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Primitive or Genius

8/31/2021

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Over the years I have been quite aware that I haven't been as diligent in my study of Music Theory as I ought.  Sure, I passed all of my classes in College, but I confess that my ear is faster than my brain.  Where I have learned to  write melodies and accompaniments that may use advanced devices, I have not had the patience to analyze these processes according to the formal language of Music Theory.  For me, the music just has to sound right.  I have been gratified however when I get flattering feedback that my music has genius.  The approach may be a bit primitive, but the outcome sounds like I know what I'm doing.  Hmm....that's a point to ponder.
Those of you who have studied the works of the Great Masters, do you also remember learning that they just wrote what they liked and many regularly broke the rules as they went along? 

What a comforting notion.  They wrote what they liked according to their understanding and sensibilities.  Or in other words, they created music that sounded good to their ears regardless of what the academics said was correct.
​
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Plenty of the great Masters surely had a wonderful command of the language of Music Theory.  Still, some of the best music that has been passed down to us comes through musicians who couldn't personally even write it down.  After all, music is a heavenly gift.  Musicians have always made music throughout our long history.  Music Theory developed along the way as a system to help musicians notate their music and let them communicate their ideas to others as well as preserve it for future generations.  Music Theory is a language.  It is not the music.

This holds true in the world of Musical Theater, too.  Styles and fashions come and go.  Composers are always looking for inspiration and who knows where that inspiration will take them.  ​
Take the music of Alan Menken for example.  In writing "Pocohantas," he clearly used influences from Native American instruments, motifs and tonalities.  For "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid," "Tangled," and others, he followed traditional American Musical Theater song forms such as the production number, soliloquy, love duet, novelty song, reprise, and finale to support plot development and resolution.  For "Hercules," he used styles of American pop songs through the decades such as Gospel and 1960's rock and roll.  That's just one prolific composer.  There are so many other examples.
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In writing my Children's Musicals, I have tried to hunt for musical inspiration that would best fit the stories.  In "Stone Soup" I wanted music that sounded like the 1800's American Westward movement.  Both "Momotaro" and "A Successor to the Throne" needed music using Oriental pentatonic tonality.  For "Parizade's Quest," it had to have music that evoked ancient Persia. For "The Tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff" I borrowed melodic motifs from Edvard Grieg.  I researched Old English Pantomime circa 1600 and typical styles of Renaissance music especially Nursery Rhymes for "The Adventures of Dick Whittington."  And, I took a page out of Alan Menken's playbook for "Never Cry Wolf" by using some pop music of the decades for inspiration even though the story is set in ancient Greece.

Don't think I ever once worried about Music Theory when writing these songs.  My training and study shows, I suppose, but the music just had to sound right.  Guess I am more primitive than genius level. ​
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Popular Folk Tale from a Distant Land

8/27/2021

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While my daughter and her family were visiting me this week, we exchanged a lot of ideas.  They are very good at finding unusual (at least to Grandma) books and videos.  I happened to be talking about one of my shows they might produce as a summer camp next year, and they said how similar that story is to a story that was referenced in a Japanese video they watched.  I had said the musical was based on a famous Japanese folktale that is known in Japan as "Momotaro, the Peach Pit Boy."  All their ears perked up and they said, "That's in 'My Neighbors, the Yamadas!'"
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So, we had go directly to spend the afternoon watching some of the episodes.  The animation is quite unique.  It is beautifully simple art, quite impressionistic, almost like a comic strip.  Cute stories and interesting music.  The reference to Momotaro, though, was very brief.  It was in an episode explaining how the couple got their two children.  It was not the full story of "Momotaro."

When my youngest son was in Kindergarten, he brought home a book from the school library.  It was the retelling of a Japanese folktale about a hero.  When we read it that night, I was surprised that my little 5-year-old wiggle-wart listened with great interest to the entire book that had very few pictures.  Then it occurred to me that this story would make a great Children's Theater piece.
At the time I was preparing to direct a Summer Theater Camp for the 5-8 year old group.  I was having a hard time finding a musical that seemed right for our little group.  We had a bunch of boys (very unusual for Children's Theater) ages 5-8 and even more girls, most of them very young.  I needed a musical theater piece that would keep the attention of the boys and still have something lyrical and beautiful for the girls to love.  ​
The story of Momotaro was perfect.  It had a lot of mythical creatures in it as well as the central character that becomes a hero.  I introduced it to the children as a SUPERHERO story, kind of like Jackie Chan and Tom Thumb rolled into one. 

​Tom Thumb because the parents got him in a very unusual way.  And Jackie Chan because he defended his village against the evil demons by using Martial Arts.


Jackie Chan was a popular movie actor at the time who was known for his impossible martial arts stunts.

That was all it took to hook the boys.  They got on board right away.
PictureMomotaro with his animal friends as they go on their Quest to fight the Oni Monsters.
The boys loved doing the Martial Arts moves and the girls enjoyed the dances with ribbon wands and the fabric river.  They all liked the fantasy feel of this interesting story.  I am always amazed at how well this little show is accepted by the audiences.

Enjoy "Momotaro, a Tale of  Bravery."

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The Sweetest Things

8/21/2021

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The sweetest thing happened yesterday.  Little 4-year-old Avery, who was not actually in our little play, sang and danced the Chicken Family's song for me.  She knew the actions and the dance moves, and stayed pretty close to all of the words and the tune.  Her impromptu performance tickled my Grandma heart.

​She had been to Camp because her mother was helping me, but she never really did any actual rehearsing.  But after we dressed her in a cute little yellow costume with feathers around the hemline we couldn't keep her off the stage!  She ended up following the little chicks around for the entire performance.  Thank goodness her big sister (also a Chick) kept track of her and made sure she stayed in the right areas at least.

Our play, "The Tale of Chicken Licken" turned out so well.  I have actually been getting some sweet Thank You notes from some of the cast members.  They said how much fun they had during Camp and how much they miss coming.  One girl even sent me a drawing she made of all of the cast members.  It is so good I have it stuck up on my refrigerator.
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We like to have extra activities during Camp for variety and provide time for the director to work with small groups.  My daughter made sure the children had cute coloring pages and drawing activities.  One of the older boys helped supervise the coloring group.  It turns out that he was quite an artist.  The project was to learn how to draw a fox, a chicken, a duck, a goose and a turkey.  These are characters in our play.  His demonstration drawing is also on my fridge.  So glad the older kids were willing to help with the younger kids.  What a terrific group of young thespians!

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2021 Summer Theater Camp Cast of "The Tale of Chicken Licken"
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New Character, New Song

8/12/2021

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"I think my 3-year-old granddaughter has a crush on the Fox."  

That's the kind of comment that is really appreciated in children's theater. I don't like to write scary stuff into my scripts.  I don't want to scare the little children.  So, this go around of Summer Theater Camp, I wrote an expanded part for the obvious "bad guy" where he actually becomes a sympathetic, and funny guy, and perhaps even a heart throb in the eyes of the audience. (After all, I modeled him after Elvis.)
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Many years ago now, I was sitting in a darkened theater watching Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" with my 3-year-old sister.  She was absolutely terrified by Maleficent and the Dragon.  She hid her eyes and covered her ears and buried herself in my lap.  I held her as tightly as I could to help her feel safe.  To this day, I don't think she likes watching "Sleeping Beauty."  Scary stuff, that.

Anyway, I wanted to make "The Tale of Chicken Licken" into a Family-Friendly comedy.  So glad I did, and that the 12-year-old actor who played the Fox was so engaging and entertaining.  One mom said, "That boy has LEADING MAN written all over him!"

Makes me happy to have delighted the audience with this revised show.  Soon I will have this version with the new song
available on the website.
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The Show Must Go On!

8/7/2021

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Our Friday Dress Rehearsal was pretty dismal.  The change in winds brought smoke to our valley that made doing anything outside uncomfortable and downright dangerous.  I sent the children home admonishing them to stay indoors and pray that another change in the winds might blow the smoke away for our show today.  AND IT DID!!!

Today we had a great show!  The children came prepared and were very excited.  The 140 people crowded into my backyard also brought a lot of energy and were such a wonderful audience.  They clapped and laughed and cheered at all the right places.  That helped the children give a very fun performance.  It was our best show yet and we had NO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!!!  YAY!
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Here are some of the pictures of this cute "The Tale of Chicken Licken" Summer Camp 2021 cast. We had a surprise guest artist in our show today.  My little 4-year-old granddaughter just needed to be on stage.  (She had been here all Camp because her mother was helping me.)  So we dressed her in a yellow costume and told everyone she was a canary.  See if you can pick her out on the front row.  She did the whole show today and even followed a lot of the actions.  (Pretty good for not really joining us for any rehearsing.)
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The Bluebirds Trio
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The Sly Old Fox
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The Duck Family
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The Chicken Family with little "mascot" Avery our 4-year-old "canary"
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Going for the Gold

8/1/2021

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I never imagined that one of my songs would be so appropriate for this 2021 Summer of the Olympics.  And believe me, as these kids rehearse it, they put their hearts and souls into it --- just like they are going for the Gold!

The little song "Off to the Races" has truly become a hit tune.  I have personally directed the show "The Tale of Chicken Licken" several times now, and each time "Off to the Races" emerges as the favorite song of the entire show.  In fact, it is so popular that the other characters beyond the Duck Family (who were originally written to sing it by themselves) also demand to sing it in the show.  This little song has become a full-blown production number.
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Three 7 year old boys play the ducklings with their "parents," two 10-year-olds.  They are a hard-working bunch.  The boys have decidedly strong tendencies towards physical activity.  They enjoy showing off the complicated exercise routine they are learning.  One boy can even do push-ups with a hand clap in between.  Unbelievable for a 7-year-old!  Amazingly, they stick to it and don't complain about the heat or the humidity or how many times they have gone through their number.  Way to go, Ducks!

During the 2014 Summer Theater Camp production, one mom told me this cute story.  She said that her little 5-year-old daughter, one of the Chicks, was singing the "Off to the Races" song at home, but was having trouble remembering some of the words. The mom tried to help her.

"5K, 10K, or training for the big relay
Bia-tha-lon, Tria-tha-lon, or what the heck a Marathon.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4    GO--------------Ducks!"

Finally, the little girl turned to her mom and said, "I just can't remember the names of those dinosaurs."

​Be assured this go around, we thoroughly explained the terms Biathlon, Triathlon, and Marathon.  Olympic events.  Not dinosaurs.
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    Author

    My name is Betsy Bailey.  I have sung, written and taught music all of my life.  I enjoy writing and directing Children's Theater shows.  This blog will be directed to topics on creating the magic of Children's Theater.  I would love to hear your comments!

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