The Further Adventures Of Three Blind Mice

Okay, we admit it - we had a lot of fun doing this one. Using a full orchestra with lots of special orchestration effects for such a familiar, simple old tune is an enjoyable challenge but one that we think your singers will like.

The arrangement begins with the traditional lyrics twice through, once in unison and once as a round. Then we ramp up the fun some more by doing what has often been done to this round: substitute more complex words for the originals. In this case we have done a new adaptation that keeps the rhythms fairly simple, never more complex than eighth notes. It is also less violent than some we have seen.

It might be fun for your students to invent verses of their own, looking up other words to use, or even re-writing the story being told a bit.

You will find that in some versions of the "high-falootin'" verse, the rhythms can get so complex that they are hard to cram into the time given. For example:

Three myopic rodents. (repeat)
Observe how they perambulate. (repeat)
They perambulated down to the agriculturalist's spouse,
Who removed their rear appendages with a sharp carving instrument.
You never observed such a spectacle in your existence as
Three myopic rodents.

...or the truly silly...

Three sightless extremely diminutive creatures of the order of mammals called rodents. (repeat)
Observe the nimble manner in which they move. (repeat)
Together they follow the pursuit of the agricultural laborer's spouse,
Who amputates their terminal appendages with a household implement.
Would that the second person singular had observed such a phenomenon during the duration of the state of being as
Three sightless extremely diminutive creatures of the order of mammals of the class rodentia.

You get the idea. The variations are endless! In performance, have your singers be even more proper when singing the snooty verse. They can hold their head up in an exaggerated manner, and fold their hands in front of them. (Our singers loved using big, wide vibratos and almost adopting an accent!)

Given the rich orchestrations, let the students hear the tracks by themselves looking at some of the special features. Bar 5, for instance, features muted trombones for comic effect. The mice are represented in various ways, including the high notes in bar 10 performed by high violins, flutes, and xylophone. At bar 39, the "Ver-ry Proper" verse is introduced with the help of a piccolo trumpet and a harpsichord, both showing up for the first time. At the end of the tune your singers can ad lib their own mouse sounds joining our string players who also had a good time providing their own interpretations.