Jenni Brandon (b. 1977)— Five Frogs
Jenni Brandon has received a variety of commissions and awards for her music, including awards from the Voices of Change Russell Horn Composer’s Competitions, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and The National Creative and Inventive Thinking Skills Association. The Wildflower Trio, for oboe, bassoon, and piano, was commissioned in 2004 by the College of Fine Arts of the University of Texas at Austin to honor the life and work of Lady Bird Johnson. It has received performances around the world.
Active as a singer, conductor, and teacher, she currently sings with Pacific Chorale under the direction of John Alexander. As a conductor she is currently the music director of The Concert Singers, a community choir based in the Westchester area of Los Angeles.
Five Frogs for woodwind quintet was inspired by a book titled One Hundred Frogs by Hiroaki Sato. This little book takes a look at one hundred different translations, haikus, sonnets, prose poems, and even limericks based on Basho’s haiku, “Old Pond/Frog jumps in/The sound of water.” Each of the instruments in the ensemble is so different and so exceptional in their sound and abilities that “I realized each one could be a ‘frog.’ The clarinet is perfect for “Leaping” because of its agility and grace, the way a frog can be still one minute and gone the next. “On the Lily Pad” depicts a frog sitting, as frogs often do, but I felt that this frog might be contempla- tive and thoughtful and that the oboe could sing a beautiful song of the pond. For “Swimming” I chose the French horn as the frog, swimming gracefully through the water as the other instruments act as ripples in the water and the motion the frog might leave in its wake.
The “Bullfrog” could be none other than the bassoon, not only for its wide vocal range, but also for the various colors it could evoke, the way frogs’ sounds entangle with the other sounds of the night. “Catching Bugs” gave me the opportunity to use the piccolo and allow the ensemble to run ‘amok’ after their bug dinner. Finally in “Epilogue” all the frogs sing together, each one bringing their own song into this final movement.”Five Frogs
Jenni Brandon has received a variety of commissions and awards for her music, including awards from the Voices of Change Russell Horn Composer’s Competitions, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and The National Creative and Inventive Thinking Skills Association. The Wildflower Trio, for oboe, bassoon, and piano, was commissioned in 2004 by the College of Fine Arts of the University of Texas at Austin to honor the life and work of Lady Bird Johnson. It has received performances around the world.
Active as a singer, conductor, and teacher, she currently sings with Pacific Chorale under the direction of John Alexander. As a conductor she is currently the music director of The Concert Singers, a community choir based in the Westchester area of Los Angeles.
Five Frogs for woodwind quintet was inspired by a book titled One Hundred Frogs by Hiroaki Sato. This little book takes a look at one hundred different translations, haikus, sonnets, prose poems, and even limericks based on Basho’s haiku, “Old Pond/Frog jumps in/The sound of water.” Each of the instruments in the ensemble is so different and so exceptional in their sound and abilities that “I realized each one could be a ‘frog.’ The clarinet is perfect for “Leaping” because of its agility and grace, the way a frog can be still one minute and gone the next. “On the Lily Pad” depicts a frog sitting, as frogs often do, but I felt that this frog might be contempla- tive and thoughtful and that the oboe could sing a beautiful song of the pond. For “Swimming” I chose the French horn as the frog, swimming gracefully through the water as the other instruments act as ripples in the water and the motion the frog might leave in its wake.
The “Bullfrog” could be none other than the bassoon, not only for its wide vocal range, but also for the various colors it could evoke, the way frogs’ sounds entangle with the other sounds of the night. “Catching Bugs” gave me the opportunity to use the piccolo and allow the ensemble to run ‘amok’ after their bug dinner. Finally in “Epilogue” all the frogs sing together, each one bringing their own song into this final movement.”
The above is the literature in the program. My viscomm class is designing an installation piece for the foyer of Sursa Hall. Five Frogs is the song I chose to design an abstract display. The free concert performed by MAQ is on April 3rd. Feel free to come and see the art and the concert!
Jenni Brandon has received a variety of commissions and awards for her music, including awards from the Voices of Change Russell Horn Composer’s Competitions, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and The National Creative and Inventive Thinking Skills Association. The Wildflower Trio, for oboe, bassoon, and piano, was commissioned in 2004 by the College of Fine Arts of the University of Texas at Austin to honor the life and work of Lady Bird Johnson. It has received performances around the world.
Active as a singer, conductor, and teacher, she currently sings with Pacific Chorale under the direction of John Alexander. As a conductor she is currently the music director of The Concert Singers, a community choir based in the Westchester area of Los Angeles.
Five Frogs for woodwind quintet was inspired by a book titled One Hundred Frogs by Hiroaki Sato. This little book takes a look at one hundred different translations, haikus, sonnets, prose poems, and even limericks based on Basho’s haiku, “Old Pond/Frog jumps in/The sound of water.” Each of the instruments in the ensemble is so different and so exceptional in their sound and abilities that “I realized each one could be a ‘frog.’ The clarinet is perfect for “Leaping” because of its agility and grace, the way a frog can be still one minute and gone the next. “On the Lily Pad” depicts a frog sitting, as frogs often do, but I felt that this frog might be contempla- tive and thoughtful and that the oboe could sing a beautiful song of the pond. For “Swimming” I chose the French horn as the frog, swimming gracefully through the water as the other instruments act as ripples in the water and the motion the frog might leave in its wake.
The “Bullfrog” could be none other than the bassoon, not only for its wide vocal range, but also for the various colors it could evoke, the way frogs’ sounds entangle with the other sounds of the night. “Catching Bugs” gave me the opportunity to use the piccolo and allow the ensemble to run ‘amok’ after their bug dinner. Finally in “Epilogue” all the frogs sing together, each one bringing their own song into this final movement.”Five Frogs
Jenni Brandon has received a variety of commissions and awards for her music, including awards from the Voices of Change Russell Horn Composer’s Competitions, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and The National Creative and Inventive Thinking Skills Association. The Wildflower Trio, for oboe, bassoon, and piano, was commissioned in 2004 by the College of Fine Arts of the University of Texas at Austin to honor the life and work of Lady Bird Johnson. It has received performances around the world.
Active as a singer, conductor, and teacher, she currently sings with Pacific Chorale under the direction of John Alexander. As a conductor she is currently the music director of The Concert Singers, a community choir based in the Westchester area of Los Angeles.
Five Frogs for woodwind quintet was inspired by a book titled One Hundred Frogs by Hiroaki Sato. This little book takes a look at one hundred different translations, haikus, sonnets, prose poems, and even limericks based on Basho’s haiku, “Old Pond/Frog jumps in/The sound of water.” Each of the instruments in the ensemble is so different and so exceptional in their sound and abilities that “I realized each one could be a ‘frog.’ The clarinet is perfect for “Leaping” because of its agility and grace, the way a frog can be still one minute and gone the next. “On the Lily Pad” depicts a frog sitting, as frogs often do, but I felt that this frog might be contempla- tive and thoughtful and that the oboe could sing a beautiful song of the pond. For “Swimming” I chose the French horn as the frog, swimming gracefully through the water as the other instruments act as ripples in the water and the motion the frog might leave in its wake.
The “Bullfrog” could be none other than the bassoon, not only for its wide vocal range, but also for the various colors it could evoke, the way frogs’ sounds entangle with the other sounds of the night. “Catching Bugs” gave me the opportunity to use the piccolo and allow the ensemble to run ‘amok’ after their bug dinner. Finally in “Epilogue” all the frogs sing together, each one bringing their own song into this final movement.”
The above is the literature in the program. My viscomm class is designing an installation piece for the foyer of Sursa Hall. Five Frogs is the song I chose to design an abstract display. The free concert performed by MAQ is on April 3rd. Feel free to come and see the art and the concert!
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