-
Score title
-
Daniel and Snakeman: A Children's Symphonic Drama
-
Composer
-
Margaret Brouwer
-
Date
-
2011
-
Instrumentation
-
Chamber orchestra, narrator
-
Program note
-
Daniel and Snakeman is a Children’s Symphonic Drama with narrator suited for children from age 4 to 12. The duration is 26 - 28 minutes. The various characters in the story are represented by different instruments - Daniel by trumpets and horns, Wiggy by the clarinet, Malik by drums, Fadumo and Elizabeth by the oboe and violin, and Snakeman by the trombone with lots of glissandi. The work is tonal with catchy melodies and rhythms.
Synopsis
An 11 year-old boy named Daniel lived in a future time called the 7th World Order. It was a time when people had learned to live together peacefully, respecting each other's differences. But there were hold-overs from the past called the old guard. These people, many of whom had become half human and half animal still believed that people who were different from each other should not come near each other and not do fun things together.
Daniel’s friend, Wiggy, was a talking bat who glided and darted around Daniel - sometimes wiggling comically. Daniel and Wiggy were trying to find some missing friends - the drummer, Malik and the young dancers, Fadumo and Elizabeth. They discovered that their friends had been captured by Snakeman, a leader in the old guard. They found Snakeman’s fortress and found a way inside. They could hear Malik, Fadumo and Elizabeth playing their music way in the distance. They followed the sound of the music until they entered a dungeon room where their friends and many other people were imprisoned. Daniel found a way to capture Snakeman. Then he used the blaster in his ZX89 Magnetizing Power Zoomer to cut the prison bars freeing all the people.
Margaret Brouwer
