Don Music



Don Music is an agonized composer who made recurring appearances on Sesame Street, starting in Season 6 (1974).

A typical sketch involved Kermit visiting Don in his studio while he tried to write a new song. To help alleviate Don's frustrations and stop him from banging his head against his piano, Kermit would make suggestions and correct Don's mistakes. The usual result was that Don would write a strange version of a nursery rhyme, such as "Mary Had a Bicycle" instead of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." When he finished, he would perform the song, and would normally be joined by back-up singers (sometimes Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats), who would appear seemingly from out of nowhere, or come through the door to the room.

Don always kept a picture of Sesame Street songwriter and composer Joe Raposo on the wall, while on his piano he often kept a bust of either Ludwig van Beethoven or William Shakespeare.

He stopped appearing in new material after his performer, Richard Hunt, died in 1992, but his segments continued to air as part of new episodes until the end of Season 29 in 1998. According to Sesame Street Unpaved, which was published in 1998, "The character, played by Richard Hunt, was abandoned because of complaints about his alarming tendencies toward self-inflicted punishment. Apparently, kids were imitating his head-banging at home."

Filmography

 * Let's Learn to Play Together (1988)
 * Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting (1989)

Book Appearances

 * I'm My Mommy - I'm My Daddy (1975)
 * Who's Who on Sesame Street (1977)
 * The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
 * Fix It, Please (1989 reissue)