When I was 11 years old, I wrote a rather advanced arrangement of Saint-Saens’ “The Carnival of the Animals” to perform on the Yamaha Electone HX-1 at the 1989 Yamaha Electone Festival. It was my first arrangement for the HX-1, as in previous years I played the FX-20. The significantly greater array of voicings available opened up greater opportunities for arranging.
So having taken organ lessons for 3 years at that point, this was the performance I gave in the Open Junior (Under 16) section of the Snadens heat of the Electone Festival, earning 2nd place. I was just 1 point behind the girl who won, and went on to become not just the WA state winner that year, but the Australian Junior winner.
36 years later, I’ve finally digitised that arrangement of The Carnival of the Animals, and published it for anyone else that may like to give it a go! It requires a console organ, and while written for the Electone, it could translate to other organs if the timpani rolls are left out. (Those became a signature of mine, with the next 2 arrangements I wrote and performed in subsequent years for the Electone Festivals also containing timpani rolls played with the feet!)
