Julie Andrews on how her new book explores the origins of The Sound of Music classic 'Do, Re, Mi'
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Though one of The Sound of Music's most iconic songs, Julie Andrews didn't know the true origins of "Do, Re, Mi" when she sang it to the Von Trapp clan all those years ago.
In fact, it wasn't until her grandchild was taking music lessons almost 15 years ago that she and her daughter, author Emma Walton Hamilton, discovered that the musical scale behind the famous song was created nearly a thousand years ago by a monk named Guido d'Arezzo. Once they found out, Hamilton recalls, "We just were fascinated and we held onto the idea."
"It truly was a gift that landed on our laps in a way." adds Andrews.
After much research over the years, they turned that story into the basis for their new children's book, The First Notes: The Story of Do, Re, Mi (out November 1). The book explores how the music-loving monk came up with the scale that's been used to write and teach music ever since. With illustrations by Chiara Fedele based on the actual abbey where Guido lived, the picture book explores how his love of religious hymnals led him to to teach them to others in a way that was easily replicable, as well as how he ended up teaching at the Vatican after catching the attention of the Pope.
Robin Marchant/Getty Images; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Andrews isn't even sure if Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the famed creators of Sound of Music, knew the story when composing the song. "Did they know the story or did they, just knowing that's what it was called, create a song for it? We are not sure. We'll never know." After all, many of her colleagues in the musical theater world had no idea either. She's hoping that changes with the publication of the book.
Andrews, who currently provides the voice of Lady Whistledown on the Netflix smash Bridgerton, was as charming as one would hope on a late September Zoom, even after my daughter crashed the interview sporting a pair of devil horns. The world's most famous cinematic nanny appeared delighted by the intrusion and inquired if this was a part of my child's Halloween costume (it was). She proceeded to ask my daughter all sorts of questions about school and what she liked to read before she scampered off and the interview resumed.
It's that kind of honest interest in children and how they learn about the world around them that permeates both The First Notes and the dozens of other books the mother and daughter pair have written together, including their bestselling Very Fairy Princess and Dumpy the Dumptruck series.
When asked whether the pair had considered writing a Sound of Music-centered book prior to this, Andrews admits, "We did actually think at one point of publishing one of the songs as a picture book, but again, it had already been done several times." She adds, "When Guido's story began to reveal itself to us then we got very interested because there was a real story to sink our teeth into."
Both Andrews and her daughter hope the new book is used as a teaching tool in schools. "Those brains are so fertile," she says. "And you see that's one of the reasons why we love writing about music and the arts because the more we can advocate for families to continue to really keep it front and center in kids' lives, the more enriched those young people's lives will be."
As someone who taught the world how to sing with "Do, Re, Mi," she should know.
