contact me: mail@kitbraz.com
M U S I C . F O R . K I D S
Most of what I've done for kids has been with kids. I gladly concede authorship and won't claim it as mine (please see and hear some of those collaborations under Teacher). As sample I've included here a collaboration I did with Dadadah and a class of 6th grade students and their wonderful teacher Linda Taylor from P.S. 126 in NYC's Chinatown in 1995.
My one not-so-collaborative piece for kids (and their parents) is a biggie: Fireworks, an American family opera, about the 4th of July, is tremendous fun thanks to the deft wit of my adult collaborator librettist Billy Aronson. It's got a Shakespearean midsummer setting, merenguë and other good beats, revolution, romance, a sack race, cotton candy and jokes---tons of jokes---all sung.
| NAME OF WORK | DESCRIPTION | DATE COMPOSED | LENGTH |
INSTR. |
PERFORMANCE(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fireworks |
A 4th-of-July opera with libretto by Billy Aronson (MTV, 'Beavis & Butthead,' Rent), commissioned by American Opera Projects' Family Opera Initiative. Premiered in excerpt June 14-16, 1999, by AOP at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on New York City's Lower East Side. An alien explorer named "Intergalactic de Toqueville" or I.T. comes to earth to discover why colored explosions emit from a certain part of the planet at a certain point in its orbit. A menagerie of American characters discover I.T., each projecting their own agenda, and none realizing she is alien. They get even more farcically entangled and finally work it out. Meanwhile I.T. has learned about freedom and democracy and leaves to report this amazing concept to the rest of the galaxy. |
1999 | 90 min. | 6 singers & piano; to be orchestrated for 6 singers & chamber orchestra | The Angel Orensanz Foundation, NYC, June 1999. |
| Fuging Tune for 3 Flutes | Canonic trio in the Early American tradition for the LaGuardia H. S. Flute Choir. | 1997 | 5 min. | for 3 flutes | LaGuardia H. S. of Music & Art and the Performing Arts Composers' Concert, March 1998. |
|
A Valentine from the Avant-Garde for Kids |
Full-length show including student-collaborated operettas "A Valentine Surprise for Blonds" and "Garfield, the Human." | 1995 | 60 min. | DADADAH (or amplified ensemble) with the P.S.126 Spinners (6th grade singers) | Greenwich House Music School, NYC February 14 1995. |
| For Polly | A song I wrote for for my sister Polly on her 21st birthday (lyrics) | 1975 | 26 min. | voice, marimba and vibes | Shady Hill School, Cambridge MA, 1975. |
© 1999, Catherine Bowles Brazelton.