Grade 1 Duration: 3'01" & 2'08" Youtube: https://youtu.be/XDe5Lyj-EAw

Opening with tutti tremolo sul ponticello, both players and audience will soon feel the chill down to their bones! This work evokes a long, cold winter with a slow moving melody and simple A minor harmonies. Harmonics & expressive dynamics display serenity and calm, while a sonorous melody in the middle section encourages deep tone production, shared later with the cellos and complemented by delicate pizzicato and a light upper harmony. Dynamics are of ultimate importance, and students who are experimenting with or developing vibrato will have ample opportunity to practice their new skill.

Penguins can be noisy birds! Pecking & squawking, the opening quavers bring sound from across the ensemble as there are birds everywhere. Eventually some go out to sea to hunt, soaring through the water with long, easy slurs while snapping up fish along the way via interjecting pizzicato. Eventually they’re back on land, waddling around looking for their partner & chicks in a staccato call-and-response which leads back to a variant of the opening. A fun & energetic piece, students will have great opportunity to consolidate their rhythmic & dynamic ensemble skills, and all the penguins will make it back home!

Digital download: https://www.martinistrings.com/music-scores/886