It's red and it's round and it weighs five ounces
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Soundcloud Recording
Performed by the Grevillea Ensemble, Wendy Dixon-soprano, David Miller-piano |
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Programme Note
It’s red and it’s round and it weighs five ounces, is a satirical and humorous song that uses as its lyrics a number of comments made by international cricket players to put off their opponents. This practice is known as ‘sledging’, and is particularly prevalent in cricket. Over the many years I have been a cricket umpire, I have been exposed to a great variety of sledging by players, often crude and abusive. Sledging can also however, be very witty, intelligent and even humorous, and I have chosen a selection of player’s comments that fit this description.
A number of songs that have a close affiliation with cricket have been used as a starting point for some of the work’s pitch material. These songs include Our Don, C’mon Aussie and Dreadlock Holiday (I don’t like cricket). Quotations from these songs appear frequently, often simultaneously, and are varied from their original forms and developed particularly by using pitch inversions of the original melodies.
The sledges selected in the work begin with a number that were made by players, generally in chronological order beginning with bowlers and then by other players. The work then moves on to sledges made by non-players such as members of the crowd, commentators, and finally, one made by an umpire in the early 1900s.
Instrumentation: Soprano Voice and Pno
Performances of this work:
13 Jun 2015: Grevillea Ensemble Private Concert (3 Garden Place (private home)). Featuring Wendy Dixon, David Miller.
Programme Note
It’s red and it’s round and it weighs five ounces, is a satirical and humorous song that uses as its lyrics a number of comments made by international cricket players to put off their opponents. This practice is known as ‘sledging’, and is particularly prevalent in cricket. Over the many years I have been a cricket umpire, I have been exposed to a great variety of sledging by players, often crude and abusive. Sledging can also however, be very witty, intelligent and even humorous, and I have chosen a selection of player’s comments that fit this description.
A number of songs that have a close affiliation with cricket have been used as a starting point for some of the work’s pitch material. These songs include Our Don, C’mon Aussie and Dreadlock Holiday (I don’t like cricket). Quotations from these songs appear frequently, often simultaneously, and are varied from their original forms and developed particularly by using pitch inversions of the original melodies.
The sledges selected in the work begin with a number that were made by players, generally in chronological order beginning with bowlers and then by other players. The work then moves on to sledges made by non-players such as members of the crowd, commentators, and finally, one made by an umpire in the early 1900s.
Instrumentation: Soprano Voice and Pno
Performances of this work:
13 Jun 2015: Grevillea Ensemble Private Concert (3 Garden Place (private home)). Featuring Wendy Dixon, David Miller.