Taratabong: The World of the Meloditties

We’re in Taratabong, where the Meloditties live, getting to know the main characters. They include two brothers: Trumpee the trumpet and Snaree the snare drum, along with their parents: Drumba the bass drum and Bone, the trombone. Then there’s Pino the piano and his father Grando, the grand piano. The Meloditties play one after the other, then all together.

Trumpee and Snaree meet the Xilo brothers for the first time. They are eight parts of a xylophone. They become firm friends after having helped them find a relative who went missing in a cave where there are lots of marvellous musical stalactites.

While Grando and Pino are playing a very romantic piece and dancing ballet steps, two of their keys get damaged: they end up off key! Pino is a little worried, but Grando reassures him. All they have to do is go find Maestro Nomo, the metronome, who should be able to tune them again.

Trumpee and Snaree are running late for their class at Maestro Nomo’s music school and decide to take a short-cut. After all sorts of incredible adventures, and with the help of the other Meloditties, they manage to arrive in time for their lesson.

Trumpee and Snaree set off to explore the world. They come across a long railway track. The two Meloditties don’t know what it is and think it's an enormous xylophone, but the Xilo brothers are sure they're wrong. After a while, they hear a whistle blow, then there's a rumbling sound, and a train arrives. The Meloditties then do the locomotion, led by Maestro Nomo, with appropriate music playing in the background.

It’s bath day, but Trumpee and Snaree don’t want to know. They run off through the woods, but come across Maestro Nomo, who is swimming around in a big bathtub with a tap flowing, having lots of fun. They end up really enjoying their bath and playing in time to the drips falling from the tap.

While they are playing hide-and-go-seek, Trumpee, Snaree, Pino and the Xilo brothers end up in a cardboard box. It’s very dark inside, and there’s a funny echo. They are scared, but run off to Maestro Nomo’s house, and he reassures them. It’s just the sound waves bouncing around inside the box. The Meloditties go back inside the box and have fun making echoes.

Trumpee, Snaree and Pino find some old sheet music and discover that music can be written down just like words. Grando knows how to read it. the music is an old waltz which Aunt Accordia, the accordeon, used to play to Drumba when she was small. Today, it’s Drumba’s birthday, and the Meloditties decide to invite Aunt Accordia over to give her a nice surprise.

Maestro Nomo leads the Meloditties on a walk through Taratabong. They arrive in a field full of holes. They make up a new game: jumping in and out of the holes as they play music. It’s a tuneful game based on the sounds and silences of all the different instruments.

The four Sax brothers arrive in Taratabong, swimming like ducks on the pond. Their music helps the Meloditties forget all their little worries. They all head over to Maestro Nomo’s music school to watch the saxophone’s acrobatic show.

Trumpee and Snaree meet a young flute called Fluto, who is very shy by nature. Little by little, she starts to play with them and gets to know the rest of the Meloditties. In the end, she's happy to play with everyone and even gives a little solo with lots of trills.

It’s winter and Taratabong is covered in snow, which falls in a magical silence. The Meloditties have a fun throwing snowballs at each other and skating on the frozen pond. Trumpee gets a cold and starts to sneeze with a muted sound. Then Bone catches his cold and starts sounding funny too. The Meloditties then plays a muted piece of music…

Trumpee and Snaree are taking a big soapy bath in the pond. There are lots of bubbles and they play with them. The bubbles pop, making a sweet little sound. Once they are out of the pond, the Meloditties find lots of colorful balloons. They look like the bubbles, but they make a much louder noise when they pop. They start to play with the sound of the bubbles and the balloons bursting.

It’s windy today and the Meloditties are having fun with some leaves when a sudden gust blows off Bone's moustache. Snaree, Trumpee and Pino chase all through Taratabong after the moustache and make a new friend. It's Panee, a little Pan pipe.

While they are playing by the pond, the Meloditties have fun changing their voices, either using water, or pebbles, or bamboo shoots. Their masked voices give everything a carnival atmosphere!

After finding a big leaf which has fallen onto the ground, the little Meloditties have fun sliding around on it as their parents watch over them. A new arrival interrupts their game: It’s Iolin, the violin. He’s a little uppity at first, but he soon ends up playing with the others.

Trumpee and Snaree make a new friend, Trebass, a double bass who is always tired. Maestro Nomo invites him to play with them, but Trebass always ends up dropping off. The Meloditties try to play with him, but they choose a slow piece and it sends him into a snooze. They manage to wake him up with a more boisterous choice!

The Meloditties meet Tarrita, a guitar with a broken string. They all look for something to replace it: a blade of grass, a length of wool, a piece of spider’s web, a rubber band – but it’s no good. Maestro Nomo ends up replacing the broken guitar string with a new one.

The Meloditties meet the Tchikapoom family, a big group of percussion instruments led by the Bon and Go brothers, who are drums. They help Snaree and Drumba enrich their basic 'boom boom chak' rhythm.

The Meloditties are walking around Taratabong when they come across something new: a little theater. At first, they are wary, but they soon start having fun up on stage with their individual sounds. They act out several little scenes: sleeping, laughing, exploring poetry, feeling fear or joy. They end up playing all together.

Grando the grand piano agrees to play horse while the Meloditties all climb onto his back. It’s a very fun game and they keep it going, even though they are playing more and more off-key. Maestro Nomo stops the music and teaches the Meloditties using a 'taking turns' game that they must all listen to each other and give each other room.

The Meloditties meet Robo, a synthesizer, and get to know him. They are amazed by his unbelievable technique. They find out that because he's a computerized machine, he can play faster and louder than they can, and make more sounds. But in the end, the Meloditties have to teach him how to play more calmly.

The Meloditties have a new friend: Barello the barrel organ. While they are playing together, they spot a strange light coming from the top of a hill. They decide to go and find out what it is and discover a silent carousel with no lights on. There’s something missing: they ask the barrel organ to play some appropriate music and all get on the carousel for a ride.

The Meloditties set off for a walk through Taratabong in single file. Trumpee suggests they make the game more fun by jumping. They all jump up and down as Maestro Nomo directs them.

Tarrita the guitar is sad, as she is missing her cousins Jo the banjo, Electra the electric guitar, and Andolino the mandoline. They live in a different part of Taratabong. The Meloditties decide to go there with her. They travel down the river which runs through Taratabong.

The Meloditties family goes on a ‘botanic’ excursion down the path which leads to the top of bell hill. They can see different species of plants: from berry-bells to pumpkin-bells. When they finally reach the top of the hill they find an enormous bell tower with a big bell inside.

Fluto the piccolo and Trebass the bass are playing the same melody together accompanied by Grando. Maestro Nomo arrives followed by Trumpee and Snaree. After having carefully listened to Fluto, Trebass and Grando, Maestro Nomo invites them to play the song in a different way, by exploiting the peculiarities of their own sound and possible extension. Nomo begins to direct them in two different arrangements: When Fluto is the soloist (with the help of Trumpee and Snaree) the song is joyful and delightful, and when the same song is played by Trebass (with Grando) the song is dark and mysterious.

In front of their house, Trumpee and Snaree are getting ready to go to the Mandolins' village. Lolin and Tarrita, the violin and the guitar, join them, and they leave together to go to the camping. Bone and Drumba say goodbye to them and recommend to the quartet to be careful. Reaching the village of mandolins, the Meloditties meet Tarrita's cousins: there is Jo the banjo, and Andolino the mandolin. This is a good opportunity to tell music stories and play together! Snaree brought a telescope with him and explains to the others how to use it to watch the stars. Meanwhile a meteor shower starts and the Meloditties play a tune dedicated to the stars, alternating pizzicato to symbolize the brightness of stars with long notes to symbolize the path of the meteor.

Trumpee, Snaree, Pino and the Xilos are playing tag. The Xilos are playing and flying, one of them perches on what appears to be the edge of a large vase surpassing from a bush. The Meloditties are surprised and intrigued by their own voice echoing in there. We must investigate it ! Trumpee armed with a long leaf tries to tickle the bottom of the mysterious object. Suddenly, the whole bush begins to tremble and shake and we can hear some powerful grunts coming from it. The meloditties are terrified and leave. The large vase is out but it is not a vase: it is actually Grandpa Tuba, the tuba, who was having a nap and finding himself awaken by surprise, he started to roar. The Meloditties fly back to ask for explanations from Bone, who reveals that he is a Grandfather who comes from far away, then Bone takes the small Meloditties to Tuba so they can apologize and learn to know him. In this way, the story presents another member of the brass family, which already had Trumpee and Bone.

Trumpee, Snaree and Pino, interrupt their game, and climb on top of a hill, followed by Maestro Nomo and Bone. Up there, they meet two saxophones from The Sax brothers. They are currently observing a mysterious object. This is a big mirror, consisting of several panels and folded like an accordion. They make many efforts and they manage to set it up and open it. It is so much fun to make faces in the mirror ! Maestro Nomo has an idea: he places the Meloditties in front of the mirrors. Suddenly, the Meloditties are multiplied by their reflections and they now form a big band; they start to play a song (Dixieland?).

It's a beautiful morning in Taratabong. Trumpee, Snaree, Pino and the Xilos are going to the music school. Upon arrival they found the blackboard, but not Maestro Nomo. They start looking for him. He suddenly appears from behind a bush, he walks funny and his eyes squint: what happened ? The Meloditties run to meet him and the group goes back into the school. Now Maestro Nomo begins to lead the meloditties as if nothing had happened, but his rhythm is uneven, creating a music with a syncopated rhythm. Bone, who was in the vicinity, is attracted by the sound of this strange music, which becomes increasingly chaotic and ends in a cacophony. Bone noticed a spring coming out of the back of Maestro Nomo, after a quick thinking, he repairs the Maestro's spring. In a leap and a quiver, Maestro Nomo is back in a normal regular rhythm and the squint disappears...

Trumpee and Snaree, returning from school, find a very busy Drumba, she is doing the housekeeping of their house-case. Snaree also wants the place to be very clean he tries to make it brighter by scrubbing it with his drumsticks. Drumba is expecting guests: her family is coming, the Percussion family. Soon the brothers Tim and Tom will come along with the cousins Plate and Saucer, noisy and mischievous, who amuse themselves by hiding behind the little meloditties and scare them by making noise. After being their victim, Snaree joins them to make jokes until Drumba gets angry. The Meloditties apologize,and then begin a series of solos and dialogues of percussion instruments. Trumpee, Pino and Maestro Nomo arrive and become the victims of Snaree, Plate and Saucer's jokes. Then Maestro Nomo places drums and cymbals to form a battery for the final concert, which is spectacular and well orchestrated accompanied by Trumpee and Pino.

At the edge of Taratabong's pond, Snaree is skimming pebbles. Trumpee arrives, watches Snaree et applauds his best shots. Snaree gets enthusiastic and makes a great shot with many rebounds, but the last bounce makes a strange sound as if the stone hit something. Suddenly a moaning jew's-harp comes out of the water, followed by his brothers. They all live in the pond (like frogs) and they all start to leap and to croak. Snaree is upset about his hurtful shot and apologizes. The jew's-harps reassure him, nobody was injured. The 'frogs' invite the meloditties for a ride on the lake. At the end, Trumpee and Snaree bring the jew's-harps to see Maestro Nomo, who is taking a bath.

Snaree is looking for mama Drumba; he asks Trumpee, who tells him to search in a bush nearby. Snaree goes to the bush but instead of Drumba he finds Tymp, a sad kettledrum who is waiting for his twin brother. Snaree rushes home to seek help. He finds Bone, and together with Trumpee and Tymp they leave to search Tump. Suddenly we hear the voice of Iolin. The group asks him if by chance he saw a kettledrum that looks like Tymp. Iolin replies that he actuallly did. After a brief research, a strange music is heard,it is the sound of a kettledrum mixed with the sound of Drumba. Tymp is excited. It's the voice of Tump, my brother! Finally, Tymp finds Tump and the brothers play together. Like all twins their voice is not the same: two instruments can't have the exact same voice, even if they are twins. For the final concert, we listen to a glissando with the Tympani brothers playing the melody and the trumpet, trombone and violin accompanying.

The bright sun shines in the Taratabong's sky. Trumpee, Snaree and Pino are a bit stunned by the heat. They head to the lake in order to refresh themselves. They are walking near the shore when a big cloud comes and hides the sun, at the same moment; the meloditties see a big golden disc underwater. “Oh oh ! The sun fell in the water!“. Panic! Snaree runs to get mama Drumba, while Trumpee and Pino run to the music school to get Maestro Nomo.

Snaree, Trumpee and Pino are sliding on leaves as big as sleds. After an impressive ride, Snaree sneaks into a heap of snow. He emerges disguised as a 'monster', with the leaf on his head, and a snow mustache. This gives Pino an idea.

Trumpee, Snaree, Pino and the Xilos are playing tag. The Xilos are playing and flying, one of them perches on what appears to be the edge of a large vase surpassing from a bush. The meloditties are surprised and intrigued by their own voice echoing in there. We must investigate it! Trumpee armed with a long leaf tries to tickle the bottom of the mysterious object. Suddenly, the whole bush begins to tremble and shake and we can hear some powerful grunts coming from it. The meloditties are terrified and leave. The large vase is out but it is not a vase: it is actually Grandpa Tuba, the tuba, who was having a nap and finding himself awaken by surprise, he started to roar.

Trumpee, Snaree and Pino, interrupt their game, and climb on top of a hill, followed by Maestro Nomo and Bone. Up there, they meet two saxophones from The Sax brothers. They are currently observing a mysterious object. This is a big mirror, consisting of several panels and folded like an accordion. They make many efforts and they manage to set it up and open it. It is so much fun to make faces in the mirror!

It's a beautiful morning in Taratabong. Trumpee, Snaree, Pino and the Xilos are going to the music school. Upon arrival they found the blackboard, but not Maestro Nomo. They start looking for him. He suddenly appears from behind a bush, he walks funny and his eyes squint: what happened?

Trumpee and Snaree, returning from school, find a very busy Drumba, she is doing the housekeeping of their house-case. Snaree also wants the place to be very clean he tries to make it brighter by scrubbing it with his drumsticks. Drumba is expecting guests: her family is coming, the Percussion family. Soon the brothers Tim and Tom will come along with the cousins Plate and Saucer, noisy and mischievous, who amuse themselves by hiding behind the little meloditties and scare them by making noise. After being their victim, Snaree joins them to make jokes until Drumba gets angry.

It is the middle of the night, the moon is high in the Taratabong's sky. In the house-case, Trumpee and Snaree are asleep, in the same time, Drumba and Bone admire the starry sky. A few clouds pass by the moon and Drumba realizes that every time the moon reappears, we hear the echo of a deep and beautiful melody. On a hill, we can see Boe, an elegant oboe singing for the moon. After a moment, Grando joins him. Drumba decides to wake the children up so they can listen to this fascinating music. Maestro Nomo et Robo arrive, they take the children to the top of the hill, and they all meet the new meloditty.

Trumpee and Snaree are plowing the ground, in order to create a vegetable plot, with a rake that has five points which creates five drills, just like a partition. Trumpee plants seeds in between the furrows. Maestro Nomo and Grando pass near them. Grando is playing a traditional piece and carries a music book with him. Maestro Nomo tells the meloditties that their drills and their seeds look like the written music on Grando's book. Maestro Nomo directs the meloditties following this strange partition, and the music is quite fascinating. Then they head to the music school. Maestro Nomo sees the hills lit by the sunset and has an idea: he draws the hills on the board and ask Trumpee to play: when the line rises, the note get high, when the line is down... This episode tries to clarify the relationship between the sound of music and drawings that represent it.

Bone is trying to explain some musical things to Trumpee (musical dialogue). Snaree arrives, with a new meloditty. Snaree looks annoyed, Clary, the clarinet is a real chatterbox, he never listens to anyone. Even Bone who is an adult finds it difficult to play with Clary, and decides to go ask for help to Maestro Nomo.

It is the sunset in Taratabong. Trumpee, Snaree and Pino are still playing, running after each other. Pino has gone a little too far and the light becoming weaker, he gets lost. The others call him but receive no response, so they go get Bone and Grando. Pino approaches a plant behind which he sees a silhouette that looks like his dad Grando, relieved, he jumps 'into his arms' (on him) but when he hears the piano's voice, he realizes that this is not his dad. Instant of panic. The unknown piano is in fact Professor Harpsy, an old harpsichord, an expert in ancient music. At this moment, Trumpee, Snaree and Grando arrive,they do a final concert consisting of music and dances from the Renaissance.

Trumpee, Snaree and the Xilos are having fun throwing a feather in the air. Snaree is a bit jealous of the Xilos who are the best at this game, throwing the feather so high no one can catch it. Suddenly Snaree has an idea: he climbs on a little hill and after a small roll, he opens his drumsticks, waves them like wings and throw himself into the void. The other meloditties observe him amazed. The narrator tries to stop him.

Trumpee and Snaree are playing basketball in front of their house. They are having a lot fun and play the music of the ball. Drumba and Bone call them:they must come inside and clean their mess! Meanwhile, the ball rolls down a hill, bounces off a wall and gets stuck in a nice French horn. This meloditty is Frenchy, who was trying to call Tweedy, his friend the english horn by playing sad music punctuated by long cries. Trumpee and Snaree arrive and help Frenchy, then invite him to play volleyball, Trumpee and Frenchy on this side of the wall and Snaree on the other side, alone, Snaree runs from right to left and finds himself in trouble. You cannot play volleyball with only three players, they lack a player to continue the game. So Frenchy, with the help of Snaree and Trumpee calls his friend Tweedy again, who finally arrives.

Trumpee and Snaree are playing hide-and-seek between the plants. Snaree falls and accidentally pierces a leaf with one of his drumsticks, this incident reminds them that it's time to go to school. They arrive near the school where Maestro Nomo is very busy: he is currently preparing for the party that will be held tonight. No meloditty will want to play because they will all want to dance. Maestro Nomo has large rolls of color cards in front of him, he is putting them in order. At this moment, an unpleasant pianola arrives, looking stiff and creaky, with a snobbish expression. Maestro Nomo goes to see the pianola, puts a card into it . The keyboard starts to squeak horribly when he tries to play a soft music. Maestro Nomo puts oil on the cylinder that grinds. The pianola stops creaking and finally smiles. Snaree, to make a joke, creates some more holes on the red card...

Bone takes Trumpee ans Snaree, both very excited, to the valley of the rubbery pumpkins, where the Tympani twins live. Maestro Nomo told them that Tymp and Tump invented a very funny game that consists of jumping very high and bouncing on the pumpkins so that they can fly and never touch the ground or hurt themselves. They arrive on the valley where these strange pumpkins grow; on the pumpkins the twins tied a protective barrier.

It's autumn, the leaves are falling down quietly, Trumpee and Snaree are bored. School has not started yet and they cannot wait to learn new things. Electra arrives, she is the electric guitar, and she is running to the airport to pick up her cousin Paco, the electric bass, who will arrive soon. We hear a plane flying in the sky, the meloditties notice the Doppler effect, and start running to the airport. When the plane land, they meet the nice meloditty and his irresistible funky music. Pino arrives too. The music starts again, and makes the stones dance! Wait! How is that possible? Well there is a Xilo beyond every stone, that's why! The music starts again: Now it is impossible to get bored!

Near the school, Bone, Trumpee and Snaree play a soft music together. We hear some nervous piano arrangements coming from the school: Maestro Nomo and Grando are agitated, they cannot remember a song that they love (Grando remembers the beginning but not the entire song). Maestro Nomo wrote it down but he lost the sheet. Searching for the sheet, Bone finds an old picture where we can see Bone, Grando and Nomo, young and standing under the school tree which was a shrub then. In the picture, we can see a strange character standing near the board, an old tape recorder. Maestro Nomo suggests that they go visit this old friend Taperee, who lives in a cave full of archives. Taperee is funny and has an incredible memory. He likes to play a game called 'parrot', when someone talks to him he repeats what the person said and starts laughing.

Pino is playing a beautiful ballet music and is dancing to it with Grando. Snaree wants to do like him and awkwardly tries to dance on his “tiptoe”. Then Pino does a triple spin. Snaree enthusiastic, tries to imitate him without success. Pino teaches him the technique to do it in the right way, and after a good practice, Snaree succeeds to do a nice spin. Snaree is very happy and starts playing hip-hop music and dances to it, this music is more suited to him, he teaches Pino how to dance on this music. Pino and Grando accompany him in the singing and dancing . Then Trumpee arrives and reminds them that it is time to go to school. Around the school's tree, The Xilos are playing with Trumpee, luckily the lesson has not started yet. In front of the blackboard, Maestro Nomo is writing a music full of notes. Snaree, Pino and Grando arrive. Maestro Nomo asks Grando to play the complicated music, what he does successfully with a great end. He shows that he can play with virtuosity.

In a glade, Trumpee, Snaree, Pino et Iolin are playing red light/green light. Trumpee counts and leans on a big rock while the others are walking. Snaree stumbles and loses , it is his turn to count! In the end, Iolin wins the game and remembers that he has an appointment at a small theater. The meloditties decide to go with him,and start playing the music of the march. On their way, they meet Maestro Nomo: he is the one who has an appointment with Iolin. They arrive at the small theater where there is a desk in the middle of the stage.