Oink!

OINK! was made for teachers as well as for children and adults who may have no experience at all with written musical notation. Its joke is also its exercise: the player has to count the rests and make the pig’s rhythm at exactly the written moment.

I have always felt that enjoyment and improvisation should not displace the musical vocabulary that allows people to understand centuries of repertoire. This tiny piece is therefore a reminder that reading, counting and concentration can themselves be fun. The suspense comes from waiting, counting and then getting the apparently simple intervention exactly right.

Print the pig part, start the recording without the pig, and have somebody film the attempt. It is not quite as simple as it looks or sounds. OINK!

Be nice to pigs; these happy animals deserve better.