February Play On! Materials
FEBRUARY: VENUS & ADONIS
For the month of February, and of Valentine’s Day, we are focusing on the story of Venus and Adonis. It’s a story about love, and how important it is to express it! We meet with Guest Artists Julia Bengtsson, dancer; Patrick Kilbride, tenor; and Dongsok Shin, harpsichord player and technician. We learn choreography and songs from the Opera Lafayette production and get to know our first keyed instrument, the harpsichord.
GUEST ARTIST FEATURED
Julia Bengtsson
ACTIVITIES
Dance Steps, Animal Steps
Julia has animal names for each of the baroque dance steps she does. The the “deer step” is a gallop, the “peacock” is very showy, the “squirrel” is a chasing step. Look at the animals below, or in the world around you. Can you invent a dance step for each of them?
God of Love, God of ________
Julia shows us how each character has particular way of presenting “reverance,” of bowing to the royal audience based on who they are and what they do. Cupid is the God of Love and bows in a special way to show that. Here are some gods of love from around the world. What do you notice about each of them? Any special symbols or animals? If you could be god of anything, what would you be? How would you be dressed? Draw a picture. What’s your god’s name? How do they bow? How do they dance?
In order: Kamadeva, Hindu god of love | Oshun, Yoruba goddess of river and love | Bastet, Egyptian goddess of felines and love | Xochipilli, Aztec god of love and flowers | Eros, Greek god of love | Cupid a later version of Eros
Come, Come, Come... to the Canon!
Patrick sings for us in a canon, where each singer joins one after another.
Here is a short video that shows how a cannon works through animation and movement.
And another from Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
You may already know some songs that are written in canon like Frère Jacques or Row Row Row Your boat. These are called infinite canons, or “rounds” and you can sing them around and around. Try singing them with a partner, or with the whole family each entering one line after the other, as in the video.
To pluck or to strike
Dongsok plays the harpsichord and we can hear a distinct difference from the piano, though they are both keyed instruments and sometimes look similar in shape. This page has really clear information about the history, mechanism, and sound of piano vs. harpsichord.
https://www.nonamehiding.com/harpsichord-vs-piano/
The Harpsichord - audio visual beauty
Harpsichords are often elaborately painted, like these. Print out a blank and decorate your own, or trace the outline of the lid and draw in that. How will you paint it? What might inspire beautiful music from the person sitting there to play?
Shadow Dancing
"What Grows on Trees" - Here you'll see Julia dancing to tell story. What story do you see? Can you make your own shadow dance? Point a flashlight at the wall and see what shapes you can make. You'll also see Julia turn a cartwheel, can you do that?
Dancing Graces
With Julia we learn the Dance of the Cupids. Here Julia doing a dance called "Air des Graces." What especially graceful moments or moves do you notice? Do you remember Matthew Ting showing usfloor patterns in baroque dance? Can you trace what shapes Julia and her dance partner make on the floor as they move towards, away and around each other?
Now listen to the "Air des Graces" from Venus and Adonis and make up your own Dance of the Graces!
Listen and Compare
Here Dongsok plays three different instruments, all closely related to the harpsichord. How are they similar? How are they different? What do you notice about the sound of each one?"
This is a video of Dongsok playing Bach on an unusual harpsichord which uses string of gut instead of normal metal strings. The instrument is called a Lautenwerk, or lute harpsichord, since it was meant to mimic a lute.
This is a video made by the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, where Dongsok plays the earliest surviving piano, made in 1720 by the inventor of the piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori.
This is a video of Dongsok playing a copy of Mozart's own piano (the original from around 1780). It is the Mozart Variations on the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
BONUS VIDEOS
Forlana: https://youtu.be/3R0QcGIgwfw
This video shows Dongsok playing harpsichord with my group, along with a dancer. He is playing within an ensemble, the most common way a harpsichord was used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMImdpNLL9w
OPERA STARTS WITH OH! IS A VIRTUAL PROGRAM PART OF
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