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We Come To Show Activity
illustration ©2016 Veronika Gadjosova
Producing a Student Mummer’s Play
Part of a series of articles on
Preparing a School Winter Solstice Performance
The student mummer’s play presents the music teacher or choir director with a unique and wonderful element to program as part of the annual winter solstice performance: a short comical play that imparts the message of the season, with deep historical roots – featuring your students in all of the roles. Here are some tips and guidelines to help you pull this wonderful little drama together.
Nashville School of the Arts Mummer’s Play
illustration ©2016 Veronika Gadjosova
Part of a series of articles on
Preparing a School Winter Solstice Performance
Nashville School of the Arts Mummer’s Play
compiled by Walter Bitner from original sources
and from an original play by Walter Bitner & Jody Kruskal, 1995
Cast:
Fool
Father Christmas
Johnny Jack
Hobby Horse
Dragon
Mayor
Saint George
Doctor
Townspeople
* * *
Fool
Room, room, make room,
NSA friends and families all!
Pray, give us room to rhyme!
We come to show activity
In this glorious wintertime!
Activity of youth!
Activity of age!
Such activity as you’ve never seen on stage.
Fieldston Outdoors Mummer’s Play
illustration ©2016 Veronika Gadjosova
Part of a series of articles on
Preparing a School Winter Solstice Performance
Fieldston Outdoors Mummer’s Play
by Walter Bitner & Jody Kruskal, 1995
Cast:
Fool
Johnny Jack
Mayor
Dragon
Saint George
Hobby Horse
Doctor
Townspeople
* * *
Fool
(Sweeping the stage)
Room, room, make room, Fieldston campers all!
Pray, give us room to rhyme!
Our play we wish to share with you
In this glorious summertime!
So enter, Johnny Jack I say!
And tell us, what are we doing here today? (more…)
In Comes I
illustration ©2016 Veronika Gadjosova
The Student Mummer’s Play
Part of a series of articles on
Preparing a School Winter Solstice Performance
The climactic feature of my student winter solstice performance was a traditional English mummer’s play, featuring students in all of the roles. I first saw mummer’s plays at Christmas Revels productions in New York City in the early 1990s – in fact they are the only mummer’s plays I have seen (performed live) besides the ones I produced with my students. I don’t think that this tradition is very well known in the United States, and I enjoyed introducing it to my students and their families.
Off The Podium Published in Choral Director Magazine
I’m thrilled to share here that my column Off The Podium made its first appearance this week in the October 2016 issue of Choral Director magazine. Off The Podium will be a regular component of Choral Director going forward, featuring the kinds of articles about music education I have been posting here on my blog since March 2015.
And as if this weren’t sweet enough: to launch my column with a splash, I am also featured on the cover!
Accelerando on Nashville Public Television
Nashville Symphony music director Giancarlo Guerrero poses with Accelerando students, August 20, 2016 ~ from Arts Break, Nashville Public Television
Nashville Public Television (WNPT) featured the Nashville Symphony’s award-winning Accelerando program on the station’s weekly feature Arts Break this week. The three minute segment premiered Thursday night, October 6, and will run again on Sunday morning October 9 after Volunteer Gardener (around 9:55am).
Nashville Symphony Seeks Accelerando Manager
The Nashville Symphony seeks a full-time Manager for our ground-breaking Accelerando program, to begin employment in January 2017.
Accelerando is an intensive education program designed to prepare gifted young students from under represented ethnic communities for pursuing music at the collegiate level and beyond. Accelerando seeks to create professional opportunities for these students by providing them with instruction, mentorship, performance experience, and assistance with applying for music schools.
Introducing the Nashville Choral Consortium
NashChor: Music City’s New Choral Music Resource
“I wished there was one place where I could go to see all the choral events happening in Nashville and Middle Tennessee – church, university, show, evensongs, youth choirs, everything.” says Tucker Biddlecombe.
If you don’t know Tucker you’re probably not a choral singer in Nashville, Tennessee: he is the Director of Choral Activities at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt, and this fall begins his tenure as Interim Director of the Nashville Symphony Chorus.
“I’ve observed that many times our organizations schedule events on top of one another, significantly reducing our audiences and creating various conflicts for singers.” he says. “I have some web savvy, so I built a new website: NashChor.org, the Nashville Choral Consortium.
SOUNDCHECK: $10 Tickets for All Students
Registration opens today for the Nashville Symphony’s SOUNDCHECK student access ticket program for the 2016-17 season, beginning with our performances of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony, September 22 – 24. SOUNDCHECK provides $10 tickets to all Aegis Sciences Classical Series performances for ALL students, K – 12 through university and graduate school.
$10 student tickets are limited to one per student and are available for purchase beginning two weeks prior to each applicable concert up until show time.
Masterclass with Simone Porter, October 27
Simone Porter
The celebrated young violinist Simone Porter will be joining the Nashville Symphony this fall for two performances of Samuel Barber’s spectacular Violin Concerto under the direction of music director Giancarlo Guerrero on October 28 & 29.
We’re thrilled to announce that in addition to performing with the symphony, Simone Porter will hold a masterclass for pre-college violin on Thursday, October 27 from 7 – 8:30 pm on the stage of Laura Turner Hall at Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Students, parents, and teachers are invited to make reservations and plan to attend this very special event – and violin students who have not yet graduated from high school are encouraged to submit an application to perform in the masterclass.
Walter Bitner 