Come again? And again. And again. Thanks to Bill Murray's 1993 movie, it seems to never end; groundhogs just keep popping up. There's Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania, Buckeye Chuck the woodchuck in Ohio, and Flatiron Freddy the marmot right here in Boulder. People have been using hibernating animals to predict spring for centuries, going back to the 1500s in Germany where the bear was the forecaster. That history is believed to be why the song says "the bear went over the mountain, to see what he could see."
You might be surprised to hear that Beethoven was also a song writer, and that one of his little songs was about a groundhog. Really! It's the first exercise in this month's sightreading handout* and it's easy to play in several positions from first to ninth. The other two exercises are major and minor variations by Sor on a theme that blends quite well with Beethoven's song (play all three as a Groundhog Medley). That theme originally had nothing to do with groundhogs, but it's been reused in another song that relates to predicting spring. If you don't get the association, play the music then read the back page for an explanation. There's more to Groundhog Day than just groundhogs!