Yesterday and today San Diego schoolchildren and their teachers gathered together at Copley Symphony Hall for a Young People’s Concert, Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant—in advance of the world premiere date scheduled also at Copley this Sunday, Nov. 8, at a public family festival event.
Thousands of local children from public, private and parochial schools benefit in arts education from attendance at these concerts, courtesy of Copley’s education and outreach efforts. Lucas Richman, composer, wrote the score, Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, to be performed along with live reading of the book by the same name, written by Jack Prelutsky, the first U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate.
Yesterday’s first concert was the one I attended, and peals of laughter broke out a few times through the hour, along with plenty of hearty applause. Philip Mann, conductor, led the orchestra through the folk element-rich and rousing Ruslan and Ludmila, Overture, by Mikhail Glinka. Mann approached elementary music education in a fun manner by commenting on Glinka’s work and a poem from the next piece, Poems of the Sea, by Ernest Bloch, a “mixture of sound and words” to Walt Whitman’s poetry. Richman then made his personal appearance and answered Mann’s question, designed, of course, to inspire young inquiring minds, “Can anyone here consider writing music?” Richman also imitated a few animal sounds the orchestra would “play” on their instruments for Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, like the roar of an elephant and the shrill cry of the turkey. Musicians followed by introducing the sounds on their instruments—bassoon for a turkey, for example, and scratching sandpaper for the ballpoint penguins!
Of course, the performance of Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant was the highlight of the program. The projection onto the overhead screen, of individual musicians below, and sometimes of orchestral instrument family performers, showcased the instruments well and, we hope, piqued some student interest in selection of instruments for study. Too, projected drawings from Prelutsky’s book of his wondrous animals crossed with objects entertained at strategic points in the performance.
Just like it’s a pleasure to hear a songwriter sing his own work, it is also one to hear a poet recite his lines aloud. Prelutsky thoroughly enjoyed reciting and did so with comedy and feeling. A few times it was a bit of a challenge for him to begin a new line at the precise orchestral point, and he depended upon the conductor for assistance; he did extremely well, nevertheless. Some words recited at line endings were not always clearly distinguishable, as the human voice tends to drop in volume when completing sentences.
Prelutsky’s poetry is sure to resound not only with children but with adults, as well. Theodore Geisel’s (aka “Dr. Seuss”) poetry and even the late great comedian Danny Kaye’s writing style in his children’s storybooks came to mind.
Richman’s music was inspiring and usually comical, perfect for children and refreshing for an all-age audience. There was lots of marching movement in the music, and I imagined Prelutsky’s fantastic characters on parade. If a recording will become available for sale, I’m sure many children will march and dance to the music. The piece would lend itself well to a television special or a short children’s animated film.
Did the entire hour hold the children’s attention? Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant was almost one-half hour long, and there was noticeable squirming after about 20 minutes. Many children sat forward in their seats and appeared captivated as Prelutsky read lines and the orchestra introduced new animal sounds. Their attention wandered during orchestral music interludes placed at section endings of the poem.