Choral A Small Suite with piano | 6 min | Listen Little Talk Spiders Snail’s Pace Butterfly Wings Since my first introduction to the prize-winning poetry of Aileen Fisher as a young mother, I have been a very vocal fan of her whimsical word crafting for children. While searching for fresh material to provide winsome lyrics for the younger kids of Seattle Children’s Chorus, I stumbled upon these four poems in “Always Wondering,” a collection of “Some Favorite Poems.” I quickly and joyfully got to work creating A Small Suite. Kris Mason, Artistic Director, conducted the premiere, and soon after, Alliance Music Publications, Inc. became its publisher, bringing the music and the poetry that I loved into many lives. Each piece stands alone, but they are designed as an integral seamless whole, musically and thematically. “Little Talk” Don’t you think it’s probable that beetles, bugs, and bees talk about a lot of things– you know, such [things] as these: The kind of weather where they live in jungles tall with grass, and earthquakes in their villages whenever people pass. Of course, we’ll never know if bugs talk very much at all– because our ears are far too big for talk that is so small. ———- “Spiders” Spiders are so sort-of-thin, whatever do they keep it in– the yards of thread they need to spin? ———- “Snail’s Pace” Maybe it’s so that snails are slow: they trudge along and tarry. But isn’t it true you’d slow up, too, if you had a house to carry? ———- “Butterfly Wings” How would it be on a day in June to open your eyes in a dark cocoon, And soften one end and crawl outside, and find you had wings to open wide, And find you could fly to a bush or tree or float on the air like a boat at sea… How would it BE? by Aileen Fisher
Choral A Small Suite with piano | 6 min | Listen Little Talk Spiders Snail’s Pace Butterfly Wings Since my first introduction to the prize-winning poetry of Aileen Fisher as a young mother, I have been a very vocal fan of her whimsical word crafting for children. While searching for fresh material to provide winsome lyrics for the younger kids of Seattle Children’s Chorus, I stumbled upon these four poems in “Always Wondering,” a collection of “Some Favorite Poems.” I quickly and joyfully got to work creating A Small Suite. Kris Mason, Artistic Director, conducted the premiere, and soon after, Alliance Music Publications, Inc. became its publisher, bringing the music and the poetry that I loved into many lives. Each piece stands alone, but they are designed as an integral seamless whole, musically and thematically. “Little Talk” Don’t you think it’s probable that beetles, bugs, and bees talk about a lot of things– you know, such [things] as these: The kind of weather where they live in jungles tall with grass, and earthquakes in their villages whenever people pass. Of course, we’ll never know if bugs talk very much at all– because our ears are far too big for talk that is so small. ———- “Spiders” Spiders are so sort-of-thin, whatever do they keep it in– the yards of thread they need to spin? ———- “Snail’s Pace” Maybe it’s so that snails are slow: they trudge along and tarry. But isn’t it true you’d slow up, too, if you had a house to carry? ———- “Butterfly Wings” How would it be on a day in June to open your eyes in a dark cocoon, And soften one end and crawl outside, and find you had wings to open wide, And find you could fly to a bush or tree or float on the air like a boat at sea… How would it BE? by Aileen Fisher