Flying Rhino

by Andrew Barrett

2007

I won't really say too much about this tune, except that it is intended as a sort of "perpetual motion" piece, not in the sense of being endless (it has a beginning and an end) but in the sense that the almost constant barrage of eighth notes in the right hand become the propellers which keep the rhino aloft in the air; all the way from the spinning of the props and takeoff of the introduction, to the gentle landing with plenty of rubato at the very end.

During the journey, the rhino (and us, the passengers) see an entire world unfolding beneath them, the hopes, struggles, dreams and attempts both failed and successful of numerous people, plants, and animals, all there on the rich patchwork of the soil, the varied topography of the landscape, high enough up to see the big picture, but not so high as to lose sight of the individuals. We get the sense that the rhino, too, is empathizing with each and every one of them.

You can find me rambling on about composing this tune, especially the A-theme which spawned the other two themes, in another video posted much earlier than this.

This tune is intended as a modern "novelty piano solo" of the sort published back in the day by Mills, Robbins, etc. Although I didn't have this exact idea in mind while composing it (I compose things first, and THEN try to label them), it is neat to imagine it as a sort of super-modern, unusual and (at the risk of sounding arrogant) innovative novelty piano solo, kind of what Mills or Robbins (especially Robbins, their stuff was less honky-tonk and often more moderne, emotional and daring) would be putting out today were they still in business and still in the market for "novelty piano solos" or "modern piano solos" as they were also called.

In fact, the sheet music for this very tune is available in a new folio of "Modern Novelty Piano Solos" including solos by Tom Brier, Vincent Johnson, and Eric Marchese in addition to mine. Contact me for purchasing details. Suffice to say, this is a very handsome folio using vintage sheet-music fonts and with a good cover featuring photos of the composers.

I will leave further musical analysis to our Youtube audience. Here are a few relevant quotes:

Music is what life sounds like. ~Eric Olson

He who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once. ~Robert Browning

Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. ~Charlie Parker

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley, Music at Night and Other Essays

Without music life would be a mistake. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

This video was recorded at an Orange County Ragtime Society meeting on June 21, 2008 at Steamers Jazz Cafe.

More on OCRS:

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Thanks to Randy Johnson for the video.

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