Carnival of the animals collaboration project

Last updated on Saturday, February 6, 2021 @ 1:39pm Eastern Time

OVERVIEW

Camille Saint-Saens composed a delightful composition in 1886 for his close friends, a work which was not published during his lifetime but is now one of his most popular pieces. The Carnival of the Animals is a delightful zoological musical romp, with fourteen humorous movements characterizing lions, chickens, donkeys, tortoises, elephants, kangaroos, fish, the ever-popular swan, and wrapping it all up in a boisterous Finale!

We are pleased to present the Finale movement, originally scored for a small ensemble with strings, a few winds and percussion, and two pianos, in a level-differentiated work for Full Symphony Orchestra with parts for players of all ages and ability levels. All of the parts for this work are free to download, as is an electronic backing track, with and without a metronome, to aid in practice.

The final version will be released for free, all materials will be placed in the public domain, and there will be no commercial usage of any produced audio/video.

Teachers, please contact Mr. Wie about supporting instructional materials, including a visit by high school musicians to your online elementary classroom to share about the project and provide musical and social interactions for your orchestra students.

the performance

In April 2021, the Choate Rosemary Hall Orchestra Program under the direction of Mr. Wie will release a virtual concert featuring the entire ensemble in collaboration with elementary school orchestra programs throughout the United States. The project and its resources are available at no cost to school music teachers, and we hope to include as many programs as possible in the final performance video.

sheet music

Beginning (Grade 4/5) Orchestra Parts - Google Drive
Violin Group Class (Suzuki Books 1-5) Parts - Google Drive
Full Orchestra Parts - Google Drive

Individual scores for these categories will be available shortly.

Practice AUDIO Tracks

Play-along practice tracks for the Finale are available, featuring a virtual orchestra generated using professional sound libraries. There are three click tracks with metronome at different tempos (original, 25% slower, 50% slower) for practice purposes. A live orchestral track will be recorded by the CRH Orchestra Program and made available in late February.

​Computer Generated Backing Tracks - Soundcloud

PRACTICE VIDEOS

Individual practice videos for parts have been created by Mrs. Wie for the Violin Ensemble parts and can be found on our Resources Page. Practice Videos from other parts are being recorded and will be uploaded here soon.

RECORDING INSTRUCTIONS AND VIDEO SUBMISSIONS

Information on recording your individual video submissions and how to submit them for inclusion in the project will be posted here soon. Our intention is to have all videos submitted for the project by the end of March 2021, with a planned release of the final video in April 2021.