Performed live on March 25th, 2026 as part of Christopher Keach's Faculty Recital, "The Voice of the Trumpet"

Animal Ditties I & II by Anthony Plog

Christopher Keach, trumpet

Val Voyle, narrator

Risa Okina, piano

Program Notes:

Anthony Plog (b. 1947) began his career in music as a trumpet player, after having studied with his father Clifton Plog, Irving Bush, Thomas Stevens, and James Stamp. Until he retired from playing in 2001, he had a varied career, playing with numerous chamber groups, touring as an international soloist, and playing principal trumpet with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Malmo Symphony (Sweden), and the Basel Symphony (Switzerland). As a composer, he first began writing exclusively for brass instruments but eventually broadened his horizons to include concerti and other works for orchestra, including cantatas, oratorios, and opera. His brass works have been required pieces on major international competitions and university exams. He is also the host of the Anthony Plog on Music podcast - anthonyplog.com/podcast

Plog has written nine iterations of his suite Animal Ditties. These works feature a variety of instrumental settings, but all include the narration of poems by Ogden Nash; an American poet well known for his light verse. Animal Ditties I & II feature the trumpet, piano, and narration of the following poems:

I. The Turtle

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks

Which practically conceal its sex.

I think it clever of the turtle

In such a fix to be so fertile.

II. The Python

The python has, and I fib no fibs,

318 pairs of ribs.

In stating this I place reliance

On a seance with one who died for science.

This figure is sworn to and attested;

He counted them while being digested.

III. Hyena

Hyena is the kind of beast I'd not sit down with to a feast

He is appetite undiscriminating

And mindless laughter unabating

Slavering in the plush arena

The studio audience is mostly Hyena.

IV. Hog

Some scientist may at last disperse

The mysteries of the universe.

But me, I cannot think

Why pork is white and ham is pink.

I. The Ostrich

The ostrich roams the great Sahara.

Its mouth is wide, its neck is narra.

It has such long and lofty legs,

I'm glad it sits to lay its eggs.

II. The Chipmunk

My friends all know that I am shy,

But the chipmunk is twice and shy and I.

He moves with flickering indecision

Like stripes across the television.

He's like the shadow of a cloud,

Or Emily Dickinson read aloud.

III. The Canary

The song of canaries

Never varies,

And when they’re moulting

They’re pretty revolting.

IV. The Elk

Moose makes me think of caribou

And caribou, of moose

With, even from their point of view,

Legitimate excuse

Why then when I behold an elk,

Can I but think of Lawrence Welk?