This very well-known
The Teddy Bear's Picnic is another light-hearted arrangement that I dearly love playing. Whilst the melody for the main part of the work is borne by the third voice, all the other voices have their moments of glory with a sprinkling of two-bar solos. I have many happy memories of playing the sopranino and partnering
Bettina Kiefner or Nannette Wiethölter on descant in the
Blue Monday and Blue Tuesday consorts respectively.
The work opens with a two-bar snatch of melody on descant replied by the same melody but an octave lower on tenor. The whole ensemble then joins-in with the lower three voices marching down the ladder as it were accompanied by a long, soft triller by descant and sopranino. The story is then taken-up by the treble to be finalised by a splendid coda. In between there are a couple of light-hearted moments whereby the descant and sopranino exchange shots like trumpets in a jazz-session. Guaranteed to bring the house down.
This arrangement may be found in
Consort With a Swing 2.
For the ultimate rendering, just admire these Taiwan kids shown on the Video tab..