Creative Exercise The Cheshire Cat

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

Use all of the elements below, make a piece of music to depict the Cheshire Cat:

1. THE CAT’S CHORD Every time the cat appears in my music it is introduced by its very own chord. The chord is made up of 4 notes:

C D F G I tried to make this combination of notes sound as magical as possible - as if something amazing has suddenly appeared.

• Decide on the best instruments to play these notes (you could even sing them) . • Add some unpitched percussion sounds to the chord to colour it. • Sustain the chord for as long as you like - focusing on the musical texture you have created. • Think very carefully about the volume of the chord - does it stay the same? • Experiment with different orchestrations of the chord (vary which instruments play it) and its range - is it high

or low? • Finally, why not make some further chords for the Cheshire Cat. Using my chord as a starting point - simply

change one of its notes to make a 2nd chord. Then change another to make a 3rd chord. Can you build a magical chord progression for the cat?

2. OSTINATO & MELODY I take the Cheshire Cat’s chord and use it to make a fast, repeating pattern (ostinato) - playing each of its four notes, one after the other, over and over - very quickly. On top of this, I place a simple melody - which slides from one note to the next - as if the cat is saying ‘meow!’. Finally, I add some sparkling percussion to lay down a steady pulse.

• Make a new section of music containing these three elements - PULSE , OSTINATO and MELODY. • Use the chord above - or any new ones you have made - to make your ostinato. The notes can be played in

any order and in any rhythm, but they must repeat. • Make a melody with the pitches below. Follow it’s shape - but then continue it in any way you like. You can

play it in any rhythm.

• Try to make your melody sound as ‘feline’ as possible. Can it ‘meow’? • Now add a solid pulse under your music using metallic sounding percussion instruments. Ensure the texture

sounds magical. • Finally, can you sing your melody? Perhaps use some of Carroll’s text overleaf for inspiration.

FD C

G

3. HELLO/GOODBYE! The Cheshire Cat is an extraordinary creature, able to appear and disappear in a flash. He often teases Alice by vanishing slowly ‘…beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.’

• Can you make your Cat music vanish or appear in different ways? • How would you do this musically? • Think carefully about volume and also the order in which instruments are played.

4. ADD SOME TEXT Organise all your musical elements into one complete piece.

It may be fun to try and incorporate some text from the book into your music. You could have a narrator (or several) who speak some of Carroll’s words over certain sections of your music.

You can of course make your own words too, but here are some I found in the book:

'Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. 'Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I don't much care where--' said Alice. 'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. ____________________________________________________________________

'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.’ ____________________________________________________________________

'Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; 'but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!’ ____________________________________________________________________