The Crooked Man – MartianMusic

By: Brian Aguilar
Time: 5:45
Grade: 4
Price: $650.00

“There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.”

The Crooked Man is inspired by the nursery rhyme “There Was A Crooked Man.” The crooked man is reputed to be the Scottish General Sir Alexander Leslie, who signed a covenant securing religious and political freedom for Scotland. The “crooked stile” in the poem was the border between England and Scotland. “They all lived together in a little crooked house” refers to the fact that the English and Scots had at last come to an agreement, despite continuing great animosity between the two peoples, who nonetheless had to live with each other due to their common border.

Musically, The Crooked Man is a dark and semi-morbid show. After the introduction, music from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “The Rite of Spring” is the focus of the first part of the show. Rich pit scoring and intricate mallet work stand out in the middle section of the show. Dark and eerie music at a fast tempo mark the third section before restating the initial idea as a book-ended fade-out.

The Crooked Man was composed for the Laguna Creek HS Winter Percussion (Elk Grove, CA).

The Crooked Man MP3 The Crooked Man Score Sample

Instrumentation:

Snares
Tenors (Sixes)
Tom Line (Duos)
Bass Drums (5)
Marching Cymbals
Marimba 1, 2, 3
Xylophone
Vibraphone 1, 2, 3
Glockenspiel
Chimes
Bass Guitar
Timpani
Synth 1, 2
Auxiliary Percussion 1, 2, 3

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