Hamsters Can't Play The Piano

If you have not yet seen the now legendary YouTube™ videos of the baby dwarf hamsters (one eating broccoli, the other eating popcorn while lying on a piano keyboard), you really must. They're completely adorable. We were so taken with them that they inspired our own creative outside-the-box musings. (Or would that be outside-the-cage musings?) And because we really do think you would appreciate our humor more after seeing the videos, we have embedded them on our web site, MusicK8.com Just go to the drop-down menu under "Site Features" on the home page and select "Video Network." If you don't find yourself smiling, then perhaps this anthem isn't for you. But we're willing to bet your kids will enjoy it.

The first and most important thing to know about performing this piece is: Everything must be over the top. All drama, enunciation, affectation, gesturing, etc., should be overdone. (Think "Jack Black," if that helps.) There are many specific instructions on the music that will help you overachieve this. You're going for the combination of seriousness in the music, overacting in the performance, and silliness in the lyrics. The hard part might be keeping a straight face.

We have many versions of the tune to share so you and your kids can decide how you'd like to do it. The full original version is track 1 on the recording and includes a unison performance of the melody (part 1). The background vocals (parts 2 and 3) are optional, but they add so much to the tune, we recommend them. Pull in some older students or even teachers and parents to help! Part 3 is in bass clef, and lays nicely for older, changing, and changed voices. Neither of these is particularly hard, but to help you teach, we have isolated parts 2 and 3 and put them on our web site. (See details in the box following with the computer picture.)

If you still can't pull off the backgrounds, but you want to use them, we have also created an instrumental track mix that includes the backgrounds vocals. This is also on our web site. Add your own melody and you're good to go. Speaking of the melody, we included a second full mix on the recording (track 20) that features a soloist instead of an ensemble singing part 1. Our soloist was Kelsey Montgomery, who seemed to grasp the "way too seriously" idea right away.

Other goodies you will find on our web site for this song include an out-take of guitar solos played by our own Sandy Williams that we liked so much we just wanted to share, and an a cappella vocal mix with just the big drum fill added. (We call it a "drum phil" because we asked our drummer to do a Phil Collins-esque fill there. We just crack ourselves up sometimes...)

Online extras - The free, downloadable extras mentioned can be found under the Graphics and Extras for Volume 19, No. 5 at MusicK8.com