Darren SNG - Hickory Dickory Dock

Darren SNG | Hickory Dickory Dock
Bass Clarinet | Daniel Yiau
Dialogues and Reflections
20 August 2019
Esplanade recital studio
PROGRAMME NOTES
“Hickory dickory dock,
the mouse ran up the clock, the clock struck one,
the mouse ran down, hickory dickory dock.”
It is understood that nursery rhymes often harbour deeper connotations or functions within (in this case, as a means to teach children how to tell time). Take them out however, and readers are left with an image that is simple yet with a degree of comical absurdity - much like how a child may view it. The intent of depicting a nursery rhyme in the most literal form informed the conceptual aspect of the music, which is represented by the decision to quote the entire poem for a title wholesale.
The result was a ‘theatrical’ work for solo bass clarinet, an instrument of choice given its size and potential for strength, but ironicaly restrained to the softest and rawest sounds throughout most of the music. These include key clicks (the clock) overlaid with vocalisations (the mouse) forming the two principle themes of the piece, and perhaps also functioning as an apt reflection of the nature of nursery rhymes as tunes that are often sung in the first place.