The most famous children’s story with music is probably Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf but, as engaging as it is, it has two major limitations: the story is one-dimensional because it was written to be a vehicle for the music, and the music itself was composed to be listened to by a child, not actually played by one. Hamelin Music’s A Wizard in the Kitchen attempts to address this problem with a score actually composed to be played by children and an engaging story that can stand and entertain in its own right. Here is an excerpt from the story…
“It was then that, as Harry stepped out into the darkness, he experienced the first of the evening’s very peculiar events. He heard his teacher’s voice behind him but it sounded very different, almost as if it were a thousand years old and full of fear. “Beware!” it warned. “Beware ‘The Witch’s… Omelette!” “Oh please!” cried Harry. “Please Mrs Kitchen, you’re confusing me.” He remembered a game he had played on his Xbox a month before and said helpfully, “Do you think you might mean amulet? It’s like a thing that protects against evil.” “Omelette, amulet, ambulance… who cares?” she boomed, “It’s feeling it that counts, but for your benefit…” and then, with the same strange voice and with her bony finger pointing into the distance, proclaimed, “Beware! Beware ‘The Witch’s…Amulet’!” The young boy trotted into the night. “I’m sorry Mrs Kitchen but I don’t believe in witches,” he said.”
