'Music' by Oliver Postgate

All Clangers asleep. We hear very faint music. The music appears to come from the egg the chicken gave Tiny Clanger. Tiny Clanger blinks at the egg, listens to it. She stealthily takes the egg to a distant empty place. She trips and the egg breaks open. As it open the music stops, and out fall some music dots. She picks up the dots one by one and they each play a note for her. She draws lines on the wall of the cave and sets the dots on the lines. With her pencil she points to the dots in turn and they play the line of music she has written. She writes some more music and plays some more. The soup-dragon rises from the soup well to listen. Tiny Clanger runs home to tell Small Clanger what she has done. He wakes up and comes with her but when they get to the place they find the soup-dragon is eating the dots off the wall. They interrupt her, demanding to know where their music has gone. She opens her mouth and sings to them. They are furious but the dragon does not care. She goes to lick the last dots. Tiny Clanger swiftly buries the dots under the egg and stands on it. The soup-dragon noses around and seeing nothing more to eat sings them an operatic farewell and leaves. It takes rather a long time to go because it is so pleased with its voice that it keeps coming back to sing the odd bar or two. In the end the dragon has really gone. The Clangers tip out two sad notes. Small Clanger has an idea. They run outside. They plant the notes. Nothing happens. A small white cloud is passing overhand. It is dropping occasional drops of rain-like liquid. The clangers try and blow it towards their notes. Tiny Clanger climbs on Small Clanger's shoulders to blow at the cloud . She shouts at it and blows at it and in the end the cloud bops her on the nose. She falls and cries. Small Clanger comforts her and tells off the cloud. The cloud is contrite. It comes down and Small Clanger explains that they only wanted to water their note seeds. They lead the cloud to the seeds and it waters them. They all sit and watch. The music trees grow. They flower and the notes form. When the trees are complete, Tiny Clanger lifts her pencil and conducts the trees. They play for her and the delighted cloud grows a rim of droplets and plays glockenspiel. When the piece ends there is a burst of applause and chortling. We see that all the Clangers are there. Tiny Clanger runs to tell them what has happened and while she tells them Small Clanger conducts a stately air.

Original Conception:
Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin

Scenery and Puppets:
Peter Firmin

Music:
Composed by Vernon Elliott

Filming and Editing:
Oliver Postgate

Film Company:
Smallfilms

TX:
7th December 1969 @ 5.55pm

Notes:
*This synopsis is the original outline written by Oliver Postgate for the BBC prior to production, and may differ slightly from the transmitted version.

*The Clangers voices were played on swannee whistles by Oliver Postgate and Stephen Sylvester.