Cuesheet Performance Guide
Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences
A Peek at Glimpse W
hat happens when a vocalist, double bassist, and percussionist walk onto a stage? They give you a glimpse of jazz-inspired magic! Young and old can enjoy this nonverbal production as they watch and hear the interplay of light effects, improvisational music, and physical movement.
Interactive Activity: Instruments in Glimpse Take a look at these pictures of instruments. Can you name them? Adults, use the following words, and ask your young theatergoers if they can point to or circle the following instruments:
. . . .
A double bass A cowbell A bass drum Cymbals
After they identify these instruments, ask them to draw what they think they sound like.
As green light effects decorate the stage, the audience watches Tony Overwater playing the double bass and Rob Kloet playing percussion.
Your Turn to Create
Adults, give your theatergoers opportunities to create at home or school with this simple recipe:
Sound + Material = Creation!
1.
Sound: Provide a piece of instrumental music, either recorded or live. Or ask your child
to listen to their environments, which might include the sounds of birds chirping, city traffic, or ocean waves.
2.
Material: Choose (or have your child choose) a visual form that they can use to
express themselves while listening. Possibilities include crayons, colored pencils, finger paint, watercolors, and modelling clay. Also consider playing with light, such as with flashlights.
3.
Create! Invite your child to play with and manipulate their material while listening to
the chosen music or sounds. Remember, anything goes. Children should feel free to be inventive without having to limit themselves to literal, explainable creations. You can start with a pencil or crayon using the area below.
Create Here!
What to Look and Listen for…
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As you watch, observe the use of… Color. Throughout the performance, the backdrop changes color. Notice how changes in color align with transitions in musical theme and tempo, as well as in special visual effects. What does each color prompt you to think about? How do particular colors make you feel?
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Cause and effect. As you watch the performers, think about the cause and effect between the visual and auditory elements they invoke: Does light produce music? Does music produce light? What is the relationship between musical volume, physical movement, and image size? Reflect on whether the musicians have control over the visual effects that appear on stage, and when.
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Connections. What do you see in the abstract images that the performers create? Do the lines, shapes, and lights look like anything you know— either real or imagined? Does the music remind you of anything you’ve heard before? What are you thinking about as you watch and listen?
Look Beyond Glimpse… If your children enjoyed Glimpse’s magical marriage of music, light, and touch, consider continuing their journey with other, similarly inspired works.
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In Disney’s animated film Fantasia, classic music pairs with colorful scenes, some abstract and impressionistic and others more narratively linear. Following the original film (1940), the studio released a sequel, Fantasia 2000, which included new segments alongside the classic Mickey Mouse version of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
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Hervé Tullet’s interactive and untraditional picture books, including Press Here, encourage readers to interact with colorful dots. As children press, turn, and shake the book and its images, the subsequent illustrations provide the impression (and illusion) that children’s actions have affected the book’s pictures.
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Crockett Johnson’s picture book (and subsequent series) Harold and the Purple Crayon features a young boy and his purple crayon, which allows him to turn the simple line drawings of his imagination into interactive scenes.
David M. Rubenstein Chairman
Additional support for Glimpse is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Anne and Chris Reyes.
Deborah F. Rutter President
Funding for Access and Accommodation Programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.
Jordan LaSalle Interim Senior Vice President of Education
Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program. International programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts. Additional support for the Dutch performances is provided by Dutch Performing Arts in collaboration with the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York. Part of the program Never Grow Up!
The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
© 2020 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts