Gaspard the Fox is a delightful, critically acclaimed Children's story book written by Zeb Soanes (Presenter and Newsreader on Radio 4, BBC Proms, BBC4) and James Mayhew (creator of the much-loved Ella Bella Ballerina series and many other acclaimed children’s books).
I’ve had the great pleasure of composing original music for the audiobooks that accompany this series, narrated by Zeb himself. We’ve also developed these scores into versions that can be performed live, with Zeb reading the stories, James doing his amazing live drawing, whilst I accompany on as many instruments as possible.
“Meet Gaspard the Fox as he sets out one summer evening in search of adventure and something to eat. On his travels he meets a superior cat named Peter and Finty the dog, who help him navigate the local canal in his hunt for supper.”
With an instrumentation that includes Toy Piano, Accordion, Melodica, Ukulele, Trumpet Kazoo, Harp, Cello and Swanee Whistle, creating the musical world of Gaspard and friends continues to be a joyful writing experience.
musical highlights from Book 1 - “Gaspard’s First Adventure”
musical highlights from Book 2 - “Best In Show”
“The children’s book to watch out for”
There have also been some fun field recording and sound design opportunities, for example capturing the sound of the real canal that features in book 1 (“Gaspard’s First Adventure”)…
… and creating the moment when catastrophe strikes in book 2 (“Best In Show”):
The audiobooks are available to buy from https://www.audible.co.uk and the books themselves are available from Graffeg Publishing.