The big top

Description

The Big Top by Joan Last is a collection of pieces for grade 2 to 3 piano and include titles like Grand Parade, Cream Ponies, Elephants, The Tightrope Walker, The Monkey Band, and Lions.

• Grand parade: this is led by the big drum. The drummer considers himself to be the most important person in the procession and is determined to make more noise than anyone else.
• Cream ponies: 8 little cream ponies trot round the ring, wheeling and curving in perfect formation. Throughout their act they never vary from their rhythmic trot.
• Elephants: now the elephants come lumbering in, they bring with them the atmosphere of the Orient. Their tread is slow and dignified.
• The tightrope walker: We watch his every step anxiously. At one moment he nearly loses his balance altogether.
• The monkey band: this performance has little artistic merit, but it certainly makes up in energy what it lacks in musical feeling.
• The happy clown and the sad clown: there often seems to be a hint of tragedy behind the painted mask of a clown. Though the sad clown tries to join in the fun, he does not really succeed.
• Lions: who is it who does not have his heart in his mouth when the lions enter the arena?
• The high trapeze: we watch the artists climb higher and higher, into the Big Top. Though, for us, there are breathtaking moments, the performers never falter. It is a triumph of perfect judgment, rhythm and timing.