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Unexpected Inspirations

2/23/2024

As I was driving yesterday, I turned on the local classical music radio station. A lively march was playing. I listened thinking this is just the right rhythm and "feel" that I would like for the Overture of my new show. The announcer said it was George Bizet's "Petite Suite" which was a grouping of several of his piano solos for children arranged for orchestra.

That immediately got me thinking about just how to open the show. I have two plastic prop trumpets. I can have two Heralds playing the trumpets who can then open the show, welcome the audience, and get things rolling.

Later as I was walking out of the Rec. Center, I ran into a neighborhood friend. He is a professor who knows a lot about the Renaissance. His specialty might be in Medieval and Renaissance literature. So I stopped him and asked his advice on a few of my show ideas. He heard that I usually had 20 little girls in my show and said that it made him think of a play that was written during the 14th century that featured 20 nuns playing all of the parts. He suggested an idea for gifts that the little princesses could bring to the royal birthday party. (That was just where I was stuck!) He said that these nuns went to a party bringing gifts that symbolized Virtues. What a great idea!

When I got home, I started researching Virtues and listening to Bizet's "Petite Suite."

Doves are seen as a symbol of Hope and new beginnings.

I learned a lot about things that symbolize virtues, and decided that I needed to find the simplest representations of virtues using physical objects that children might understand. So I came up with this list: 1. Generosity - Elephant, 2. Gratitude - Flowers, 3. Wisdom - Books, 4. Love - Swans, 5. Trust - Key, 6. Cheerfulness - Bluebird, 7. Hope - Butterfly, 8. Loyalty - Dog, 9. Truthfulness - Eagle, and 10. Friendliness - Bracelet. This is just the first draft of the list. There are a lot of choices.

Recap: So, yesterday I was able to write a couple of new scenes for "The Frog Prince" and get started on the Herald's Trumpet March, decide from the many possible virtues which to use, and research what objects best represent those virtues.

All in all, a very productive day.

Here is a preview of the first actual song in the show - "On a Once Upon a Time" sung by the Ladies and the Lords. This is just the ending part.

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Cardboard Castle and a Cute Princess

2/19/2024

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Cardboard is actually an amazing medium for building scenery. Oh how I wish I could find some cardboard tubes (for free, of course) so I could make some turret towers for the castle set I intend to build for my Summer Camp show "The Frog Prince."

What a fun idea some enterprising teachers came up with. At daycare, the teachers set up cardboard boxes, cut to look like castles, and let the children color on them. Kids have such amazing imaginations that I'm sure their artwork suggested a real castle to them.
My little granddaughter was actually in a different class and did not get to decorate the "castle," but she did get a photo op.

For me, I have to get a lot of the parameters of a show set before I can actually write the dialogue and the songs. Oh sure, a lot of the ideas sort of bloom at the same time --- the set, the costumes, how many characters and their names, the music, the dancing, and so forth.

For example, I was trying to write the Opener for the show a few days ago, and got through 2 verses and a contrasting section, I even figured out the ending, but got stuck at the 3rd verse. The reason was partly because I hadn't really settled on just who would be singing the song. The purpose of the song I think I have worked out. It needs to set up the action for the first scene, but it also has to tell some of the backstory of why and how the Prince was turned into a Frog.

Guess I should go back to researching. Maybe I'll get some more inspiration.

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On Being a History Buff

2/15/2024

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Those days in 2nd year Music theory class when we were tasked with transcribing ancient musical script were really difficult. Not only was it hard to remember what the modern equivalents were of those "longas and semibreves," it was equally difficult to decipher the ancient handwriting. However, for the sake of learning and because I was so interested in history, I persevered.

But what I really loved was hearing the stories of the great composers who luckily we have examples of their music. We even have some examples of the instruments they wrote for and understand some of the singing styles they employed. Fortunately we also have some paintings and architecture from their age that give a representation of the world they lived in.

I love doing research into the historical styles from the time of a story that help me create the setting to write a new musical. I like to help my actors understand about the world their characters lived in, even if I do have to add in modern elements to make the musical palatable to modern players and audiences.

I have researched and watched performances of several productions of "The Frog Prince." The most famous is of course Disney's "The Princess and the Frog." (That movie had a completely different take on the story than the original.) But then there are quite a few original stage productions featuring actors that are teenaged and older. I was looking specifically for productions for young child actors 5-12 years old. There were none to be found.

What I did find were many plays where the music was quite 20th century pop with no nods to the Renaissance --- except in the costumes and set pieces.

"The Frog Prince" story was collected and published in the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales in 1812. Those stories were told and retold for generations previously. Most believe they originated in France and northern Germany from the Renaissance (1300-1700) period on.

For educational purposes, I would like to write my take on this story to include many elements from the Renaissance --- including in the music. I want to have the accompaniments be heavily influenced and performed by lute and recorder. I would like the dancing be reminiscent of the the courtly dancing of the period. However, I will allow that the melodies must be simple and singable for the children's abilities and the tastes of modern audiences.

The advantage for me in this day and age is that most audiences won't know much about history and won't mind if some things I include aren't exactly period appropriate.

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Writing a Princess Show

2/10/2024

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Every year I am asked by the little girls in my Summer Theater Camps, "When are we going to do a Princess show?"

Well, there are some built-in problems with doing a Princess show. At least, Princess stories that are already popular.

The number one problem is that they are love stories. Doing anything that even remotely resembles a love story is a bad idea for 5-12 year olds!

The number two problem is that if the play is advertised as a Princess story, very few boys will sign up to be part of it.

The number three problem is that most of the popular Princess stories have very few characters ---AND USUALLY ONLY ONE PART FOR ONE GIRL TO BE THE PRINCESS.

In my summer camps, I have to find a vehicle that has good parts for at least 20 "princesses" and great (preferably action-hero-type) parts for at least 10 boys.

But this year may be the year. I think I have stumbled upon an idea that can accommodate my 20+ girls who would ALL like to be princesses, has no love story, and has some action stuff to recruit the boys. Of course, this show is not written yet, so I don't want to advertise too much about it.

Budget is also one of the big problems. I may be able to save money in one way, though. Most of the 5-8 year old girls I know already have Princess costumes. My first thought is to have a birthday party for the main Princess where she invites other little princesses or daughters of the neighboring Nobility. Then the older girls can be grand Ladies. There. They all can dress in "princess" dresses. If most of the girls already have dresses, that could really help the budget.

I'm still just starting to outline the action and scenes and sort out ideas to write the songs and dialogue. It's too soon to know what direction these early ideas will go. But I'm committed now because my little granddaughter is expecting her princess musical!

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Mini Musicals with a Moral

2/6/2024

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One of the ELA (English Language Arts) objectives for 1st-3rd grades is to retell a story or fable with a moral. What better way to meet this objective than to present a class play?

In the Mini-Musical "The Tale of the Musicians of Bremen," the moral has to do with Age and Change. Children may not recognize how difficult it is for people to grow old and feel useless. Older people often stubbornly resist change. The old farmer and his wife in the story have to face Age and Change in themselves and for their animals. This story shows the animals taking a proactive step to avoid their certain fate (death). The animals are likable and do silly things, but also allow for a discussion about important life lessons, particularly Age and Change.

In the story of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse they each discover that both of their homes have pros and cons. The Country Mouse visits the city with her cousin and is terrified at the noise and hustle-bustle, and all of the hidden dangers there. She decides that the "cons" far outweigh the "pros" to life in the city. She races home to the Country where she already knows what to expect. For the class, "The Tale of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse" musical begins a discussion about Comparisons such as Likes and Dislikes. Through explorations in acting and singing, the students can draw examples from the story and their own experiences to become better at determining their own preferences.

And if the songs reinforce the concepts of the moral plus other Language Arts ideas, that is all for the better. For example, the opening song in "The Tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff," contains an idiom that is introduced along with many other puzzlements, "Why is Grass Always Greener on the Other Side?"

This song is a good jumping off point for a discussion about asking questions to get information using the words "who, what, where, when and why."

Retelling a story or fable with a moral is what these Mini-Musicals are all about. According to the advice of my teacher friends, I have included ideas and worksheets to help meet some of the Common Core Objectives for ELA. The best accolade I ever got from mounting one of these shows came from two little boys. The confided to their dad that they did not know why I kept telling them how proud I was of their hard work. They did not feel like it was work at all. They were having so much fun!

Who says learning can't be fun?

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Making Interesting Musical Props

2/1/2024

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No Musical set in Ancient Greece could be complete without some authentic Greek instruments -- authentic looking at least. In my enthusiasm to help the cast immerse themselves into the ancient Grecian world, I spent a good month creating some Pipes of Pan, a Cheyl's Lyre, a Pandouris, and some Tympanum. These were fascinating to learn about and wonder how they would actually sound.

From what I can imagine, they would not sound musical to our modern ears. However, I have great respect for the idea of using these unusual instruments as unique features for my upcoming production of "Never Cry Wolf." In Scene 5, the artisan character Altair the Magnificent, brings his Muses and Musicians to help him get in the mood for painting a set of Commemoration Amphora (the Greek vases famous for capturing scenes of Greek life from the ancient times.)

The production number "Set It for Posterity" allows the Muses adjust the poses of the Politicians to help them look heroic for their portraits on the vases. The Musicians, of course, play their "authentic" replica instruments during this wild and wonderful romp complete with demonstrations of 1960's dance crazes and a rock 'n roll guitar solo. Yes, the instruments are key to this number!

The Pan Pipes are a blowing instrument. The Pan Pipes were tubes of varying lengths blown somewhat like we would blow a harmonica today. In fact, they are considered the first mouth-organ.

The Tympanun are simply variations of hand drums. I decided that Quaker Oats containers were the perfect size and shape. I painted them and added "skins" out of fake leather held on with glue and rubber bands. Seems to work out well. Sturdy enough for four performances, anyway.

The Pandouris is a type of lute with just 3 strings. I had my husband cut the shape of the sounding box and the neck out of an old length of a light-weight wooden shelf. I added sculpted insulation foam glued onto the board to create the shape of the sounding box. We added nylon fishing line strings using small dowels mounted to the board. We wanted her to be able to move around and pretend to play like a Rock Star, so we gave the pandouris a shoulder strap made from a macrame purse strap. She really got into the groove and rocked it, baby!

The Cheyl's Lyre is more interesting because it needed to look like it was made from a turtle shell and ibex horns. We took apart an old wooden crutch to imitate the shape of the ibex horns. The long screws and predrilled holes simplified the work to just cutting down the boards to the lengths we needed. We added sculpted insulation foam to create the "turtle body" sounding box and added strings. After painting, it looks amazingly good as an ancient lyre.

Being a musician, I wanted this Musical to incorporate the musical flavor of Ancient Greece as much as possible. It was fun researching before writing the music and as well the script, and it has been fun now creating the musical props.

I am glad they will not sound, though. We don't want them interfering with the soundtrack now, do we!

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Unexpected Inspirations

Cardboard Castle and a Cute Princess

On Being a History Buff

Writing a Princess Show

Mini Musicals with a Moral

Making Interesting Musical Props

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