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Tales of The Riverbank Theme Music

1) The document discusses the Andante in C major by Mauro Giuliani, which was used as the theme music for the popular British children's TV series Tales of the Riverbank. 2) It provides study notes on playing the piece, including recommended right and left hand fingerings. The piece is considered around grade 3 difficulty level for classical guitar. 3) The music employs common patterns from the period, such as two notes played at a tenth interval followed by an open G, making it enjoyable to play while evoking memories of the childhood TV show.

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202 views4 pages

Tales of The Riverbank Theme Music

1) The document discusses the Andante in C major by Mauro Giuliani, which was used as the theme music for the popular British children's TV series Tales of the Riverbank. 2) It provides study notes on playing the piece, including recommended right and left hand fingerings. The piece is considered around grade 3 difficulty level for classical guitar. 3) The music employs common patterns from the period, such as two notes played at a tenth interval followed by an open G, making it enjoyable to play while evoking memories of the childhood TV show.

Uploaded by

taffeyeds
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tales of the Riverbank Theme Music - Andante in C by Giuliani

Listen to MP3 of Giuliani Andante Tony Oreshko - guitar

(See below for Study Notes)


Study Notes
The music above is the first section from the Andante in C major by the great Italian
guitarist and composer, Mauro Giuliani (1781-1828).

This piece is particularly well-known by British adults over a certain age (and
doubtless those in other countries, too), because many years ago it was used as the
theme music for a very popular children's TV series called Tales of the Riverbank.
This featured characters such as Hammy the hamster, Roderick the rat and GP the
guinea pig, all played by real animals who operated miniature cars, motor boats,
aeroplanes etc. while voices were provided for them by Johnny Morris.

The first part of the Andante is fairly simple and shouldn't present too great a
challenge for guitarists who have played at least one or two other pieces by classical
guitar composers such as Giuliani, Carulli, Carcassi etc. The complete piece (it has a
second, contrasting minor key section not shown here) is, I believe, about grade 3
standard for classical guitar.

The music is based on a pattern which is very common in pieces by the above guitar
composers. This pattern consists of two notes that are played together at an interval
of a tenth and then immediately followed by an open G. Bars 1-3 and 9-11 of this
piece are entirely based on it. You may find it interesting to make a comparison with
the music for the second part of Carulli's Andante, where this same pattern is also
used.

The alternating semiquavers in the bottom part (the notes with stems pointing
downwards) should be played with alternating right hand thumb and index finger (p i
p i). An exception is bar 7 where I'd suggest using p i p p for the four semiquavers in
the bottom line, then p p for the two quavers.

Play the quavers in the top line (e.g. bars 1-3) with either the m or a finger. When the
top line has a run of semiquavers (e.g. bar 4) make sure you use alternating right
hand fingers, usually i m i m.

The left hand fingering should also present few problems. It is entirely in the first
position, but when playing the pattern mentioned above you'll need to use your 4th
finger on the 3rd fret for the Gs on the first string (e.g. bar 2) and the Ds on the
second string (e.g. bar 3).

Bars 13 and 14 are worth a brief mention. Here use your 1st finger for the C, and
2nd finger for E, then play the C# with the 3rd finger, using it as a guide finger to
move to the D. Similarly the 2nd finger is used as a guide finger to move from E to
the F.

The Andante has a very simple melody and employs lots of cliches found in many
other guitar music from the period, yet it is a very endearing piece that I'm sure you'll
enjoy playing - and especially so if you remember it from watching childhood
episodes of Tales of the Riverbank.

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