Introducing the French Monkey!

Several years ago, my wife, Carol, and I were in France. We were staying at an incredible place somewhere in the Loire. There was a picture on one of the walls that really caught our attention. It was a sketch of a parrot wearing a French beret and some funny little clothes, holding a baguette under its wing. I looked at it and said, "A French monkey!" The reason I said "monkey" was because the clothing the parrot was wearing looked to me like the outfits worn by organ grinder monkeys.

Years before we made that trip, I used to play my recorder for Atlantis, the actual name of our parrot. I started playing this funny little melody that came to me while looking at her and she would dance and bob her head and also sing along with the right notes and timbre of the recorder!

This photo of Atlantis captures her mischievous nature in action--or I should say, after the action. If you notice the blinds on the window and the fly swatter in back of her, you can see the results of her beak at work!

Here is a sound clip of the little melody I used to play for Atlantis on the recorder, here played on the trombone. The song is called "The French Monkey" and it's from my "Anew at Home" CD.

[For those interested: An MP3 of "The French Monkey" is available as a single track from iTunes. The printed music for this piece is included in the unaccompanied trombone solos collection, "You Are Not Alone."]