Let the abstract Bach be seen and experienced in the language that children are familiar with.
Bach composed more than 1000 pieces of music in his life, with numerous representative works. Interestingly, his children are as amazing as his works, and 20 children are enough to form a football team.
Bach likes children very much. He thinks children know music best, and children also bring him a lot of musical inspiration. More than 200 years after the death of the music master, a tailor-made "Hello! The birth of Bach not only narrowed the distance between children and Bach, but also opened children’s infinite imagination of music.
This multimedia interactive music theater was jointly produced by Belgian Zongzuo Music Troupe, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Little Big Vision. It landed in the concert hall of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra from October 27 to 30, and it was performed for 8 consecutive performances, and the venue was sold out.
"hello! Bach’s stills Have you ever seen a sandwich stage like Hamburg? "hello! The design of Bach is eye-catching: the stage is sandwiched in the middle and the audience is surrounded on both sides, just like a big hamburger.The U-shaped stage hidden in the night will glow and be full of three-dimensional projections. There are many children in the projection, some sleeping in the bedroom, some copying music in the study, and some staring blankly in the art museum. Both sides of the stage are also filled with lively children.
Li Quanshuai and Yan Duo were dressed in red, just like two rabbits, jumping on the field. On the stage less than two meters away from the children, the two performers played nine Bach works, which revealed Bach’s innocence hidden in the music score and explained the children’s side of Bach’s music.
In this immersive, interactive theater, the children turned around and became part of the performance. They clapped their hands, stamped their feet, shouted Bach’s name, and played accurate music beats for the two performers. Joyful laughter filled the scene, and a little boy was so excited that he almost rushed onto the stage and was dragged back by his mother next to him.
In order to close the distance with the children, the two performers also have role-playing, which adds an actor’s identity.
"hello! Bach’s stills "I am a 5-year-old girl." Yan Duojia, a girl from Taiwan Province, has a quiet personality. At the age of 25, it was hard for her to believe that she was a child at first. It was not until the week before the performance that she really entered the role."Just look for the shadow of the cute little girl still in your heart." Chen Ji, the Chinese executive director, guided her, which ignited Yan Duo’s imagination. Li Quanshuai is also going to play a 5-year-old boy, and he is lively and outgoing, and he is also helping his partner get into the role.
Unlike sitting in a regular concert, it is much more difficult for two people to swim and play the piano at the same time.
"When playing the piano at ordinary times, we all hold our heads high, straighten our backs, and behave ourselves with our feet. Here, the whole body has to move and it has to move all the time. " At first, Yan Duojia was always stiff all over, and after guidance, he slowly let go of his hands and feet.
"As long as you walk around, many people can’t play the piano." Chen Ji said with a smile, "They not only have to walk to play the piano, but also play opposite plays. They are too busy interacting with the audience!"
Acting is also a difficulty. In the casting stage, the Belgian director asked the performer not only to play the piano, but also to show himself. To this end, he set up two interesting tasks, let them wear masks to play the piano, and let them tell a childhood story while playing the piano, so as to observe whether they have the plastic potential of actors.
"Yan Duojia is not so outgoing, but he is eager to express himself." Along the way, Chen Ji saw her transform and bloom, which was completely different from the beginning.
"Usually, we are immersed in our own world, and we don’t know what the audience thinks. Tonight, I actually saw a little girl waving at me. It was so cute. " Yan Duojia was very excited to interact with the audience so closely for the first time.
For how to interact with the audience, Chen Ji has only one requirement: sincerity. "Don’t pretend to be others, just play yourself. Don’t look empty, look at the audience sincerely, and your eyes seem to talk. " In her view, the actor is very fragile. "It takes courage to open yourself up and let people watch and comment naked."
Many parents also came to the performance site, and Zhang Maodi, director of the Education and Development Center of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, also sat under the stage. As a mother, she often takes her son to watch children’s dramas and finds an interesting phenomenon. "Adults like to bury their heads in their mobile phones, but here, they are also very involved."
However, the reactions of children and parents are obviously different. "At first, I thought that children might not sit still, but as a result, they all sat still. On the contrary, some adults are anxious and want to know what story is told on the stage, and they urgently need a statement and an answer. " A staff member of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra observed.
"hello! Although Bach’s stills have story situations, it is difficult for you to give Hello! Bach draws a clear story line, which is abstract and full of blank space, leaving a rich imagination space."This is an open question. There can be millions of story lines and thousands of people." Chen Jiqi said that when popularizing music for children, the Belgian director will not instill knowledge points by preaching. "He will create a story situation for children and introduce them into the world. As for what they see and think, everyone’s answer is different."
"In fact, a big-headed doll can please children. It is easy to make children happy, but children will also think. Don’t fool around just because they are children." Chen Jiqi believes that giving children the best works of art is the greatest respect for children.
Piette, a young Belgian composer and arranger of this drama, also thinks that children’s intuition about music is much better than that of adults. "They are fully capable of appreciating the quality and sincerity of music. All we have to do is give them space to play with enthusiasm."
After the concert, a little game called "Musical Imagination" pushed the scene to another climax. Yan Duojia improvised a music clip from Paradise Cinema and asked the children what they saw and thought. "The little girl is eating marshmallows", "I am pulling radishes" and "My dog and I are flying" … The answers are varied and colorful.
"It’s so graphic, it’s completely beyond my expectation." Yan Duojia was moved by the child’s imagination and found that the most touching place of music is the beautiful imagination space. "Don’t be confined to a frame."
In "Hello! Bach, directors, performers and multimedia artists "learn from children" and work together to make abstract Bach seen and experienced in a language that children are familiar with.
Li Quanshuai believes that "this concert not only brings Bach closer to everyone, but also brings people closer to understanding music and the essence of life."
(This article is from The Paper, please download the "The Paper" APP for more original information)
Reporting/feedback