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Serpent Newsletter

Serpent NewsletterP.O. Box 954 Mundelein, Illinois 60060 USA

Newsletter for Serpent Enthusiasts April 1, 2004

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A Note From the Editor

There are just a few things to take care of before getting tothe meat of this issue. First, we are still very low on funds,so I call on all readers who have not donated recently tosend in a modest check (generous ones will not be turnedaway!)

Keith Rogers of the serpent making part of ChristopherMonk Instruments has sent in his new phone and faxnumber, changed since his move from London to thecountryside. Refer to the Getting Serpents section of thisnewsletter.

Drake Mabry has submitted a set of his serpent haikus foryour reading pleasure. They are scattered throughout thisedition. Those with names are inspired by those people orare dedicated to them. Enjoy!

Paul Schmidt

D natural

a smile

E flat

D natural

raise a finger

D natural

New Materials

TubaTubaTu , CD recording featuring Michel Godard ontuba and serpent and Dave Bargeron on tuba and sackbut,with Luciano Biondini on accordion, and KenwoodDennard on drums. Enja # CD 9148-2, obtained fromAmazon France (amazon.fr)

This recording is the new collaboration between tubavirtuosi Michel Godard and Dave Bargeron. Godard is wellknown to serpentists, and Bargeron played tuba andtrombone with Blood, Sweat and Tears for nearly a decade,and is an equally fascinating player. After first putting theirtalents together on the CD TubaTuba (Enja # CD 9133-2),they have returned to the studio, joined by accordionistextraordinaire Luciano Biodini and jazz drumset fixtureKenwood Dennard.

With the exception of a couple of tracks that includeGodards serpent and Bergerons sackbut, the rest of therecording features them on their CC and EE-flat tubas,respectively, and always as a duet. The selections are wittyand full of whimsy, each seemingly more entertaining thanthe last. Bargeron has contributed his compositional skillsto six tracks, Owww, Clara C, Pulteney Bridge, Old Town,G-Dance, and 45th, and these feature relatively traditionalimprovisational conversations between the two tubas.Godards more eclectic compositions include Passamezzo ,Murmure, Chiacona and Kardamone . In addition, there isthe traditional tune Sweet Georgia Brown and a single trackChoro Loco by Biondini. Bargeron growls, Godard wails,and the accordion sounds at time like a pipe organ.Murmure and Old Town are the tracks that include serpent.Highly recommended.

Multiple Instruments, LP recording featuringmulti-instrumentalist Scott Robinson with Klaus Suonsarion drums, Niels Lan Doky on piano, and Ira Coleman onbass. MultiJazz # MJ 101, obtained from Scott Robinson,210 Elm Ave., Teaneck, NJ 07666.

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This is an older recording that has recently come to thesurface, and while obscure, it is a worthwhile album and atreat for listeners who have interest in traditional jazzplayed on unusual instruments. At this time it is available inused record stores and directly from the artist; write forprice and availability. Robinson plays a great variety ofhorns with a high level of competence, and quite a fewmore at a level high enough to be useful. For this record, heuses ophicleide along with double-belled euphonium andnormaphon for a single track If I Were A Bell. Throughalternation and multi-tracking with his backup players, healso plays trumpet, saxophones, cornet, clarinet, trombone,tuba, banjo, drums, recorders, piccolo, organ pipes,bombarde, mellophone, French horn, posthorn, helicon,slide trumpet and Highland bagpipes. Tracks include SureAs Youre Born , Ben (dedicated to Ben Webster), ImComing Virginia, If I Were A Bell, Muskrat Ramble, WayDown Yonder In New Orleans, New, Blue and Sentimental,and Survival On Venus. Not a great ophicleide recording,but a very nice jazz one.

Scott has written to say that he has a new CD coming outsoon which also features serpent and/or ophicleide. A copyhas been ordered, so more on this when it becomesavailable.

Ghosts and Lovers, CD recording featuring TheMellstock Band with Phil Humphries on serpent. SerpentPress # SER007, obtained from the band via the order formon their website

The Mellstock Bands new recording Ghosts and Lovers isa presentation for posterity of their recent show, exploring awide repertoire of songs involving love and the supernaturaland drawn from the English tradition. As the album subtitleindicates, here are Shocking Stories, Wicked Songs &Wild Tunes, Tales of Dread and Delight The membersof the band use both original village band arrangements andtheir own more radical reworkings using the traditional as ajumping-off point. Instruments from Thomas Hardys timeare used, including concertina, fiddle, early clarinet,saxophone ( ! ), serpent, ophicleide, early oboe, cor Anglais,and voices. This is apparently the first of the Mellstockrecordings to include Phils use of ophicleide in addition tohis usual serpent.

The tracks are too numerous to list here, but the recordingis enjoyable and as a recording with lots of serpent andophicleide, it is worth adding to your collection.

Godzilla Jazz , CD recording featuring Jack Walrath, ArtBaron, Britt Woodman, Bill Bickford, Lindsey Horner andCecil Brooks III. King Records # KICJ 345, obtained fromJack Walrath, 400 W. 43rd St. Apt. 37D, New York, NY10036

Ralph Dudgeon playing the keyed bugleduring a performance in upstate New York

Here is an off-beat recording; it was suggested by ScottRobinson (see review above), and is by his friend JackWalrath. It is a traditional jazz (with some avant-garde aswell) treatment of themes and ideas from the Godzillafilms. The recordings literature is entirely in Japanese, sofurther details are unclear. The track titles are only partiallyhelpful; King Kong vs Godzilla , Ghidrah, the Three-HeadedMonster, The Return of King Kong , Mothra vs Godzilla,Rodan, Godzilla, Bottom of the Sea, and Raveged Empire /The End of Godzilla. Information has come in to indicatethat Rodan is the only track with serpent, playing free-formjazz against recorders in the middle of the tune. Walrathplays trumpet, hatchet, conch, and the long metal tube withthe hole in the end. Baron plays trombone, didjerido,Tibetan singing bowl, recorders, serpent and hose-bone.Other instruments include trombone, guitars, cuica, bass,bass clarinet, drums, spinning hose and Chinese operacymbals. Not a very useful serpent recording, butworthwhile as interesting jazz.

And Now the News.., short story by TheodoreSturgeon, part of the book of the same title, volume 9 of thecomplete stories by the author. Obtained from the publiclibrary.

Theodore Sturgeon, well known as a writer of short fiction,science oriented and otherwise, apparently becameinfatuated with the ophicleide at some point in his career,and it figures heavily in this little piece about a man whogoes quietly nuts after his wife declares war on his

obsession with the daily news. Many people have no doubtread this story and forgotten it, but thanks to a letter fromScott Robinson, this reviewer is reminded of its focus onthe ophicleide. Indeed, when a psychiatrist is sent into thewilderness to talk him down and bring him back tocivilization, the man is living peacefully in his shack,playing the instrument in his birthday suit. The authorwrites many a luxurious and colorful descriptive passagecentered on the horn and its characteristics. Althoughexaggerated to the point that one wonders if Sturgeon everactually heard one played, its clear that the horns peculiarattraction is all that keeps the man from going postal on thepopulace. A brief excerpt.

The sound the psychiatrist heard was sort of like music,but like no music currently heard on this or any otherplanet. It was a solo voice, bass, with muscles..the lowtones were like the speech of these mountains themselves,big as the sky, hot, and more natural than anything oughtto be, basic as a bears fang..He was sitting under aparched, wind-warped Engelmann spruce. He was barefootup to his armpits..with a hat the shape of one of thoseBoy Scout tents when one of the Boy Scouts has left thepole at home. And he was playing, or anyway practicing,the ophicleide, and on his shoulders was a little moss ofspruce needles, a small shower of which descended fromthe tree every time he hit on or under the low B-flat. Only amouse trapped inside a tuba during band practice can knowprecisely what its like to stand that close to an operatingophicleide. The protagonistss real name is concealed,his home town cloaked, and his occupation disguised, anddammit it really was a twelve-keyed, 1824-era, 50-inch,obsolete brass ophicleide.

Makes one look at their ophi in the corner with a bit morerespect.

The Fluegelhorn (Das Flgelhorn) , hardcover book byRalph Dudgeon and Franz Streitwieser, first edition 2004,published by PPV-Medien GmbH, Edition Bochinsky, ISBN3-932275-83-7. Submitted by the publisher, but availablefrom bookstores and online (e.g. ). Formore information, see , or emailinfo@ppvmedien.de

Here is a beautiful new volume by two trumpet experts,both intimately familiar with the fine collection of trumpetsat The Streitwieser Collection in Musikinstrumenten-museum, Schloss Kremsegg, Austria. This collection,assembled by Streitwieser and cataloged by Dudgeon, hasbeen examined here in its subset of instruments that aretrumpet sized and conical bored, all classified here asfluegelhorns. These include the valveless instrument, thekeyed version (keyed bugles) and valved varieties.

Dudgeon is well known to serpentists and ophicleidists asone of the worlds leading players of the keyed bugle, andStreitwieser for many years held principle trumpet positionsin European orchestras, followed by a long period in theStates, where he displayed his collection in the trumpetmuseum of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Between them, theyexplain the evolution of this family of instruments, fromearly forms such as the half-moon signal horn, the Italianflicorni, the Clarinhorns, and the above mentioned andbetter known variants.

The book has 252 pages with over 200 full colorphotographs and other illustrations. The text is in Germanand simultaneous English; the authors have between themcommand of both languages, so neither version appears tobe a translation of the other (although the English is byDudgeon and the German by Streitwieser); both are welldone and clearly written. It should be noted that HerbertHeyde also collaborated on the book, being involved withinstrument measurements and some of the text. Theinstrument photos by Petra Schrambhmer are exceptionalin their clarity and beauty. This book is recommended foranyone with an interest in brass instruments and theirhistory.

Christopher MonkInstruments(Keith & Kathryn Rogers)PerkwoodStation RoadYaxhamNorfolk NR19 1RDEngland

Phone: +44 (0)1362 691198www.jeremywest.co.uk/ cmi.html

(serpents & historical oboes)

[ for cornetts, contact Jeremy Westat ]

David Harding56 Netherton RoadAppletonABINGDONOxon. OX13 5JZEngland

Phone: +44 (0)1865 863673

Getting Serpents

Here is the list of Serpent makers who have made themselvesknown to us. Both Monk and Harding instruments areavailable through dealers, and makers will deal directly withindividual customers.

Robb Stewart Brass Instruments140 E. Santa Clara St. #18Arcadia, CA 91006USA

Phone: 626-447-1904

(ophicleides, metal serpents, basshorns)

Nicholas Perry20 Queen StreetSt. AlbansHertfordshire AL3 4PJEngland

Phone: +44 (0)1727 866080

(early cimbassos, bass horns)

Derek Farnell82 Crumpsall LaneManchester M8 5SGEngland

Phone: +44 (0)1617 407778(ophicleides)

Build you own instruments fromplans via

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Where Serpents Gather

In July of 2003, David Loucky performed on ophicleidein a duet with harpist Virginia Crumb, as part of the NewHampshire Music Festival. They played Ravels Pavane fora Dead Princess, as part of the festivals chamber musicseries. A sound file of this performance is supposed to beavailable for listening at www.mtsu.edu/~music/index.html,although at the time of this writing the link was notworking.

In the near miss category, Heiko Krabbe writes I wasasked to play in a performance of Mendelssohns Pauluslast autumn. I found it to be too difficult to play on akeyless church serpent with only two weeks to practice,because it is quite fast and keys like E major would nottune very well. So I turned down that opportunity..Iregularly take part in a course on Renaissance music inFrsteneck, Germany. There are about 40 instrumentalists(viol, cornetto, sackbuts, shawms, dulcian, etc.) and singers,and we do pieces with 4 choruses, where I play the bassline.

On October 25, 2003, Doug Yeo joined The SouthDakota Symphony at Sioux Falls Washington Pavilion ofArts and Sciences, for a performance of Proctor s Concertofor Serpent. Simon Proctor, visiting in Chicago with PaulSchmidt and John Weber, made the drive to South Dakotato be present for the performance. Playing to a capacityaudience in the large modern hall, the orchestra opened withRoman Carnival Overture by Berlioz, and the overture toRossinis La Gazza Ladra. Next came the SerpentConcerto, with guest director Peter Rubardt and soloist Yeotaking the stage. The concerto was clearly the focus of theorchestral selections on the program, and the large audiencewas very receptive. The concert closed with local folk groupAcoustic Christmas performing favorite selections.Simon, Paul and Doug had the opportunity to visitextensively before and after the concert, and Doug finallygot to see how well the Squarpent, Box-O-Cleide andPatrick the Contrabass Squarpent, brought along for theoccasion, played. While in the area, Simon was also able tospend a few hours on the return trip, visiting the NationalMusic Museum (Shrine to Music Museum).

A few weeks after his Chicago and South Dakota visit,Simon Proctor returned to the States to provide moral

wood and leather

flesh and bones

the warmth of the soul

(Doug Yeo)

support for two performances of his Concerto for KeyedBugle. Two different orchestras in upstate New Yorkperformed the piece, with Ralph Dudgeon soloist. Simonalso performed Addinsells Warsaw Concerto on piano forthese concerts.

Australian serpentist/ophicleideist Sue Bradley writesthat she has been booked to play ophicleide this year in aperformance of Mendelssohns Elijah . She has previouslyplayed tuba, ophicleide and cimbasson for otherperformances with the same orchestra, and is working ongetting them to do the Proctor Serpent Concerto with her in2005. In 2003, Sue played her ophicleide in what was to beonly the second performance of Euterpe , written by CharlesEdward Horsley in the late 19th century. Horsley studiedwith Hauptman and Mendelssohn, then spent his career inEngland, Melbourne and New York. Euterpe was firstperformed in the Melbourne Town Hall in 1870, and itssecond performance took place now 133 years later in thesame hall. The manuscript is owned by the RoyalMelbourne Philharmonic Choir, as the piece was written forthem, and they performed in the recent revival. Sue writesthat the ophicleide part is fairly simple, and usually doublesthe bass trombone. There is considerable evidence tosuggest that Sues instrument in C, marked Thomas Stanleyand likely made by C.J. Sax, was the same one used for the

Paul Horner with his copy of the Squarpent

pieces premiere. The instrument spent most of the timesince in the hands of the Essendon Brass Band.

The Berlioz Historical Brass gave its Boston debut witha concert on October 19, 2003, in Kings Chapel, with thechapels choir and organist directed by HeinrichChristensen. Titled Berlioz, Before and Beyond , the programincluded selected works spanning the period surrounding theheight of Berliozs career. Works by Cherubini, Du Mont,Roze, Handel and Alexandre Hardy comprised the firstsection, excerpts from the Berioz Messe Solennelle made upthe middle, and the program closed with Les Mots deBerlioz by Clifford Bevan. Many of these pieces hadpreviously been performed by this group, with a differentchoir, as part of Doug Yeos CD Le Monde du Serpent ,reviewed in the previous issue of this newsletter. The groupconsisted of Jay Krush (ophicleide), Ben Peck (buccin),Doug Yeo (serpent) and Suzanne Nelsen (bassoon). Thisconcert was also the world premiere performace of theBevan selection.

On November 16, 2003, Bob Pallansch of Falls Church,Virginia, and Robert Wagenknecht of Chesterfield County,Virginia, played the two ophicleide parts in SymphonieFantastique by Hector Berlioz with the Friday MorningMusic Club Orchestra. The concert was held in the BradleyHills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland, withSylvia Alimena, the orchestras Music Director andConductor, on the podium. Bob Pallansch is the regulartuba player in the group, which is made up of mostlyprofessional and retired professional musicians from theWashington, D.C. area. He has played ophicleide with thisgroup before, but two ophicleides was thought to be a firstfor any orchestra appearing around Washington in recenttimes. The audience was large and appreciative. Bob andRobert were asked by the conductor to give a demonstrationof the instruments at the beginning of the second half of theconcert, before the Berlioz was played. The sound of theDies Irae on ophicleides gives the piece a raw quality whichis lost when performed on modern tubas. The ophicleideperformance was later described by an appreciative listeneras the most evil sound he had ever heard!

Doug Yeo will perform Drake Mabrys Quatre Tanka ,for serpent and soprano, at Tanglewood on July 10, 2004.The performance will be part of a Prelude Concert in theSeiji Ozawa Hall, at 6:00 PM.

the serpent

after all these centuries

plays the blues

(Michel Godard)

About the Organization

The Serpent Newsletter is distributed according to tworegions, each with its own representative. All financialcontributions and new subscriptions should be sent to theproper regional representative. Announcements, editorialitems, comments and photographs should be sent to theeditorial address.

(United Kingdom &European continent)

Nigel NathanBoswedden HouseCape CornwallSt. Just-in-PenwithPENZANCECornwall TR19 7NJEngland

Phone: +44 (0)1736 787683Fax: +44 (0)1736 788733email:

(USA, Canada, othercountries, Editor, Treasurer)

Paul Schmidt, editorDick George, treasurer

Serpent NewsletterP.O. Box 954Mundelein, IL 60060USA

editorial fax: 847-356-7865email:

webpage:

Suggested minimum contribution for non-Europeansubscribers is $10 for 4 issues (2 years). Contact NigelNathan for European subscription rates. While the newsletteris supported by voluntary contributions, not formalsubscriptions, those who manage to receive the newsletterwithout contributing are doing so entirely at the discretion oftheir regional representative.

Workshops

The Historic Brass Societys 20th annual Early BrassFestival will take place this year from July 23 through the25, hosted by Oberlin College in Ohio. As usual, there willbe ample opportunity for players of serpent and ophicleideto get together. For more information, go to the HBSwebsite , or write to Historic BrassSociety, 148 W. 23rd St. #5F, New York, NY 10011.

A five day brass band workshop, Redeeming Brass VIIIwill be held in historic Norris, Tennessee, starting Saturday,October 2 and ending Wednesday the 6th. Thesymposium-like event has been successfully held for thepast six years, and each workshop has attracted players andscholars. This year it will include a combination of lectures,mini recitals and rehearsals of brass band music, includingdemonstrations of ophicleides and serpents as theforerunners of the modern instruments being played byworkshop participants. Besides the demonstrations, serpentand ophicleide players will have daily sessions for their ownbenefit. There will be opportunities for coached small

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ensemble playing as well as visits to instrument makers andmuseums in the Knoxville area. This years event will alsoinclude demonstrations of music from the early Appalachianregion as it existed a century ago. The workshop isorganized by Clinch River Brasses under the supervision ofLloyd Farrar, retired musicologist and tubist/serpentist.Brass band sessions will be directed by Indianapolisconductor Dr. Charles Conrad. Accomodations will beavailable at about $50 per day (double occupancy) plus amodest workshop fee to cover expenses. For moreinformation, call Lloyd at 865-494-8869, or write to POBox 637, Norris TN 37828.

Squarepents at the Bate, by Andy Lamb

The Bate Collection of Musical Instruments at the Facultyof Music of the University of Oxford, along with all itsother historical musical instruments, boasts a fine collectionof serpents, ophicleides and other lip-reed bass horns.

At the start of the new academic year in 2003 a small butdetermined band of budding luthiers gathered for a newevening class in musical instrument making. The Bate hasa small workshop facility, which shares space with theMuseum Assistants office, the conservation area, theeducation handling collection and the exhibitionmount-making space. Ideal for running an evening class.

The class is part of the new program of events at the Bate,which continues a long tradition of community and localevening classes.

It was decided that the first project should be one thatchallenged the participants while not actually scaring themto death. It was to be a lead-in for absolute beginners,which would introduce them to some basic handcraft skillsand musical instrument making processes. For thesepurposes, the Squarepent project could not be better. Thecritical path is immediately apparent and, all along theschedule, the students are aware of what they are doing,why they are doing it and what process will be coming upnext. For many instrument-making projects this is not thecase and students can easily become confused anddisappointed.

On the first night, the 1/4 inch ply was delivered from alocal timber merchant (at no discount) and we were allready to go straight away. The Bate has an old chestcontaining some very eminent and venerable tools, whichpaved the way for the participants to decide to startprocuring their own equipment as soon as possible.

The first evening was completely taken up with cuttingblanks. None of the students had ever set hands on anywoodworking tools before, so the use of saws and drills was

a complete novelty. Other new experiences includedMeasuring, Marking out and Leaving enough space forthe thickness of the saw blade. Unremarkably, everyonequickly got the hang of things and the workshop soonresembled one of those Northumbrian sword dances with allthe folk bobbing and weaving with long strips of wood.Pure poetry in motion.

It was important for the course that the participants shouldbe able to obtain tools and materials from easy and obvioussources. One of the difficulties that other beginnersencounter is the immediate need to obtain specialistsupplies that may only be obtainable from an obscuresource. For the benefit of the Bate programme, it wasdecided that new participants be led into this gently. TheSquarepent Project allowed them the breathing space todecide what their next project should be and where theymight procure materials while still being able to get on withlearning new skills.

Another facet of the course was that participants might beallowed to modify designs to suit themselves. Thus, whileone student faithfully followed the instructions from theSerpent Website, another decided to use a Stitch and Glueconstruction while a third just followed her nose to seewhere things led her.

One of the good things about working inside a collection ofmusical instruments was that we could all compare our ownefforts with the historical instruments. A survey of thedisplay instruments showed us that the Squarepent was partof a wider spectrum of construction techniques. We founda number of instruments had been made wholly or partiallyin faceted sections. A construction manner reminiscent ofthe squarepent construction.

In addition to methods and materials, we found instrumentshapes, which echoed the Squarepent shape. In particular,the B flat Bass Saxophone was suspiciously like the PaulSchmidt design.

Another positive aspect of the class was the mutual supportthat the participants offered each other. Mistakes in cuttingor drilling were not automatically seen as major disastersand suggestions were offered for possible resolutions.Equally, the results of any successful web searches or otherdiscoveries could be shared between participants to mutualprofit.

curves and leather

brass and wind

mutual monks

(Christopher Monk)

the serpent

the musician

who plays whom?

Paul Schmidt plays the Sqworm prototype

More Exciting News

Brass instrument maker Robb Stewart writes that henow has a new email address: , soupdate your records.

Another adventurous amateur woodworker has reportedthe completion of a Squarpent. Paul Horner of NorthCarolina is a boiler operator at a corn processing facility,and likes to make things of wood in his spare time, as wellas playing tuba in a Moravian Church band. His Squarpentis made from walnut plywood. Getting in the spirit ofthings, he has been experimenting with moving the fingerholes up and down the bore, and around to adjacent sides aswell. He also has added thumb rests to make the instrumenteasier to hold, and has used a tapered mouthpiece receiverrather than the originals cylindrical one. Paul had neverplayed serpent before completing his Squarpent, and hasalso purchased the CD Le Monde du Serpent to betterunderstand where he should be going with his practice. Hewas hoping to use the instrument for the 2003TubaChristmas, but decided to hold off until he had anotheryear to get acquainted with its idiosyncrasies.

(Hopefully the last in thesquare serpent series!)

At the insistence of Simon Proctor and Doug Yeo (saidinsistence made after the South Dakota concert and a fewbeers in the hotel restaurant), Paul Schmidt has designedand completed a soprano Squarpent, dubbed the Sqworm(pronounced squirm). The construction plans and a samplesound file are available on the serpent website.

The Historic Brass Societys mailing address haschanged slightly; it is now 149 W. 23rd St. #5F, New York,NY 10011 (only the #5F part is different).

Jay Krush, co-founder and tubist with The ChestnutBrass Company, as well as serpentist and ophicleidist, wasfeatured in the latest issue of the Internaltional Tuba andEuphonium Association (ITEA) Journal, Volume 31 #2(Winter 2004). The article features a nice interview, plusnumerous photos of Jay with various old brass instruments.

Two relatively new websites dedicated to the ophicleidehave surfaced; and. Both are useful resources anddeserve a visit.

The Serpent Website now includes enhancedconstruction plans for the Squarpent. In the past, only aseries of pictures on the webpage plus a downloadable setof drawings and a descriptive text file were available. Thiswas fine, but made it more difficult to print the plans foruse during construction. The original plans also perpetuatedan error made during construction of the prototype. Theerrant drawing has been corrected and is available fordownloading separately, and a new Adobe Acrobat (PDF)format construction article is available for download. ThePDF version has additional photos, improved writteninstructions and other refinements. Any readers who areentertaining the notion of making a Squarpent shoulddiscard previously printed plans and should use the newversions.

Andy Lamb, who is conducting the Squarpent class atOxford, wrote the following. I did a survey of the serpentsin the Horniman Museum a couple of years ago and one ofthe things that arose was the variety of constructiontechniques. One of these was a method reminiscent of theSquarepent but with eight facets, rather than four, whichhad then been shaped to a circular section followingassembly. So, we are following a noble, historicalprecedent.

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low voices

angel ideas

in the humanity

(Bernard Fourtet)

Serpent Poetry Competition

Inspired by Drake Mabrys fine haiku submittals, TheSerpent Newsletter is asking all readers to send in theirefforts at serpent poetry. In the spirit of fun, entries shouldbe in a popular format, including parodies of other poems,as well as other interesting poetic formats. Suggestedformats include:

LimericksFive lines, with lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyming with one anotherand having seven to ten syllables each , and lines 3 and 4rhyming with each other and having five to seven syllableseach. Lets not forget that a true limerick is at least a bitcolorful or at least off-color:

The limerick is furtive and mean;You must keep her in close quarantine,

Or she sneaks to the slumsAnd promptly becomes

Disorderly, drunk and obscene.

Song or Poem parodiesUse the format of a well known song/poem verse(s), andchange it to reflect the subject.

SensoriesFive lines, with each line reflecting the subject in terms of adifferent sense; seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling.

CoupletsEither rhyming stanzas of two lines each, or three lines withthe first and third lines rhyming.

AcrosticsNo format except that the first or last letter of each linemust spell the name of the subject vertically.

CinquainsFive lines; the first line is the subject in a single word, thesecond line describes the subject in two words, the thirdline tells action about the subject in three words, the fourthline expresses feeling about the subject in four words, andthe fifth line recalls the subject in a single word (this linemay be the same same word as the first line, or anotherword with the same meaning).

Think up a few examples in any of these formats, or in anyother poetic format that suits you, and submit to thenewsletter editor by mail or email, at the address listed inthe About The Organization section of this edition. Winnerswill be selected in various categories and their authors willbask in fame and glory as their names appear in genuineprint in future newsletters. All other worthy entries will alsobe given attention as they appear in the newsletter and/orthe Serpent Website.

Note: All submittals must be accompanied by a briefstatement saying that the author gives the editor andregional representatives of The Serpent Newsletter and theSerpent Website permission to use and reproduce theirpoems without further permission or attribution other thanlisting the authors name whenever said poem(s) appear.

The Wrong Kind of Serpent Poem

A piccolo player named ArmitWho bought a pet snake, tried to charm it;

It couldnt resistCount Basie and Liszt,

But Stockhausen seemed to alarm it.

Chicago area serpentist John Weber tries his handat playing Patrick, the contrabass Squarpent