peter mumme
Eucalypt
Eucalypt (1983) cassette
A musical trip through the australian bush, originally composed for dance.
An ambassador gnome is sent to Australian from the world of gnomes to seek and select which treasures of this country are worthy of inclusion in the gnome encyclopaedia.
A magpie guide takes the ambassador around the country - discovering wattle trees, rosella birds, kangaroos, water, fire, wombats, opals, soldier ants - and the eucalypt.
The music was drawn from series of piano studies composed and extemporised for my dance class work at the time; we had a short piece called 'arch gnome' (named in honour of a favoured contemporary dance teacher) .. the story grew from this title - a 'gnome' is a magical spirit that lives underground - and who guards treasures of the earth ..
The birds, animals and environment sounds we hear on ‘eucalypt’ were all recorded locally where I lived (about 50 k outside melbourne, australia in a quiiet rural region)
The music draws on the sounds and actions of the birds etc., and was designed to fit with the ‘jumps, hops and spins’ (of the younger children) - and the more advanced dance capabilities of the (teenagers) involved ..
The names of the pieces indicate the intent .. ‘wattle (bright yellow spring-time tree) blossom; a tame magpie - who was ever sitting on one’s shoulder and ‘talking’; bright (‘southern cross’) stars shining and twinkling in the milky way; elemental aspects of water, fire and air - and the iconic australian ‘eucalypt’ tree
The whole project was very fun !
wattle blossom
kookaburra family - immature, aunt, mother
mother magpie
PM, recording with king-parrots
long time ago !
Eucalypt is available on cassette - here
And also available in ‘uncompressed’ .wav format - especially produced for download - includes the music, background notes and images - contact me to request link ..
If you like the work you might like send a few bob, $s, rupiah, shekels, yen .. via paypal here
If wanting to use any bits for paid productions, you do need contact me for copyright clearances
© Peter Mumme 1983 all rights reserved
Cover artwork: Veronica Holland
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