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Audience participation
Including body and voice: Dance is
one of the elementary devices to invigorate
a concert. Since space is usually limited,
forms of ‘sitting dances’ or ‘standing
dances’ are often created.
In music education workshops, dances
are supposed to help feel a rhythm with
the entire body and thus to be able to experience
the complex rhythmic structures
of a symphony or another orchestral work.
Sessions of body percussion led by a
music educator or by musicians often
help the audience to deepen their understanding
of rhythmic structures or of musical
forms such as canons or variations.
Reproducing a rhythm with the body enables
an intuitive understanding and its
use in concerts is therefore very popular.
Likewise, musicians often ask the audience
to join in when singing songs to
evoke and intensify a communal feeling
of making music together.
Children representing the audience
on stage: Another popular approach is to
select a child from the audience to step
onto the stage and to play a key part in a
storyline. That child might, for example,
catch the thief, name an instrument or
sing a song together with the presenter.
Children presenting results of preceding
workshops: Integrating compositions
by children that originated during
preceding workshops is central to audience
participation projects. The type of
‘dramaturgical thread’ used depends,
amongst other things, on the pieces of
music chosen for the concert. Most
often, however, the children’s compositions
are performed at the beginning of
the concert, followed by the piece the
workshop was based on or on other
pieces from the orchestra’s repertoire.
Artistic aspects – product quality
Dramaturgy
In the majority of cases, a recurring
theme runs through the concert – a storyline,
a concept of presentation or an
artistic intervention – and connects the
music to the world the children live in.
Education managers and music educators
distinguish themselves by having extensive
knowledge about the interests,
living conditions, trends, television programmes,
movies, musical preferences
and video games of their target groups
and are able to refer to them in their
projects.
Choice of music
For children and adolescents
The range of music, orchestras chose to
play in concerts for children has widened
considerably in recent years. In German
speaking countries during the nineties,
there was a focus on obvious works such
as Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf,
Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals
and Francis Poulenc’s Babar the
Elephant. These works are still part of the
general repertoire but the creativity and
spirit of adventure of planning directors
has increased and they now include the
entire spectrum of the symphonic catalogue.
All symphonic works are used today.
They are either chosen for their musical
content or because they relate to a specific
non-musical topic of a workshop.
One concert organiser bases all his
concerts for children on musical themes
such as ‘Johann Sebastian Bach’,
‘Singing’ or ‘Folk Music’. He selects up to
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20 short pieces: ‘Singing’ for example ties
in Gregorian Chants, operatic arias,
functional songs for work and ritual
chants. A narrative connects all pieces of
music to help draw attention to the next
piece. The concerts are professionally
staged and embellished by a choreography
and light design.
With children and adolescents
The musical pieces selected for concerts
with children and adolescents depend on
the ensemble’s repertoire and on the
children’s musical skills. This type of
teamwork can lead participants to, for
example, develop the plot of a mystery
thriller. In the end, the viola player
might discover the crucial piece of evidence
to solve the case. Various pieces of
music are collected, considered and finally
chosen to develop a coherent and
harmonious story line.
All interviewees agree that it is part of
their job to open up as many stylistic
musical possibilities as possible. They
consider themselves an established part
of the fine arts and use their experiences
with western classical music to give orchestras
and concert halls their identity.
However, in their planning they often
look for references of their subject matters
in jazz, pop and world music.
Quality of the performance
Orchestras consider it a main priority to
ensure the best possible performance
quality and all interviewees emphasise
that during preparation and rehearsals
no difference must be made between
concerts for children and concerts for
adults. Their opinions differ, however,
when it comes to the use of staging and
the significance of stage presence of all