of the things that happen in the stories.

1. COUNTRY DANCE. The Country Fair always begins with a dance. Everyone is happy. Cats dance with dogs, chickens dance with foxes, and girls dance with boys! They dance so fast that they get tired, and slow down at the end.

2. LULLABY. Two children, Paul and Mary, are the main characters in this story. They are brother and sister. They go to see the puppets, but find out that the puppets have been dancing, too, and need to take a nap. All the kids have to be very quiet because a lullaby is the kind of music you play to help someone fall asleep.

3. FANFARE. The puppets wake up when they hear the sound of trumpets, trombones and drums. The band is playing a Fanfare — a kind of music that is played when something very important is about to happen. It announces the procession of the King and Queen into the fairgrounds.

4. IMPERTINENCE. Once the Royal Family is seated, a little dog runs onto the stage and starts nipping at the heels of the clown. The clown is angry at the little dog for his Impertinence, and tries to catch him, but the dog is too quick. He even teases the clown, daring him to try again. At the end, just when the clown thinks he has caught him, the little dog runs away faster than ever.

5. SONG. Paul and Mary love to sing. Even the Queen has heard about their beautiful voices, and asks them for a song. The prince and princess, Milo and Naomi, accompany them on their guitars. (It’s really played by the piano, but you can imagine the guitars.)

6. MAY DANCE. Paul and Mary go back to the puppets to see them perform the May Dance. But these are very strange puppets. Instead of being operated by strings from above, each puppet has a wind-up key, so they move like a robot, or a clock — tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

7. STUDY ON E (JOHNNY ONE-NOTE). The royal children have a little brother, Prince Johnny, who is terribly jealous that Milo and Naomi got to sing for the Queen. He insists on playing a piece on his oboe. Unfortunately, he only knows how to play one note: E. So, the royal composer wrote a special piece for Johnny with just that one note played on every beat.

8. RONDO. Suddenly a troupe of gypsy dancers runs out of a tent to perform their famous Rondo. That’s a piece where one main tune keeps coming around again. (That’s why they call it a “rondo.”) Finally, as the music gets louder, the dancers whirl around faster and faster, wilder and wilder, until they run out of breath and all fall down.

9. MIRROR. Did you ever notice that when you look in a mirror everything is backwards? You raise your right hand and the kid in The mirror raises his left hand. In the fun-house at the fair, there are humongous mirrors that also make everything look upside-down! Here’s what it would sound like if every tune you played were played back in a mirror. If you go up, it goes down; if you go down, it goes up.

10. DIALOGUE. Paul and Mary are about to go hear the organ-grinder. Mary’s friend, Flora, wants to see the organ-grinder, too, but her father won’t let her go. This next song is a Dialogue (a conversation) between Flora and her father. You might even call it an argument. Flora—in a high voice — loudly begs to go; Dad — in a lower voice — quietly tells her she can’t. But Flora keeps on begging, louder and louder. Finally her father says, “Well, if you’re careful, you may go.” You can hear him say this at the end — slowly and very low.

11. THE HAPPY DRUNKEN ORGAN GRINDER. An organ grinder is someone who plays an organ that looks like a big music box on wheels. When he turns the crank it will play a song. He has a trained monkey who carries a cup, asking the listeners for coins. When the children come to the organ-grinder, he is drinking from an almost empty bottle of wine. I’m very sorry to tell you that he is in no condition to play the music correctly—he’s drunk! Instead of keeping a regular beat—one two, one two—he mixes it all up so that it sounds more like one three, two one, one three two.

12. BELLS. The choir director from Paul and Mary’s school is horrified by the terrible noise from the organ-grinder and takes the children away as quickly as she can. “Now we are going to hear some amazing music,” she says, and takes the children into a big outdoor theater. On stage are dozens of children holding bells of different sizes. Each bell plays a different note. Listen to how they ring as each child shakes a bell at exactly the right time!

13. CLASSICAL DANCE.  Paul and Mary go next to the Fairy-Tale Tent. It’s really a theater, where two famous Shakespearean actors named Sophia and Lucinda are performing. When the children arrive they see on stage the glittering ballroom of a beautiful palace. It is the scene in Cinderella where the Prince invites all the girls in the land to a dance so that he can choose one to be his wife. It’s a very proper and old-fashioned dance, not like these wild raucous dances today! It’s a Classical Dance.

14. ADAGIETTO. As you probably know, poor Cinderella wasn’t allowed to go to the dance. Her wicked step-sisters made her stay home in her rags and clean the cinders out of the fireplace. She dreams of dancing with a prince, but she knows that could never happen, and it makes it her very unhappy. And so she sings this “Adagietto,” a song that is slow and sad. I hope none of you children will cry, even if I do.

15. MARCH. Cheer up, kids! You probably already know that Cinderella gets to go to the dance after all, and ends up marrying the Prince. Our last piece is a March. At the end of the fair, the King and Queen and all the royal family march back to the palace over a long red carpet, and all the happy children march home, talking about the wonderful things they saw at the country fair.

‍