I Am Already Big

At the beginning of his path as a composer, in 1950s and 1960s, Pärt wrote many children’s songs, piano pieces, and music for plays and animated films. During those years he was involved with several children’s studios and theatres, being the piano accompanist and musical designer. Most of his music for children came about by way of direct improvisation at rehearsals and were only later given their more polished forms. Therefore, they possess the spontaneous, playful spirit amid which they were born.

I Am Already Big is probably the most well-known among Pärt’s children’s songs. Even many adults of today certainly remember from their own childhoods it’s opening words „I’m off to kindergarten – not a baby in a crib!“ The song was written for the youngest section of the…

At the beginning of his path as a composer, in 1950s and 1960s, Pärt wrote many children’s songs, piano pieces, and music for plays and animated films. During those years he was involved with several children’s studios and theatres, being the piano accompanist and musical designer. Most of his music for children came about by way of direct improvisation at rehearsals and were only later given their more polished forms. Therefore, they possess the spontaneous, playful spirit amid which they were born.

I Am Already Big is probably the most well-known among Pärt’s children’s songs. Even many adults of today certainly remember from their own childhoods it’s opening words „I’m off to kindergarten – not a baby in a crib!“ The song was written for the youngest section of the Estonian Radio children’s ensemble at the request of Kiira Kahn, then editor of children’s programmes at Estonian Radio. As Kahn recalls, the song was written completely spontaneously and using lines from a poem found by chance before a practice.

I Am Already Big belongs to his 1960 cycle Tykes’ Songs, later titled Five Children’s Songs, as well as to the 2015 collection Songs from Childhood. Both are dedicated to Pärt’s mother.