There Is A Painted Bus (2011)
Instrumentation: Childrens’ Choir (SSA) and optional piano accompaniment
Duration: 3 minutes
Program Information:
In primary (elementary) school, I was nominated by my English teacher to represent my class at the school’s poetry recitation competition, reciting the poem “The Painted Bus”. At the competition, I had my first taste of stage fright and completely forgot my lines. Needless to say, I did not win the competition, and this poem is now forever ingrained in me. When approached to write for childrens’ choir, I felt that it was finally time to make up for my failed performance at the poetry recitation competition, and set the text of “The Painted Bus” to music!
Text:
There is a painted bus,
With twenty painted seats,
It carries painted people
Along the painted streets.
They pull the painted bell,
The painted driver stops,
And they all get out together
At the little painted shops.
– childrens’ nursery rhyme
Premiere: July 15 2011 | Singapore Lyric Opera Childrens’ Choir | Singapore