4. Characteristics of Family Performances

4.0 introduction

 

In preparation for writing the master's thesis, I visited several family performances during the 2023-2024 theatre season: non-structured observations. Through this field research, I gained insight into the diverse offerings and thus the already existing framework in this genre. From eight different practitioners, I will elaborate on the musical theatre performances. The observations are written out in detailed keywords. Based on these keywords, I created the list of family performance characteristics that I will present in chapter 4.2.

 

4.1 Observations of practice and practitioners

 

Egeltje wil niet in winterslaap (6+) – Fuse Ensemble

Six musicians. One narrator/director. Classical music: four seasons - Piazzolla. Duration: 60 min. Location: small hall Concertgebouw. Interactive elements. Musicians take on different roles from the story. Theme: 'about the only hedgehog that did not want to hibernate'.  Text as a starting point. A few props. Costumes.

 

Krijg de kleure (5+) – Ragazze Quartet

Four classical musicians making up a traditional string quartet line-up. No actors. Colourful set and lighting design. No spoken text. Physical theatre and interaction only. Duration: 60 min.  Story is told through classical music: Nas, Haydn, Ligeti, Komitas and Bartók. Director and choreographer: Pim Veulings. Location: Tivoli, small hall.

 

Muts en Sjaal (4+) – Juul & Mats

Two actors/musicians. Duration: 30 minutes. Story is told through text and classical singing. Costumes and minimal scenery. Interaction with the audience.

Theme: Brother and sister go on an adventure through the valley in search of answers about loneliness, after they discover that their father is lonely, and along the way they encounter strange creatures that contradict each other. Location: small theatre/tent during the Parade Festival Amsterdam.

 

Koken met Amba (6+) – Veenfabriek

Three musicians, one actor/singer, one cook. Duration: 40 min. Music: swinging songs with percussion, Hammond organ, trombone and lyrics. Interaction with the audience. Food tasting. Theme: Based on Surinamese cuisine, the family history of ten-year-old Amba is told. Costumes and minimal scenery. Location: small theatre/tent during the Parade Festival Amsterdam.

 

De Helden van Rio (5+) – Theater Jaski

Four musicians (two guitar, one accordion, one percussionist) and one actor/classical vocalist. Set: minimal/pair of props. Costumes: changes for everyone. Interaction with the audience through sing-along songs and choreography. From text the story told. Theme : Sophie discovers South America. Director/writer: Kiki Jaski. Songwriter: Jan Groenteman. Location: Theatre de Speeldoos, Baarn.

 

Circus Charms (7+) – Ensemble Seasession en Frank en René Groothof

Eight musicians and two actors. Theme: ode to Russian absurdism by 2 chaotic brothers. Music: Russian chamber music from the 1920s by Vladimir Deshevov, Alexander Mosolov, Arno Babadjanian, Aleksey Zhivótov, Leonid Polovinkin, Mikhail Gnesin and Dmitri Shostakovich.  Duration: 60 min Musicians wear costumes and were given small theatrical responsibilities. Seated in a semi-circle at the outer edges of the stage. Location: Oranjewoudfestival in Oranjewoud.

 

Superball, lollipop and mr. classic (8+) - Oorkaan

Two classical percussionists and beatboxer. Music tells the story: Iannis Xenakis, Thierry De Mey, B.C.Manjunath, Christos Hatzis, Pepe Garcia. Only physical, visual theatre. No spoken text. Minimal scenery and costumes. Theatrical concert. Listening experience and visual power. Strong lighting design. Large production team. Location: Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam.

 

Het zand van gisteren ( 6+) – Jansen & de Boer

Three actors. Each can play the other's puppet. Theme: the boundlessness of love. About keeping your head above water and being captain of your own ship, even when you face headwinds. Puppet show. Director: Elout Hol. Attributes and minimal scenery. Atmospheric lighting design and dreamy music by Dries Bijlsma. No live instrumental music. Text forms the starting point of the story. Location: Stadsgehoorzaal Kampen.

 

4.2 Distinctive features of a Family Performance


Family performances are a unique genre within the artistic spectrum, where audience engagement plays a crucial role. This chapter explores distinctive characteristics, target audiences and expectations, multimodal musical experience of the child and specially composed music for children, as these elements influence the successful integration of music and theatre in this specific context.


Distinctive features of a family performance:

  • Visual appeal (decor, color, costumes):
  • The aesthetics (artistic qualities) of a theater are often as important as the production taking place therein. Family performances often utilize vibrant colors, striking costumes, colored stage lighting, and visually appealing elements to captivate the attention of children. Decor is often an important element in predominantly textless plays. It can change the entire mindset of an audience before a single note of an overture is played, before a single line of dialogue is spoken.

 

  • Music driven or text driven
  • When music forms the starting point, the performance can adopt a more evocative, imaginative, visual narrative style, with musical themes and emotions forming the basis for the story. When text forms the starting point, music immediately takes on a secondary role and a clear narrative structure is followed with character development.

 

  • Imaginative:
  • Allowing space in performances for the audience to shape their own thoughts and feelings. Encouraging the exploration of endless possibilities of creativity and providing new perspectives. A maximum of suggestiveness.


  • Textless form related to physicality:
  • Textless theatre in family performances is closely linked to an emphasis on physicality. Here are some ways textless theatre and physicality come together in family performances:
  • Expressive movements: textless performances emphasize expressive movements and gestures to convey emotions, stories and characters. Physical actions and movements are used as powerful tools to engage and entertain the audience. Simple and clear movements that are easy for children to understand make it easier for young viewers to participate in the story without depending on spoken words.
  • Mimicry and Facial Expressions: actors and musicians in textless plays often use intense facial expressions and facial expressions to communicate characters' emotions. This visual aspect adds vibrancy to the performance and makes it easy for children to follow the storyline.

 

  • Different roles & positions of musicians
  • Explore how musicians in music theatre not only contribute musically but also engage in acting. How do they intertwine their musical performance with theatrical elements? Where are the musicians positioned on stage?

 

  • Layered target audience
  • The performances are designed to be accessible to a diverse audience, including children of different ages and their parents. Children as no biased audience and almost without a frame of reference. Parents, on the other hand, do have a frame of reference.

 

  • Educational elements:
  • Many family performances incorporate educational elements into the story or presentation, enabling children to learn in a fun and engaging manner.
  • Many family performances include positive moral lessons or messages suitable for young viewers.

 

  • Humor:
  • A dose of humor is often present in family performances, tailored to different age groups to entertain both children and adults.

 

  • Interaction
  • Family performances stand out for their interactive elements, engaging the audience in various ways. These may include direct participation, interactive segments, and encouraging audience responses. The emphasis is on creating a dynamic connection between performers and spectators, fostering a unique and engaging experience.

 

  • Short duration:
  • The duration of family performances is usually tailored to the attention span of children, making them generally shorter than regular performances.

 

  • Small size of music ensemble
  • how does the size of the music ensemble affect the fusion between music and theatre?

 

  • Location
  • The venue can influence the atmosphere, setting and interaction in a family performance. For example, an intimate theatre venue enhances closeness, engagement and interaction. While a school or outdoor venue can offer a more informal and relaxed atmosphere.

 

  • Innovative musical forms & technology
  • Examine instances where musicians experiment with traditional musical forms in a theatrical context. Are there new approaches to composition and performance?
  • Are there technological advancements and innovations which are redefining the boundaries?
  • Is there any form of improvisation?

 

  • Innovative narrative forms:
  • Use of innovative narrative forms that target the imagination and associative abilities of children while appealing to the intellectual curiosity of adults, satisfying both. Instead of a predictable, traditional linear (chronological) structure, you often see the use, sometimes in combinations, of innovative narrative forms:
  • Parallelism: Simultaneous narration of multiple stories connected in some way, often through themes or characters.
  • Episodic structure: The story consists of separate, standalone episodes or events. These episodes may be interconnected by themes or characters.
  • Cyclical structure: The story returns to the starting point, creating a cycle. The main characters often experience growth or change between the beginning and the end.
  • Flashback/flash forward: The use of flashbacks or flash forwards to add non-linear elements to the story. This allows the viewer/listener to gain information about events from the past or future.
  • In media res: The story begins in the middle of the action, with the reader gradually receiving background information to understand the events.

4.3 Target group identification + audience expectation

 

Children (2-12 years)

Understanding the target audience of children is crucial when shaping the content and presentation of family performances. Children typically have a shorter attention span, different time experience and are highly sensitive to visual stimuli. Therefore, family performances should capture their interest through visual, interactive and evocative elements. This makes the stories comprehensible. In fact, children are not engaged in such things as logical reasoning, abstract and spatial thinking until much later. That is why children often understand the show better than parents, who are all about making logical-causal connections and approaching it psychologically. Colourful images, dynamic movements, interaction and more complex music can add to the show's appeal for younger audiences. A question that arises is whether specially composed music for children is essential in a family performance.

 

Parents and adult family members

Although children are the main target audience, family performances also target parents and other adult family members accompanying them. These adults often have specific expectations of the performance, including an educational value appropriate for their children's development. They value performances that provide opportunities for learning and growth, whether it is conveying moral lessons, teaching new concepts or exposing children to different cultures and perspectives. In contrast, cultural performers and companies often do not aim to teach children anything at all. They want to inspire and touch them. Learning does surround them with education packages in school. Parents, however, also seek entertainment for themselves and appreciate craftsmanship in performance. They enjoy performances that showcase artistic excellence, whether in the form of skilful acting, impressive musical performances or innovative stagecraft. Moreover, parents can appreciate subtle humour and deeper layers in the story, which add richness and depth to the overall experience. By balancing educational content with entertaining elements, family performances can appeal to both children and their accompanying adults, creating a rewarding and enjoyable experience for the whole family.

 

4.4 The role of specially composed music for children in family performances

 

When considering collaborative strategies, a crucial question is whether to use instrumental music tailored for children. Creating special music for children can lift the artistic experience and create a unique soundscape that can permeate younger listeners. In addition, it can actually counteract cultural enrichment and weaken the arc of tension. Indeed, complex music can actually make a child learn to listen, discover structures and expand their frame of reference. 

 

The music bubble 

Music educator Silke Schmid (2015) has designed a theoretical model based on literature and empirical research in mainstream education, she describes that the four dimensions sociality, materiality, embodiment and narrativity are decisive in enabling students to create valuable musical experiences. These mentioned dimensions can also serve as guidelines for creating a valuable embodied musical experience in a family performance. The process of music-making is always situated in a cultural context (situativity), children have the ability to connect or integrate information from multiple modalities (structural analogy), and children can attribute emotions to music based on their personal experiences (musical valence).

Figure 5: Dimensions of children’s music experiences (Schmid, 2015)

 

Schmid's 4 dimensions placed on the setting of a family performance:

  1. Sociality: musical activities are also social activities. There is always interaction: with the music itself, with the environment or with others. This social interaction can be highlighted and reinforced. Children can be assigned different roles in a family performance: musical role playing. For instance, making a composition or musical radio play together, body percussion or determining the course of the story together. This creates a close-knit team.
  2. Embodiment: according to Schmid, musical experiences are primarily shaped by implicit, embodied knowledge. Through conscious or unconscious movements, the body orients itself to the music, creating a musical experience. Family performances also often incorporate a physical approach with components such as dance, body percussion and sound painting (improvisational music-making with gestures). This activates mirror neurons in children. This is quite a holistic approach to embodiment. You could also take this one more specifically and focus more on sensory experiences, not necessarily putting the whole body in motion.
  3. Materiality: musical experiences are also related to how an instrument looks, feels and sounds. A conscious choice of aesthetic and good-sounding material can enhance the musical experience. This can also influence the consideration of whether to use acoustic or electronic waves in family performances.
  4. Narrativity: the temporal and emotional experience of music suggest a narrative quality. Music and narrative both take place in time and also both have tension building and a denouement. A narrative context - literally a story or the narrative quality of a piece of music - is important to the musical experience, according to Schmid.

 

Schmid's dimensions above can serve as guidelines for designing family performances within which children can have a multimodal musical experience. In other words, the child's experience is taken as the starting point in the creation of a family performance.

 

Key distinctions in composing for children

Composing for children versus an older audience involves a nuanced distinction. While the basic language of music remains accessible to both, children may need clearer musical cues to understand story elements. These clear cues can be emphasized and explained theatrically.  As a result, theatre can actually be seen as the adding element, making, for example, complex classical music lively and understandable for the younger audience. Today, structurally subsidized youth theatre performances are made with subsidized symphony orchestras such as Phion, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. They play the best-known classical works by Villa-Lobos, Tchaikovsky and Mozart, which are not written especially for children. However, some classical music pieces are written especially for children, with a fairy tale or a story behind them. For example, Carnival of Animals - Camille Saint-Saëns, The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Paul Dukas and Peter and the Wolf - Sergei Prokofiev are well-known examples. When children listen to classical music structurally, they start to recognize it and discover more and more in the music. The frame of reference is enlarged.


Example of specially composed music for family performances

Theater Jaski is the youth theatre company of director/writer Kiki Jaski and songwriter Jan Groenteman. The company is characterized by special musical collaborations between top musicians and actors, with catchy new songs and stories full of fantasy that children and adults can identify with. Theatre Jaski works closely with The Concertgebouw, where thousands of children, parents and teachers passionately sang along with 'Masters of Time', and 'The Heroes of Rio'. An extensive education program is developed from The Concertgebouw for each performance and is available to the theatres/schools where it is played. Jan Groenteman is the theatre company's songwriter and pianist. He is also an active writer for other companies such as Sonnevanck.

 

4.5 Conclusion

 

The unstructured observations of several family performances during the 2023-2024 theatre season have provided valuable insights into the diversity and pre-existing frameworks within this genre. From these observations, characteristics of family performances have emerged that are crucial for understanding this genre, its impact on audiences and the integration of instrumental music and theatre in family performances. These characteristics include the emphasis on visual appeal, imagination, interaction and physicality by choosing instrumental music or text as a starting point when creating family performances. Also important is the multi-layered target audience of family performances, which includes not only children of different ages, but also parents and other adult family members. Here, balancing between expectations of educational elements and logical-causal connections by parents and the perception of time and visual, interactive and evocative elements for children is essential. Understanding the role of specially composed music for children in family performances is a crucial consideration in shaping these performances. While there are arguments for both using existing classical works, such as increasing the frame of reference and making children learn to listen, and composing music specifically for children, the emphasis is on creating a rich, accessible and meaningful musical experience for young listeners. According to Schmid, it is important to take the child's experience as a starting point when creating a family performance. The four dimensions of sociality, materiality, embodiment and narrativity are key to enabling children to create valuable musical experiences.

In the light of these insights, it is clear that family performances are a unique and engaging genre, in which the use of (instrumental) music and theatre must be carefully chosen to create a valuable musical experience for children.

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