Song of the Pobblebonks SATB

Voicing: SATB divisi, a cappella

Item: 2025.04

ISMN: 9790900969989

Duration: 2:40 min

PDF file: 8 pages to print at size A4, includes front cover, information about the work and composer, music pages, back cover

Composer’s note

This choral work by Kirsten Duncan is a quirky, upbeat original piece about the bonking song and lifecycle of Australian Pobblebonk frogs.

I was reading ‘The Thinning’, an eco thriller novel (2024) by Canberra author Inga Simpson, in which the characters hear pobblebonks by a river. In that instant, I needed to know what pobblebonks are and what sound they make, and as soon as I learned that, I jotted down lyrics for this song. Pobblebonks are Australian frogs (Limnodynastes dumerilii) known for their distinctive call reminiscent of a plucked banjo string. Well adapted to our climate, they survive dry periods by burrowing backwards underground until rain rouses them for their musical mating chorus.

Stylistically, this original work for unaccompanied mixed voices (SATB divisi) has a “wacky carnival vibe, like there’s an organ grinder with a circus of dancing frogs who can’t decide whether to waltz or quickstep!”* It draws inspiration from Joseph Twist’s ‘Magpie’ from ‘Timeless Land: An Australian Song Cycle’ (2021) and The Cat Empire’s ‘Wine Song’, with an off-kilter, percussive refrain and chromatic twists. The 8/8 meter should have a strong 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2 feel throughout. Liberally sprinkled with tongue-twisting alliteration, the text tells the story of the frogs’ lifecycle, interspersed with increasingly frenzied ‘bok bok’ choruses. This up-tempo, quirky ‘banjo bonking song’ would provide energetic light relief in any animal/nature/water/spring-themed or family concert program.

* Quote from a singer

I dedicate this choral work to the Ginninderra Catchment Group for their FrogWatch program, just one of hundreds of organisations in which ordinary Australians generously volunteer to care and advocate for our natural environment.