Playing The Unplayable

Once upon a time (in 1980) there was a man (John Stump) who decided to write a parody of a musical composition, designed to be unplayable, and including such directions as “insert peanuts”, “have a nice day”, “remove cattle from stage” and, of course, “release the penguins”. The score purports to be based on a Cro-magnon skinning chant, with words and music by John Stump, and… arranged by Accident.
The piece is apparently well-known as a musical absurdity, and it would be easy to think it’s a hoax. John Stump did exist, apparently, and worked as a musical engraver as well as composing other (more playable) pieces.
There are clips on YouTube that are supposed to be this piece, but most are another composition by Japanese composer Junya Ota called “U.N. Owen was Her”.
There is one clip, though, bravely attempted by the Aurora division of the Colorado State Music Teacher’s Association. I’ll leave it to you to decide how successful it is!
https://youtu.be/sCgT94A7WgI

Published in: on August 9, 2019 at 10:23 pm  Leave a Comment  
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