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Turning Classical Music on Its Head
By Nicole Arthur
Washington Post Staff Writer
May 19, 2006
...Turning Classical Music on Its Head
By Nicole Arthur
Washington Post Staff Writer
May 19, 2006
Who is this Beethoven, and why do we keep trying to make him roll over?
Take Richard Perlmutter. In 2002, he released "Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies," a children's recording that set laugh-out-loud lyrics to a collection of classical music's best-known works. "Beethoven's wig/Is very big," Perlmutter sings on its title track, which is set to the composer's Fifth Symphony.
"When that line popped into my head -- 'Beethoven's wig is very big' -- I thought it was interesting," Perlmutter says. "The wig is kind of a symbol for classical music, and musicians are often called longhairs." He pauses. "And it's silly."
The disc's comic take on the classical canon resonated with listeners. "A week after it was out I was on NPR, and then a couple months later I was on the 'Today Show,' and that was the first time I had done a live performance." Along with its sequel, "Beethoven's Wig 2: More Sing Along Symphonies," the CD has garnered more than 30 awards, including two Grammy nominations, and has topped both classical and children's album charts.
Perlmutter, a Los Angeles advertising executive who wrote music for radio and television before "Beethoven's Wig" became a full-time job, still seems bemused by the disc's success. "It's just so cool," he says.
His songs are funny, but Perlmutter is not just a highbrow "Weird Al" Yankovic. The lyrics are hummable mnemonics, each imparting information about the work or its composer. "It makes the songs less random when the lyrics have to do with the pieces," Perlmutter says. "I would never sing, 'Go to the library, you'll really learn!' "
Parents aren't the only adult demographic enamored of the discs. "I think people sometimes think of classical music -- either players or composers -- as maybe either stuffy or somehow sequestered in concert halls and practice rooms," he says, "but they just seem to love this."
Perlmutter, along with four of the vocalists who appear on the CDs, will perform with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Saturday in Baltimore. "You've heard me, so I'm not going to brag about my own singing," he says, "but the others are just astounding." Although Perlmutter frequently sings with smaller ensembles -- pianists, string quartets -- this is only his third appearance with a full orchestra. "To perform with an orchestra is just amazing," he says. "It's so much fun!"
The concert marks the release this month of "Beethoven's Wig 3." It differs markedly from its predecessors, each of its tracks highlighting the sound of a particular instrument rather than the work's composer. The concept necessitated looking outside classical music's Top 40 for material. "It was really, really fun because, first of all, some of those instruments don't get featured that often, and it was challenging to find a piece that would really express what the instrument was all about," Perlmutter says. "A really large part of it was finding [a work] that said, 'This is what the harpsichord means to me' or 'This is how a clarinet speaks to me.' "
Among Perlmutter's favorite tracks is "Play My Song," based on a little-known Beethoven work for mandolin. "Even people who know a lot about classical music aren't familiar with that piece," he says. "A lot of them don't even know that he wrote mandolin pieces." The lyrics tell a true story. "Beethoven was quite a, I don't know if 'womanizer' is the right word, but he was always chasing women. This woman was above his station in life, but he made a play for her anyway. She was an amateur mandolin player, so he wrote these pieces and dedicated them to her." She was apparently unmoved, and the composer never wrote another piece for mandolin.
The first of many planned books complementing the CDs, "Beethoven's Wig: Read Along Symphonies," came out late last year. Its whimsical illustrations by Maria Rosetti -- interwoven with the score of Beethoven's Fifth -- capture the lyrics' loopy imagery. "Most books about music have the actual music at the end," Perlmutter says. "I thought it would be really neat to try and integrate the music into the book." He says his other songs will make for more conventional narratives. "This first book was very, very tricky because it's not really a story. This book is more of a fantasy, a wig experience. "
Beethoven's wig is big all right -- and getting bigger. "I'm working on 'Beethoven's Wig 4' right now," Perlmutter says. "I've sworn not to tell what it's about, but it's somewhat thematic as well."
Three albums in, you wouldn't think any classical work would be impervious to Perlmutter's ability as a lyricist. But he says there are pieces that remain beyond his reach. "There are some that are really hard -- like 'The Flight of the Bumblebee,' " he says. "I've tried to kind of mess with that, and it may . . . end up being on the album. I don't know, but I don't know how to attack it yet.
"I don't think I can sing every note, that's for sure."
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Wigging Out Over Beethoven's Music
By Bonnie Langston, Daily Freeman
March 2, 2007
Anyone who thinks of classical music as staid has a chance to set aside that notion when a three-time Grammy nominee takes the stage Sunday afternoon at the Catskill Mountain Foundation's movie theater in Hunter.
He is Richard Perlmutter, creator, lyricist, producer and lead vocalist in "Beethoven's Wig," an interactive, family-oriented program filled with "fact and fancy" about the world's greatest composers. Joining him will be featured vocalists, Elin Carlson, soprano, and Jonathan Mack, tenor.
Perlmutter said during the performance he will wear "head-gear" - which he would not divulge - but not a wig. Apparently it is not unusual at his gigs, though, for his young admirers to flip theirs.
"A lot of times during the show they scream, 'You rock!' which is great, because they're here enjoying what is authentic classical music - adding the lyrics and a lot of fun to it like we do," Perlmutter said in a telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles. "The kids really get a kick out of it."
The 20 or so songs on the program are something like the "greatest hits" from his three-time Grammy-nominated "Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies" CDs (Rounder Records), he said, from which a selected montage serves as a recorded backdrop.
The program includes "Beethoven's Wig" itself, with rollicking words set to the revered composer's "5th Symphony." The lyrics about his artificial hair are anything but dull as this excerpt shows:
"It's stylish and it's handsome
It costs a small king's ransom
Five hundred bucks and then some
But the hair's so long and flowing
That the wig seems like it's growing
And it keeps his face from showing
Poor Beethoven's wig needs mowing"
Other favorite tunes with equally zany lyrics include Jacques Offenbach's "Can-Can" and Giuseppe Verdi's "La Dona e Mobile" (renamed "Sing Verdi Verdi Loud"), as well as an unusual piece by Beethoven, his "Work for Mandolin," the backdrop for Perlmutter's lyrics in "Play My Song."
"I love that song actually," Perlmutter said. "It sounds a little like a bluegrass tune."
Perlmutter, who had dabbled in country music in graduate school at Yale, even getting some of his work published, said the piece - one of only four Beethoven wrote for mandolin - was inspired by a love interest who played the instrument. The tune worked out but the romance didn't.
Plenty of things have been working out for Perlmutter, however. The former writer and producer of comedy commercials, one of which won a Clio award, dropped that pursuit about four years ago to work full-time on all things "Beethoven's Wig," an extremely successful undertaking. So far, Perlmutter has garnered 40 national awards, and his Beethoven's Wig has been featured on NBC's "Today" show as well as "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on National Public Radio.
Perlmutter was unaware of it, but his work has been compared in the media to that of Woodstock's Peter Schickele, a composer and educator perhaps known best for his comedic works written under the pseudonym P.D.Q. Bach.
"Oh, he lives right up there," Perlmutter said. "Oh, I'm very flattered to be compared to him. Whoever wrote it, 'Thanks.' He's a genius. He's great."
Perlmutter said he is an aficionado of classical music early and modern, but it is lyricists like Cole Porter and Irving Berlin who have inspired him along with writers like Ogden Nash and Dorothy Parker, people who were at the vanguard of American wit.
That wit comes through in Perlmutter's songs, which are kid-tested - by his daughter, 15, and his sons, 19 and 20, who are both in college. The younger son, Sammy, a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, illustrated the cover and portions of the interior for the latest "Beethoven's Wig" album.
Currently, Perlmutter is dabbling with the possibilities of a TV project while working on more songs. He is heading toward the fourth Beethoven album, which eventually may be followed by "Beethoven's fifth," he speculated, laughing.
There undoubtedly will be much more laughter as parents, children and others join Perlmutter and his guest vocalists Sunday as they guide audience members through re-framed works of the masters. And unlike most performances of classical music in which the audience listens only, this one will include a lot of interaction.
"I think the shows are very entertaining," Perlmutter said, some of them presented with orchestras. "We really try to engage the kids. We ask a lot of questions. Sometimes they sing along and dance along as well. They do get to do the Can-Can. I probably shouldn't give that away ... It's not sort of a hootenanny, or anything like that. But the audience is totally engaged."
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The Big Three: Beethoven's Wig
By Lori Sears, The Baltimore Sun
May 25, 2006
Classical music was never supposed to be this much fun. Was it? Indeed it was, says Richard Perlmutter, creator of the group Beethoven's Wig, which has put out three whimsical Sing Along Symphonies albums, each taking familiar classical pieces and turning them into interactive, family-friendly songs. And Saturday, Beethoven's Wig will perform a zany family concert at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Andrew Constantine. Children and adults can sing along (yes, sing along) to classics by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and other composers. There will also be a preview mini-concert and autograph-signing of the new CD Beethoven's Wig 3 by Perlmutter at Barnes & Noble, 1 E. Joppa Road, Towson, at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow.
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TOP FIVE CD AND DVD PICKS IN 10 CATEGORIES - CHILDREN'S
By Nicole Arthur, Washington Post Staff Writer
March 5, 2006
"Beethoven's Wig 2: More Sing Along Symphonies." Rounder Kids, $12.98.
There should be a warning label on Richard Perlmutter's recordings. Listen just once to his 2002 debut, for example, and you'll never hear the opening bars of the composer's fifth symphony without thinking "Beethoven's wig…is very big!" The follow-up to that debut, "Beethoven's Wig 2," is just as hilarious as its predecessor. It also has the same format: On the first half of the disc, Perlmutter sets his own comic lyrics to a dozen or so well-known classical pieces. The second half contains instrumental performance of the same pieces. Although Perlmutter's lyrics are funny, that's not his main objective: Their content is intended to teach listeners something about the work and the composer. Thus Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" becomes "Wow, What a Wedding Cake" and Strauss's "Blue Danube Waltz" becomes "Please Do Not Teach the Viennese." In addition to being entertaining, his creations are frighteningly effective mnemonics. How much children's music actually makes you smarter?
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Getting Your Kids To Love Ludwig
By Diana McKeon Charkalis,
Los Angeles Daily News
February 6, 2006
Richard Perlmutter can't remember exactly what he was doing when the deliberate syllables "Bee-tho-ven's wig'' popped into his head as lyrics that could be set to the tune of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. But from that point on, words continued to flow, and he soon found himself writing fun and outrageous lyrics to the greatest hits of classical music and getting paid for it.
"I just thought it was kind of funny,'' says the Los Angeles musician/classical music lover. "And the wig seemed like a good symbol for classical music.''
The Grammy-nominated artist has just finished his third CD in the Rounder Records "Beethoven's Wig'' series, which appeals to kids and parents alike. It will be out this spring. He also just released a book called "Beethoven's Wig: Read Along'' (Rounder Books; $18.95). It was designed to be a written and visual companion to the title song, which is included on an accompanying CD. The CD also features renditions of "Minuet in G,'' which is now called "Minuet for My Pet,'' and "Moonlight Sonata,'' which has become a song about a traffic jam called "Beep Beep Beep.''
The book's imaginative illustrations by Marie Rosetti, who lives in Pacific Palisades, fuel the tale of Beethoven and his unruly wig, which seems to take on a life of its own. It takes readers on a lively journey to the far reaches of outer space and into the depths of the sea. The notes to the symphony are also cleverly displayed throughout the book's illustrations for the musically inclined.
"I love the way it's really integrated so that the kids can play along if they want,'' the author says.
Perlmutter says he sees himself more as an entertainer than an educator and hopes that kids just get enjoyment out of the book as well as some exposure to classical music. When he began working on the CD series originally, he says he relied on his wife and three children for feedback. The kids now range in age from 14 to 19, and are all musically inclined. In fact, they sometimes even enjoy playing music with their dad. However, he's quick to note: "We're not the von Trapp family. We just like to go out in the back and jam.''
For more information about the book, CDs or live performances, visit www.beethovenswig.com.
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Beetoven's Wig Book
Beethoven's Wig: Book Review
Betsy L. Hogan, Midwest Book Review
February 1, 2006
Richard Perlmutter, author; Maria Rosetti, illustrator
Rounder Books, c/o The Rounder Records Corp.
One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
1579401120 $18.95 www.rounder.com
The first book of the Read Along Symphony series (which is in turn based on the award-winning Sing Along Symphonies music series), Beethoven's Wig is a children's picturebook that combines humor with a love of music. The whimsical story about Beethoven's gigantic and growing white wig is meant to be sung along with the notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Zany illustrations of the catastrophically titanic wig and a bonus CD with "Beethoven's Wig" and two previously unreleased songs, all in both vocal and instrumental versions, round out this picturebook treasury. An excellent introduction to the fun of classical music for young people.
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A Head For Music
By Julie Ann Weekes, New Hampshire Union Leader
October 6, 2006
For those who have never thought of classical music as a "let-your-hair-down" type of entertainment, try on "Beethoven's Wig."
An award-winning family program created by Richard Perlmutter, "Beethoven's Wig" is a zany, sing-along, symphony production that offers whimsical renditions of familiar classical pieces by beloved composers, ranging from Beethoven to Brahms and Schubert to Strauss.
The interactive production, set for the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at the Silver Center for the Arts at Plymouth State University, is geared toward blurring the bounds of classical music's traditionally formal setting by fostering interaction between musicians and audience members.
"We get the audience involved answering questions, singing and dancing along," said Perlmutter, who garnered Grammy Award nominations for two "Beethoven's Wig" CDs. "Even the orchestra gets in one some of the gags. We have the best time doing these performances."
For this show, Perlmutter will perform with four opera singers and an orchestra comprised of local Plymouth musicians and conducted by Noah Gynn from Plymouth State University.
The concert will feature songs from all three "Beethoven's Wig" recordings. The CDs, as well as a "Beethoven's Wig" book released earlier this year, have won a combined 35 national awards from organizations including Parents' Choice, American Library Association, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, Teachers' Choice and iParenting Media, to name a few.
"Before the first CD was released, I thought we might encounter (some resistance from those unfamiliar with classical music) but that has not been the case," Perlmutter said. "People have really embraced the concept and the music.
"Those who hadn't had much exposure to classical music have been delighted by discovering these composers; those who liked classical music in general but weren't familiar with particular composers have found the songs provide them with a hook to remember and identify the different composers; and those who already loved these composers have had great fun with the songs and sharing them with others," he said.
The most recent "Beethoven's Wig" CD celebrates specific musical instruments, while presenting sing-along pieces by Beethoven, Bach, Bizet, Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Handel, along with amusing facts about the composers' lives.
"I love classical music and I set out to honor these composers and their compositions while having fun with the music," Perlmutter said. "Most of the lyrics reflect something about the composer, the composition or the time in history.
"On the third (CD), I wanted a variety of instruments, not only those that are more familiar, like the flute, but also those that are rarely heard any longer, like the harpsichord," he said. "I looked for pieces in which the individual instruments really shine and, at the same time, would make exciting songs. One of my favorites is 'Play My Song,' which is set to a mandolin piece by Beethoven. Beethoven wrote very few pieces for mandolin and they aren't common knowledge. It is an unusual piece and the lyrics spell out why he wrote it and why he never wrote again for mandolin. And it had a bluegrass feel that I liked."
For more information about this show, presented by the Friends of the Arts Regional Arts Council in Plymouth, call 535-2787 or log onto http://www.plymouth.edu/cac/silver-series.htm. Tickets are $25-$30; $23-$28 for senior citizens and $14-$19 for children. For more show details, visit www.beethovenswig.com.
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Beethoven's Wig & Beethoven's Wig 2: Sing Along Symphonies For Children
By Judith Monk, Musical Opinion Magazine
March 1, 2005
Lead vocals: Richard Perlmutter
Main Orchestras: Czech Philharmonic & British Union Rias Orchestra Rounder Records Kids 116618112-2 & 11661-8119-2: 2CDs www.rounder.com
Twice nominated for Grammy Awards these CDs, aimed at young children, have also collected a host of other awards, rightly so in my opinion. Beethoven's Wig is the original concept of Richard Perlmutter, a Los Angeles based father of three and lead singer on the CDs, who uses carefully constructed simple lyrics to act as memory hooks which he then matches to well known and accessible classical works. These lyrics are designed to engage and educate children about both the music and the composers. The music is then played again without lyrics so that listeners also hear the originals. The accompanying Booklets add to the learning experience with quizzes, full lyrics and suggestions for expanding into creating art works and dances around the original works.
For me the second CD is more educational than the first with more attentive lyrical construction but both are a good, fun way to draw youngsters towards the rewards of classical music. After all, even the great composers wrote pieces that were for children or just for fun. In a way these CDs do a great job in reminding us of this and the fact that we are all still children at heart!
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Long-Hair Music Gets Kid’s Buzz Cut in ‘Beethoven’s Wig’
By Nancy Sokoler Steiner, The Jewish Journal
April 22, 2004
Move over Baby Mozart and Baby Bach. If you really want your children to learn the classics -- and know the composer's name to boot -- check out "Beethoven's Wig, Sing Along Symphonies." The Grammy-nominated release by Richard Perlmutter adds witty lyrics to some of classical music's best-loved pieces.
The CD's title, for example, is from the lyrics set to the opening notes of Beethoven's 5th Symphony: "Beethoven's wig, is very big." And while the lyrics are fun for children, adults will appreciate the droll humor. Regarding the finger speed of pianist Franz Liszt, Perlmutter croons that Liszt "could play the minute waltz so quickly that he'd end in 30 seconds flat."
Last month, Perlmutter released a follow-up album, "Beethoven's Wig II, More Sing Along Symphonies," which proves equally amusing and addicting. Listen a few times and you'll find yourself singing along with such lyrics as those accompanying Mendelssohn's Wedding March: "Oh, what a wedding cake, it stands over six stories high...." In both CD's, the sing-along versions are followed by orchestral versions without lyrics.
As a child, Perlmutter built his own guitar ("It was pretty bad," he admitted) and later worked as a song leader at Stephen S. Wise Temple and other area synagogues in the 1980s. Perlmutter, who has produced several albums for children, was educated at the business and architecture schools at Yale.
"Music didn't seem like the type of thing you could do as a career," he said. Looks like he's turned that theory on its head.
Selections from "Beethoven's Wig" will be performed at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA, Reading by 9 Stage, on Saturday, April 24, at 12:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 25, at 1:30 p.m.
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Symphony Gives Kids Lessons In Fun
By Jaci Webb, Billings Gazette
October 17, 2004
It didn't take long Saturday morning at the Alberta Bair Theater to figure out the Billings Symphony Orchestra's performance would be like no other.
On the audience side, the theater was packed with chattering children, some waving air batons and pretending to conduct. The scene on the stage was even more amusing, with Richard Perlmutter, half vocalist half comic, and his talented crew of classically trained vocalists using their best voices to belt out silly lyrics to the classics.
More kid-friendly
In a shift from the annual free children's concert featuring only orchestration, the BSO opted this year to bring in the award-winning Perlmutter to make the show even more kid-friendly. Eight hundred people took in the 11 a.m. show with an even bigger crowd expected at 2 p.m. Conducted by Henry Charles Smith, conductor emeritus with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, the one-hour show featured 19 sing-along symphonies off Perlmutter's Grammy-nominated recording "Beethoven's Wig'' and its sequel "Beethoven's Wig 2.''
Having some fun
It was the first time Perlmutter performed his work live with a full symphony orchestra, and he gushed several times during his show about how much fun he was having.
"This is a moment that is so special in my life that if I don't start singing I'll start crying,'' he said before his final song.
The crowd sang, giggled and clapped along throughout the show, and when Perlmutter invited the audience to stand up and do the can-can with him, they obliged. Eaon Hanebury, 10, said it was the highlight of the show.
"I really liked it,'' Hanebury said. "It was funny.''
Hanbebury, who plays violin at Alkali Creek School where he is a fifth-grader, said he can already play "Hot Cross Buns'' and looks forward to playing more complicated pieces, like the closing piece "1812 Overture'' by Tchaikovsky.
His dad Lou, said the concert was a great way to introduce his two sons, including 8-year-old Connor, to classical music.
"That's a pretty good way to get kids interested in this type of music,'' Lou said. "We look forward to more concerts.''
Along with all the funny lyrics, Perlmutter squeezes information about the music and the composer into his songs.
Raymond Ash, 9, who came with his 14-year-old sister Monique, said he liked the classical guitar solo by former BSO board president Robert Griffin. Griffin took center stage to play "Hey Guitar Teacher,'' set to Bach's "Bouree.'' Raymond said he owns an electric guitar but doesn't yet know how to play it.
Monique said she liked the signature song, "Beethoven's Wig,'' set to Beethoven's 5th Symphony best.
"It was really funny and really good,'' she said, still chuckling as she left the theater.
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Classics Sung With A Bit of Silliness
By Jaci Webb, Billings Gazette
September 15, 2004
The lyricist/vocalist penned zany, stick-in-your-head lyrics to the classics that would make just about anyone smile. He and other featured vocalists - including a classically trained opera singer - will join the Billings Symphony Orchestra at two free sing-along shows on Saturday at the Alberta Bair Theater. The free children's concert is a popular annual offering, a gift from the BSO and its sponsors, to the community. And, this year, the BSO is presenting two free shows to accommodate more people in the ABT.
The shows will showcase Perlmutter's Grammy-nominated CD "Beethoven's Wig Sing Along Symphonies'' and its sequel "Beethoven's Wig II.'' Each song is a hilarious look at familiar classical music with lyrics about the composer, the composition or the time in history when it was written. Some of the most well-known composers - including Beethoven, Schubert, Verdi, Brahms, Schubert, Chopin, Strauss and Dvorak - will be featured in the hour-long concerts.
The pieces provide lyrical and musical hooks to help listeners remember each composer and piece of music. In a telephone interview with The Gazette, Perlmutter said he never envisioned his silly lyrics would get this big.
"One day I was walking along, and I thought of this song - 'Beethoven's Wig is very big,' '' he said. "I figured the wig kind of symbolized classical music because people call it long-hair music. I didn't know how it would be received, but I decided I'd record it.''
And the songs just kept coming. Perlmutter wrote "Franz Liszt the Famous Pianist'' set to Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2,'' and "Hey Guitar Teacher'' set to Bach's "Bouree'' and nine more songs for the first "Beethoven's Wig Sing Along Symphonies,'' which came out in 2002.
People went nuts. It won 13 national awards, including a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 and a Parents Choice award, and Perlmutter was featured on NBC's "Today" show and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" with Susan Stamberg.
Suddenly, Perlmutter's little ditty was gold.
"Our goal was to get people excited about classical music and to tell kids a bit of the history of the music,'' Perlmutter said.
The lyrics are silly, but informative. On "Franz Liszt the Famous Pianist,'' Perlmutter squeezes the names of more than a dozen classical pianists and describes Liszt's concerts as a race where "Franz always won first place.''
When Perlmutter needs to bounce ideas off someone, he said he uses his three children, aged 18, 16 and 13.
"My 13-year-old daughter is pretty good at telling me whether something works or now,'' he said.
Perlmutter, who plays guitar and piano and has had vocal training, lives in southern California and works primarily as a record producer.
He said his voice is not nearly as polished as the other vocalists who help sing his lyrics, but that's part of the reason why people enjoy hearing him sing his kid-friendly lyrics.
"I have a friendly, approachable voice. My pitch is good, and I'm a good storyteller,'' he said. "A lot of people say it sounds like you just got up and started singing. It takes work to make it sound like that.''
Perlmutter is working on a "Beethoven's Wig'' book with illustrations and hoping to do more live performances with symphony orchestras. Saturday's performance with the BSO is the first symphony production of "Beethoven's Wig,'' and Perlmutter said it's a milestone for him.
"This started as a recording project, and I hadn't really thought of performing it live,'' Perlmutter said. "I'm really excited to perform it live for the first time in Billings with a symphony orchestra.''
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Roll Over, Beethoven!
By Billy Heller, New York Post
November 8, 2003
Beethoven's wig is very big
Beethoven's wig is long and curly and it's white
Beethoven takes his wig off when he sleeps at night
Because it's big
It's very big...
In case you didn't recognize it, that's the beginning of "Beethoven's Wig." Set to the great composer's Fifth Symphony, it won a Grammy nomination for Richard Perlmutter, who wrote the nutty words for it.
Hear Perlmutter sing it tomorrow - along with other silly spins on Bach, Liszt, Mozart and Tchaikovsky - at the Jewish Museum.
And yes, he says, Beethoven really did wear a wig. For a while.
"When he first moved to Vienna to try and make it big as a composer, the style then was to wear wigs," Perlmutter says. "So he brought a wig and the whole traditional costume he was supposed to have, because he thought that he had to fit in."
But Beethoven was a rebel - "a kind of a punk rock rebel," he adds.
"He realized he didn't want to fit in and abandoned the wig, and sort of single-handedly changed fashion styles."
Perlmutter went through his own changes. As a kid in New Jersey, he built himself a guitar out of cardboard and rubber bands before his parents bought him the real thing.
He studied classical guitar, played rock in high school and wrote country songs all through college.
He even moved to Nashville, where, he admits, "I was a failure after three months."
He started writing jingles for ads when he moved to Los Angeles. But the 54-year-old father of three continued to love classical music - and hopes his "Beethoven's Wig" will bring it to new audiences.
At tomorrow's shows, he'll encourage families to sing and dance along, challenge them to trivia contests and basically just have fun with the classics.
What would Beethoven think?
"I think he'd get a kick out of it," says Perlmutter. "He wasn't stuffy - and classical music was not made to be museum pieces."
"Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies," with Richard Perlmutter, at the Jewish Museum, Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street; tomorrow, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets, $10. Call (212) 423-3337.
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Opening Beethoven's Door
By Lynne Heffley, Los Angeles Times
March 3, 2003
"Here's a short Beethoven piano piece. He wrote this piece, just for Elise. It's all about a fellow named Maurice, who came from Greece, with a valise." - Sung to the tune of Beethoven's "Fur Elise."
So begins "Just for Elise," a musical tale of mystery and intrigue crafted by wickedly ingenious lyricist Richard Perlmutter, whose classical music children's album, "Beethoven's Wig: Sing-Along Symphonies," has become a surprise hit.
Perlmutter, who's been compared to Allan Sherman and P.D.Q. Bach, has his way with 11 famous works. Among them: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is an ode to classical "long-hairs" ("Beethoven's wig / Is very big"); Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" becomes "Please Don't Play Your Violin at Night"; and Delibes' "Sylvia," is a pizzicato plumbing disaster ("Drip, Drip, Drip"). Haydn's Surprise Symphony is given a more teacherly tack: "Did that outburst startle you? Well, that's what it was meant to do."
"In the beginning, I had some questions about whether this was a wise thing to do, to sort of mess with the classics," says Perlmutter, who will perform a playful solo version of "Beethoven's Wig" at Storyopolis on Saturday and at the Geffen Playhouse on March 22. "But as I kept going, I realized that it had value. And I really enjoyed doing it."
A few purists have snubbed the concept, but the Rounder Kids release, which also includes straight orchestral renditions of each piece, has received promotional support from classical radio stations across the country in addition to winning a host of awards from national parenting, educational and library organizations.
It's been profiled on the "Today" show and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and earned top slots on the sales charts at Amazon.com and other music Web sites. The icing on the cake: a Grammy nomination for this year's best musical album for children. (Riders in the Sky's "Monsters, Inc.: Scream Factory Favorites" won.)
"The album was released on March 5 of last year, and less than 10 days later, Richard was sitting in NPR's studios here in Los Angeles," said Regina Kelland, head of children's marketing for Rounder Records' kids division. "The response has been astounding."
The accolades are sweet music to Perlmutter. Because his day job is advertising, he spent five years of weekends, early mornings and late nights coming up with lyrics that not only would match melody, meter and harmonic layers of well-known classical works, but also would humorously impart a bit of real information about the composers or the pieces.
"People think that writing music for children is easy, that it doesn't take as much work," Perlmutter said, "but I think that it takes just as much if not more. I did a lot of research, and I feel I've gotten to the essence of what these pieces are, for this medium.
"In a sense," he added, "this is a pop introduction to classical music, opening it on one layer. A few people have mentioned that they will never think of these works the same way again, but if this serves as a gateway, where [kids] actually start liking classical music, they'll be able to get rid of those lyrics pretty quickly and say, 'Wow, I hear that first melody that Richard was singing, but now I hear all this other stuff.'"
Perlmutter started as a guitar-playing art major who ended up a Yale grad with a business degree. He chucked it and moved to Nashville in 1980 to try to make it as a country star -- "it wasn't a good fit" -- before returning to Southern California and studying composition, arranging, orchestration and classical guitar.
He segued into a career in advertising when he fell into commercial jingle writing.
Along the way, he produced a few independent releases, including his own and ex-"Saturday Night Live" star Victoria Jackson's children's albums.
"I guess if I can get one thing across here," says Perlmutter, who is at work on a follow-up, "it's that I love music so much."
Gary Hollis, an on-air personality for L.A. classical station KMZT-FM (105.1) frequently features Perlmutter and his CD on his "Curtain Call" interview show. Hollis, who started out working backstage at Carnegie Hall during Leonard Bernstein's "Young People's Concerts," is one of "Beethoven's Wig's" biggest boosters.
"Lenny taught me to appreciate classical music with robust enjoyment," Hollis said. "What Richard has done is bring that joy and humor and fun to classical music to make it accessible to children. He's doing the next generation of classical music fans a great favor."
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Amazon.Com Review
By Martin Keller, Amazon.com
March 5, 2002
Inspired and wildly imaginative, Beethoven's Wig is one of the best introductions to classical music you could give to your children. Featuring snippets of 11 classical music staples--Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, et al.--the disc and its creators, Richard Perlmutter and friends, pour on the silly lyrics the first time around to familiarize young ears to the old masters. Then in the last half of the record, the orchestra plays the same "serious" music pieces instrumentally. You might cheerfully recall Alan Sherman's popular spoofs of old classical works in Wig and you'll again chuckle at pieces like "Drip, Drip, Drip," which adapts Delibes's "Pizzicato from Sylvia." You'll also marvel at the expertise throughout the CD, with all the pieces well played yet thoroughly fun. Beethoven's Wig is an orchestral treasure with a sense of humor as old or as new as its listeners (and the fun questions that run throughout the CD's liner notes are almost as entertaining as the zany musical interludes). Highly recommended.
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Sing-Along CD Adds Lyrics To Ludwig
By Chris J. Parker, Los Angeles Daily News
September 28, 2002
The big kids are back at school, so that means the Aaron Carter and A-Teens CDs can be taken out of the family's minivan. That's the good news.
The bad news is the youngest children - the ones too young for school but definitely old enough to have an opinion - want to hear their music now.
"Beethoven's Wig'' (Rounder Records) - Three stars
Richard Perlmutter has created a fun, sing-along collection of songs, set to the work of master composers. The silly, clever lyrics appeal to younger listeners (and will amuse their parents). For example, "Can you can can?'' set to "Can Can'' by Jacques Offenbach is a frenetic ode to dancing, Paris-style. In the title track (set to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony), Perlmutter explains, "Beethoven's Wig/ is very big.'' Following the 11 sing-along symphonies are orchestral versions of each shortened song. The only fault listeners will find with the CD is that once they've heard how very big Beethoven's wig is (as well as lyrics in the 10 other classics), it'll be hard to hear the original works again without the words running through your head.
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Classically Silly: 'Beethoven's Wig' Returns!
By Renee Montagne, NPR
January 13, 2005
Morning Edition - If you're a kid — or a kid at heart — chances are you find the thought of Ludwig van Beethoven's silly white wig more amusing than the great composer's timeless compositions. Now, a sequel to a seriously silly CD again offers both the silly and the serious in equal doses.
In Beethoven's Wig 2, composer Richard Perlmutter again takes on some of the world's most famous classical tunes, and adds fun lyrics to the music. Parents report that their kids love to sing along. And the best part? They don't know they're learning a little bit about the wider world of classical music — or they're having too much fun to care.
Should the lyrics not provide enough tidbits of learning, sprinkled throughout the liner notes of Beethoven's Wig 2 are classical music quizzes. The CD has been nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award for children's music — NPR's Renee Montagne talks to Perlmutter about his strategy for success and silliness.
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Beethoven's Wig 2: More Sing Along Symphonies
Fall 2004 Music
Ages: 4 & Up
Producer: Rounder Records Corporation
CD Price: $12.98
Erich Parker, APR
Review:
Beethoven’s Wig 2 presents some classical music war horses in, shall we say, re-imagined versions, with zany lyrics that spoof many of the conventions of serious music, itself. The new lyrics are included with the CD so that your little ones can sing along. Unfortunately, that’s an unlikely turn of events. These pieces (many of which were not written to be sung) are far too musically sophisticated and vocally taxing to invite carefree sing-along. That’s not to say your charges won’t find this CD a pleasant, even fun musical outing. It is that, for sure.
The same pieces are repeated twice, once with singing, and (with one except . . . Verdi’s aria from Rigoletto, “La donna è mobile”), once without. So if highbrow karaoke is your calling, or you’re just looking for a clever way to introduce your children to some classical music standards, this CD might be your cup of tea. Kudos to the producers for including some fun, suggested activities in the jewel case insert that could make for a merry rainy-day afternoon, while Beethoven’s Wig 2 provides background music.
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Beethoven's Wig Is Very Big
by: James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World
June 12th, 2009
The fact that the line fit the rhythm of the famous opening notes of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 got Perlmutter thinking — and coming up with more lyrics about Ludwig's wig.
And since Perlmutter is a composer, arranger and producer, who has worked with acts ranging from comedienne Victoria Jackson to the band Nickel Creek, he decided to put together an album pairing his family-friendly lyrics with famous works of classical music.
The result was the album "Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies," which was released in 2002. And that, Perlmutter said, was supposed to be that.
"Then, about a week after it was released, I was interviewed on NPR," Perlmutter said. "And because of that, the album started selling like crazy and people were asking me to do performances of the songs.
"Honestly, I had envisioned this strictly as a recording project. I never gave a thought about how — or even if — these things could be performed live."
But Perlmutter found a way — first doing small gigs in stores, and slowly working up to doing full concerts with four opera singers and symphony orchestras, like the one he will present as part of the OK Mozart International Festival in Bartlesville.
The concert will feature the Amici New York Orchestra, conducted by Adria Benjamin, who will perform with Perlmutter and vocalists Elin Carlson, soprano; Susan Boyd, alto; Jonathan Mack, tenor; and Jon Joyce, bass.
Today there are four albums in the "Beethoven's Wig" series, which have been nominated for more than 40 awards, including three Grammy Award nominations.
"We'll be doing selections from all the albums, so this concert will be a bit like a 'greatest hits' show," Perlmutter said, laughing.
The "Beethoven's Wig" albums and concerts have been praised as excellent vehicles to introduce young audiences to classical music. The excerpts are short — usually just a couple of minutes in length — and Perlmutter's lyrics often mix child-like zaniness with a bit of history.
Still, Perlmutter said, he goes out of his way to avoid using the term "education" to describe "Beethoven's Wig."
"The reason I did the first recording was because it was fun," he said. "And I want people who listen to the records or come to the concerts to have fun. If, by chance, they learn a little bit about some famous composers or decide to listen to more classical music, that's fine, too."
Perlmutter usually tends to use classical pieces that are well-known, even if they don't contain what one would think of as "singable" melodies.
"Things like Bach's Toccata and Fugue, or Strauss' 'Thus Spake Zarathustra,' which everyone knows from the movie '2001,' " he said. "But we found ways to make them work, by taking a weird approach.
"It also has to be a piece of music I really, really like, because I'm going to have to live with it for a long time," Perlmutter said, laughing. "And it also has to have something of extra interest."
For example, a tune on the third album called "Play My Song," uses a little-known work for the mandolin that Beethoven wrote.
"When I first heard it, it sounded a bit like a bluegrass piece," Perlmutter said. "But when I learned that Beethoven — who had a reputation in his early years for chasing the women — had written it for a woman who played the mandolin and the romance didn't work out, I made it into this story about his heartbreak. It just adds a little more to the piece."
Tulsa World
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Roll Over, Beethoven!
by Yvette Cadeaux, Pulse! Magazine
March 26th, 2003
(Rounder Kids) Bravo! This is the album that every 11-year-old wannabe opera singer coulda/shoulda recorded. Beethoven's Wig is just what the doctor ordered for those parents and children who find themselves nodding off whenever they hear the opening strains of "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." Here, Mozart's classic is unfaithfully reproduced as the mock opera-antic "Please Don't Play Your Violin At Night." Then there is the title track, the album's raison d'etre. Set to the tune of Ludwig van's seminal 5th symphony, it opens with these ludicrous lyrics: "Beethoven's wig is very big! Beethoven's wig is long and curly and it's white/Beethoven's takes his wig off when he sleeps at night." Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The album reaches a crescendo on "Can You Can Can?" This Offenbachian travesty sports outrageous lyrics sung by the album's creator Richard Perlmutter: "All the girls in Paris, France/Love to do the can-can dance/Kick their legs up in the air/ Shake, shake, shake their derriere." You've got to hear it to believe it. As an added bonus, the CD features orchestral performances (courtesy of the Czech Philharmonic and British Union Rias Orchestras) sans vocals so you and yours can karaoke to the classics. Encore! Encore!
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supersonic
Beethoven's Wig (5th Symphony, Beethoven)
