Purchasing information Notice for leaders/bass players
Length: approx. 5 mins.
The Shovel Fish is a most extraordinary medley of no less than 6 various folk tunes fantastically arranged into a ragtime jewel. Not at all easy in this transcription for recorder ensemble and the 1st voice, treble or tenor has his or her hands full in coping with the literally breath-taking task of performing the whole, longish piece in more-or-less one go. It should be remembered that it is scored as a slow drag!
The amusing cover of the original sheet music shows a happy frog ragtime quartet playing to a startled and worried looking shovel fish perhaps thinking it is soon to be on an amphibian menu. This is all overlooked by a wise owl in the background perhaps deciding whether to dine on frog legs or a nice filet of shovel fish. Who knows?
The Shovel Fish was published by
Jerome H. Remick & Co., New York & Detroit, USA.
A tempo of 80 crotchets/min. is suggested.
There is also a
treble solo version of this item.