The CANON is comprised of only a single melody. However, at least two players are necessary, in order that a canon can sound in its typical manner, namely as a kind of "ordered confusion". This comes to be when, after the first player, a second player, starting a bit later, plays the exact same melody. Both players repeat their melodies constantly, since when the first player arrives at the end of the melody, the second of course hasn't finished yet. So the two players play their canon carousel until they have found a point of stopping together which sounds good to them.
This is very exciting, is lots of fun and sounds very lively. The condition of course, is that each plays remains true to his melody and doesn't get side-tracked by the other player and change to the second melody, which of course is the same melody, just temporally juxtaposed. That means that each time the melody must be played without a mistake and without hesitation, otherwise the "confusion" doesn't sound good and becomes complete chaos. Melody and entrances are namely carefully ordered, such that the "confusion", when played properly, is a good sounding togetherness.
Whoever starts to learn the VIOLIN, VIOLA, VIOLONCELLO or FLUTE, can with these MINI-CANONS, from the very beginning experience this fun in playing the poppy canon melodies - ideally at first with the teacher, then together with pupils of his or her instrumental class and finally in larger music-making groups.
Whoever is a little farther in the development of learning his or her instrument will want to immediately begin with the two-voiced canons. These can, just like the three and four-voiced canons, later be played together with other of the four instruments. With the three and four-voiced canons, the canon carousel can finally be made to turn in larger groups and in a great variety of ways. How this works is described in the chapter Individual and Universal-Versions, where in the following also an overview of the contents in the companion volume CANON CAROUSEL can be found.
