Below: AT the brass section (tried out trumpet and trombone).
[Actually ds1 had already tried them in Spore, cos dh borrowed some unused instruments home from CCAB, so when he could blow out the notes on his first try (and held them like a pro), the booth pple were suitably impressed and kept praising him. :-)]
The French horn was something ds1 had not tried at all, but there was a queue for it, so we skipped that.
Now for a report/ review of the concert...
Duration: 1 hour. Venue: Maurice Abravanel Hall (home to Utah Symphony)
Repertoire/Programme:
Basically the orchestra played continuously throughout the whole hour, only stopping for a few seconds sometimes for the actors to make a point.
Includes excerpts from:
Cardy: "Rhythm in Your Rubbish" Suite
Copland: Buckaroo Holiday
Fucik: Entrance of the Gladiators
Strauss: Vienna Blood
Anderson: Sandpaper Ballet
Duschenes: Bottle Music
Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours
Freedman: Samba 2 from "Oiseaux Exotiques"
Brahms: Lullaby
Prokofiev: "Romeo and Juliet" Suite
Wagner: Turkey in the straw
Tchaikovsky: "Swan Lake" Suite
Actors: From the Platypus Theatre. Just 1 male and 1 female, but they are really good. Very theatrical and comical, able to capture the kids' attention very well and their exagerrated expressions and actions made the kids laugh many times.
They have actually collaborated with the Malaysian Phil and HK Phil too... Performing other works for young kids. Like "How the Gimquat found her song".
Basic Story: They act as homeless vagrants who stay at the rubbish dump and are trying to sleep. They were fighting over a piece of foam to be their pillow, when they accidentally discovered that by beating a stick on a discarded pan lid, they could make music. After that, they realised many of the items at the rubbish dump could make wonderful music too.
Some examples:-- a saw that can play duets with a cello, bottles (blowing across the mouth) that play with the flutes, a scrap of brightly colored material that conjures up an evening in Vienna -- the tramps are launched into a fantasy world where music and beauty can be found in all that surrounds them.
An exploration of creativity, this symphony program looks at the source of music and all things beautiful, involving the audience in the creation of symphonic music and encouraging us to explore our own creativity and perceptions of beauty.
The orchestra provided very apt accompaniment. Stimes the actors danced or acted at the side while the musicians played. Stimes the actors played together with the orch, and stimes the actors created an intro using the trash items and the orch continued on with the same rhythm or motif.
They were good with timing. Everytime there was a piece of music that went on for as much as the kids can take it, to the point where you start to hear them get restless and fidgeting (losing their attention), the songs will either quicken in pace or something new will happen to recapture the kids' attention. I was very happy with that cos I could totally relax and not worry if both ds will start to make noise and disturb others (older kids and adults).
Some egs include, use of lighting (change in colours and flickering ones), creating stars in the sky that moved (using the sphere that can rotate and reflect the light, dunno what you call that, with many-faceted mirrors?), or changing the scene they were acting.
They even performed some "black theatre" towards the end, creatively using the trash scraps, turning on UV light? and using the lighted items to make various animals, and actions to entertain the kids. They matched the music at the same time.
Ok, which trash item did ds1 like best? He loved the saw. They used some wood and finally a bow, to play against the edge of a metal "saw", and they managed to create both vibrato and glissando effects by bending the saw at appropriate times, and bowing simultaneously.
I liked the bottles. They took the kids through the whole discovery process. The female actor accidentally blew across a bottle while trying to drink from it. She felt it was disgusting to the taste and poured all the liquid out, then blew across again. Then she realised the pitch of the sound was different. So she and the guy tried out different bottles. Each time they produced a new sounds, both acted very excited and ecstatic, delighting the kids to no end. Then they began playing a melody together, which the orchestra took up and continued later.
There were the drumming, using buckets, pots pans... Spoons clapping together and scraping off pipes (sounds nice, like cabasa)... tinkling against porcelain/ china bowls... shaking a container of beans (maracas)... stomping on the ground..
There was interactive clapping with the audience, divided into half. And another segment where kids were brought on stage and divided into 2 teams, one following the lady and the other the guy. Then they had a battle to see who'd produce the best music. Each child was given a trash item to play with and a rhythm to follow. :-) Fun.
An impt thing I must say: there was no talking at all. All the acting was a mime, silent... So it is solely the music that the kids hear. The acting, rather than distracting, allows the kids to focus on the music.
Great! I think it is even better than the prev family concert. I will definitely look out for more.
Following pics are taken after the concert, inside and just outside the concert hall. Just to show you the 3 males' new haircuts... and after so long, an update on myself (a little more close up than the skiing pic now).
And oh, I must mention this too! Parking was free, so good... We thought attending concerts in Spore are quite cheap already, Esplanade parking and all incl, cos when we were at Sydney Opera House, the concert tix were expensive and the parking was A$19 per entry. We were so shocked, cos it was at night... But this is even better, cheaper tix and free parking.
