Once Upon A Time

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When I hear children's tales, with their fantastical settings and larger-than-life characters, it immediately brings me back to my childhood. In Once Upon A Time (2020), a piece fo r bassoon and percussion, I wanted to evoke the joy of these much simpler times and capture a sense of innocence, fun, and wonder through the musical retelling of four children's tales: The Tortoise and the Hare (Aesop's Fables), The Three Little Pigs (folk tale), The Ugly Duckling (Hans Christian Andersen), and Little Red Riding Hood (Charles Perrault). Each story, which has its own movement, explores a different aspect of bassoon playing. The Tortoise and the Hare requires circular breathing; The Three Little Pigs makes use of timbral trills and fast, syncopated rhythms; The Ugly Duckling extensively features lyrical playing in the bassoon's highest register, and Little Red Riding Hood has multiphonics galore. Each movement is further characterized through the percussion, as different instruments were used for each story. A drumset is used in The Tortoise and the Hare; snare drum, wood blocks, tiles, and brake drum for The Three Little Pigs; vibraphone for The Ugly Duckling; and bass drum for Little Red Riding Hood. The piece begins with a prologue, which transports us into this familiar fantasy world, and after all four children's tales are told, an epilogue assures us that they lived happily ever after. Once Upon A Time was commissioned by Aaron Brown and Sui Lin Tam. Show more