"The Fabulous Song"
by Don Gillmor
Recommended age: S.K. - Grade 3
Approximate time: 40 minutes
Young Frederic Pipkin tries very hard to follow in his musical family's footsteps but every new instrument he takes up sounds worse than the last one. His piano playing sounds like a brick crashing through a window. When he blows into the trumpet, it sounds like a frog trying to spit. The cello sounds like an argument between four snakes. No sound comes out of his flute and the clarinet gives him a headache. Feeling that his musical career is over before it has begun, Frederic is about to give up in despair until one night a family birthday party leads to a miraculous discovery.
As audiences listen to a reading of the story, they will also be experiencing a musical interpretation by a quartet of young musicians from The Glenn Gould Professional School at The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. Sound effects and original riffs in the style of eccentric American composer Charles Ives are blended with the music of Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart and Wilder to illustrate this delightful story.
The Fabulous Song was first presented at The Children's Own Museum in Toronto as part of their acclaimed musical literature series The Readin' Writin' & Rhythm Room, produced by Words in Motion, and has been featured at the Milk International Children's Festival of The Arts, the Guelph Spring Festival, The Brampton Theatre Centre, and at many schools.
Author Don Gillmor is an award-winning journalist and travel writer who has recently discovered a love for writing children's books. The Fabulous Song is a Mr. Christie's Book Award winner, a finalist for the Governor Generals Award and a Storytelling World Awards Honor Title. The book is illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay who is a Governor General Award Children's Illustration winner for another book with Don Gillmor, Yuck, A Love Story.
The Fabulous Song strikes a special chord, blending music and story to the delight of young and not-so-young audiences.