Rock Around the Clock


Composer:	Miscellaneous	Suppliers:
Editor:	Peter Bullock	Quartet	D/A/T/B
Publisher:	Bosworth Edition	Publication:	BoE 3934

"Rockin' Recorders" is an album which I purchased in January 1998 intended to be played by Blue Tuesday. It has three classic hits namely:
In the Mood, Take Five and Rock Around the Clock.
In the Mood composed by Garland , arr.: Peter Bullock
Quartet: D/A/T/B
I have always associated "In the mood" with the unforgettable Glenn Miller and admired it very much. Resultingly I was very happy to come across this work in a catalogue and ordered it immediately. Peter Bullock has written this creditable arrangement which, incidentally is scored for optional guitar and percussion, and which provides a reasonable impression of the original. Some might ask can a recorder quartet really match four unison saxophones with a clarinet playing an octave above. The answer I suppose is that it depends on the recorder quartet. Once players have shaken-off their Telemann habits and have mastered the "swinging two in a bar" feel then they can, in my opinion, have a lot of fun with this arrangement.
Take Five composed by Desmond (1924-1977), arr.: Peter Bullock
Quartet: D/A/T/B
I must have spent a fortune in juke boxes in 1958-1959 listening to Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond with their "Take Five" and "Rondo a la Turk" in various pubs and naval canteen around Portsmouth, England. It was Glenis Cole, the leader of the Christopher Whitehead Girl's School Recorder Ensemble sometime in 1982-3 who put me on to the fact that there was a recorder arrangement for "Take Five" which she herself had used with her consort.
This arrangement by Peter Bullock is an ideal medium to start in the magic world of 5/4 time signatures and, with patience, can be performed by beginner and intermediate players. It is also excellent for players to sharpen their recorders on before moving on to Stan Davis's much more demanding version.

Rock Around the Clock composed by Freedman (1893-1962), arr.: Peter Bullock
Quartet: D/A/T/B
"Rock around the Clock" is and always will, of course, be associated with Bill Haley and his Comets (? if my memory serves me right?). I do definitely remember as a 15-year old in 1956 begging, pestering would be a more truthful word, my parents to allow my brother, Peter, to see the film of the same name at the Gaumont Cinema, Worcester. There had been a lot of furore in the papers what with dancing in the aisles and seat-slashing and all that. It was mildly disappointing that nothing of the sort took place in staid old Worcester, England.
So, it is a little surprising after all these many years later that such a quiet instrument as the recorder gets its chance of doing a bit of rockin' thanks to Peter Bullock's arrangement. It is straightforward enough but the performance notes requiring stand up and sit down are somewhat frowned upon by some of the more elderly, stuffier (no names mentioned) players I have met in Germany.