Description

Aesop’s Fables is a fun and accessible collection of five pieces with narrator, playable by quartet or larger forces. Primarily in 1st position, with …a few simple harmonics in 4th position to add height and clarity, the addition of bass percussion and different playing effects offers musical and technical challenges in equal measure. The addition of a narrator creates new opportunities and the pieces can be performed singly or in any order. The music is colourful and inventive, offering new and exciting chamber music for young bassists in the early stages of study. “I hope you will enjoy experimenting with the different playing techniques used in these little pieces. Perhaps you might persuade a friend (or your teacher?) to narrate the words as you play and so bring each story to life. Have fun!” [Christopher Field] Christopher Field has a lifetime’s experience of singing and teaching stretching back to 1953 when he was a chorister at the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Later he won a choral exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music and an Arts Council of Great Britain award for postgraduate study with Frederick Husler in Switzerland. His subsequent career as a schoolmaster at Dulwich College was combined with work as a concert baritone, choral conducting, and teaching singing and double bass. For many years a number of his teaching works have been included in the graded examination syllabuses of the leading examination boards.