Children's music in classical, popular and traditional nursery rhyme styles, with
authentic animal sounds providing the melodies or illustrating the animals described
and a soft countertenor in the vocal tracks.
An extravaganza for children aged from 4 to 104!
This is a selection of well-known nursery rhymes, mixed with a few original compositions,
in which the real stars are the animals. In some songs they perform entirely without
words, with the help of a little electronic magic from the American organist and
musical events organizer Dave Nelson, in other songs they also are joined by British
composer and countertenor David W Solomons.
The animals will introduce themselves as the CD progresses. Meanwhile, the humans
involved introduce themselves here:
Arranger/Animal trainer:
Lorin Nelson [LN] (also known on the Net as Lorin Swelk) grew up in various areas
of the United States including California, Idaho, Illinois, Wyoming and Utah. He
has enjoyed tracking (but not hunting or harming) animals since childhood, thanks
to his Grandfather, G. L. Nelson, to whom he wishes to dedicate his work on this
project. He started taking music lessons at age 8 but didn't really take an interest
until his teen years, when he found that girls liked musicians.
He studied under Valton Kuykendall (brass and percussion), H. Jarrold Harris (electronic
music/timpani/Harpsichord), Ray Barker (electronic music), Irvin M. Smith (pipe organ),
Alan Strange (electronic music), and of course his dear piano teacher Mildred Van
Norman amongst others who would probably not want to be mentioned. He has played
piano, organ, keyboards, mallets, timpani, percussion, brass, drum set and found
objects in ensembles ranging from punk bands to symphony orchestras to drum and bugle
corps in the past three decades. Lorin would like to especially thank his Mom and
Dad for forcing him to play music from an early age. He also does a bit of composing
on the side.
Composer/Countertenor:
David W Solomons [DWS] was born in Oxford in 1953 and has lived in various parts
of England, France and Hong Kong. He graduated from Oxford University in Modern Languages,
but taught himself the arts of singing and composing. He currently lives in Sale,
Cheshire and works in Manchester as a translator. He sings alto with various choirs
at Manchester Cathedral and composes secular and religious works for choir, solo
voice, organ and various chamber groups, many of which have been heard in performance
in places as far afield as Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Latvia, and the USA
as well as the United Kingdom, and also in recorded form on the Internet and on various
CDs.
He met Lorin Nelson on the Internet and has enjoyed many fruitful musical collaborations
with him over the years, "Wildlife in the Nursery" being the biggest and best venture
to date.
The songs (available from CDBaby):
Wildlife in the nursery
Written by DWS: the excited child discovers all the animals in the world right there
in the bedroom and can't wait to tell Mum all about it
Hickory Dickory Dock
Expanded by DWS (after Terry Kluytmans)
The mouse has a love-hate relationship with the clock, a (slightly understated) domestic
tragedy ensues.
Old Macdonald
Barnyard Animals sing this traditional favourite.
Chicken Little
Extended lyrics by Terry Kluytmans. Reggae chickens rule the roost in this foot-tapping
number
Three blind mice (cats)
The cats sing as they chase away the mice.
Baa Baa black sheep
Arranged by DWS, performed with a little help from sheep and - strangely - a few
kittens.
Pop goes the weasel
A very rare recording! One night in the rainforest, LN happened to record a whole
bunch of Monkeys during a singing session. Welllll....maybe that's not entirely true.
Little Bo Peep
Original reworking by DWS of this popular song. Poor little Bo loses rather more
than her sheep, but they all come back in the end.
Where has my little dog gone?
A lost puppy in the barnyard causes all the animals to call for her. Fortunately,
they find her at the end.
Alice the camel
She is a rather messy camel with countless humps - or is she? A novel reworking
of the tune that normally goes with the spiritual "Dem dry bones"
Froggy would a wooing go
Traditonal, but liberally seasoned with a little camp acting and comments from the
animals involved.
Turkey in the straw
Farmyard animals sing this old favourite
Birding song
Written by DWS, for his special pal, who spends many a happy day in the hide watching
our feathered friends. This took lots of research to get exactly the right bird
songs! Perhaps the most educational song on the disk.
Three little pigs
Written by DWS, a narration in music accompanied by three pigs, a horse, a cow, a
monkey, and mouse and more!
Three blind mice (vocal)
DN mutitracks DWS singing this canon, along with some cats and dogs. Great fun!
Mary had a little lamb
Written by DWS: Mary had a number of pets, some of which made her friends uncomfortable!
Recitation by DWS, with a number of guest animals.
The elephant
Written by DWS. LN's ability to make those elephants sing in tune is astounding!
Husha bye Baby (forest beasts)
Based on a midi file by DWS, LN gets the whole forest to lull the child to sleep.
Rockaby Baby - whales
And if the Hush a bye forest didn't work, try the alternative melody sung by whales.
Handel's water music
A nice classic to end with, whales are truly sophisticated in their musical tastes.
