Four woodwind soloists walked on stage as chatter in the young audience quieted in Markel Auditorium and the lights dimmed to begin a classical music concert designed for children between the ages 5 and 9.
The “Young People’s Concert,” led by James Holleman, professor of music, choir, and orchestra at Hillsdale College, lasted 50 minutes March 27. The program featured Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s neoclassical piece, “Peter and the Wolf,” and the modern sequel, “What About the Duck,” written by a friend of the Hillsdale College Music Department, Andrew Maxfield.
“‘Peter and the Wolf’ was composed from an old Russian folk tale,” said Kevin Franco, a classical education graduate student and cellist for the orchestra. “Prokofiev’s composition is 90 years old.”
The piece tells the adventures of Peter and the Wolf through narration, as well as instrumentation. Seated at the front of the orchestra, four soloists represented the main characters in the story: The bird as a flute, the duck as an oboe, the cat as the clarinet, and grandfather as the bassoon.
“It’s more accessible when the woodwinds sit up front and the children get to see the instruments representing the animals,” Franco said. “I think it’s a charming way to show the power of how music can represent the affectations in our mind. We have an idea of what a wolf is, and how might a wolf sound. I think that’s something that music can teach all of us.”
Prokofiev wrote “Peter and the Wolf” to teach young audiences how to recognize various instrumentations throughout the story, according to Holleman, and the piece is a symphonic tale for children. Associate Professor of Theatre Christopher Matsos narrated the piece.
“Even though it’s a music event, it is very theatrical,” Matsos said. “It’s a story that’s illustrated through music with the language of the narration. I’ve known this piece ever since I was a little kid, and it’s special bringing it to young audiences.”
The percussion represents the hunters, according to Joseph Diprima, a sophomore and timpanist for the symphony orchestra.
“I get to make this big, long and loud timpani role, startling the kids, which is a lot of fun,” Diprima said.
The second half of the program featured Maxfield’s sequel, “What About the Duck.”
“At the end of ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ the heroes are triumphant, but the wolf has eaten the duck, by swallowing it whole,” Matsos said. “The narrator says, if you listen carefully, you can still hear the duck quacking in the wolf’s belly.”
Holleman said Maxfield used this abrupt ending as the inspiration for his sequel, “What About the Duck.”
“Maxfield has a masterful understanding of the ‘Peter and the Wolf’ score, in the way that melodies and the harmonies and instruments are used,” Franco said. “He builds off of what Prokofiev is doing and balances between the adaptive and the original.”
Freshman Micah Yarlott, a percussionist in the orchestra, said his marimba part represents the grandmother in the sequel. In “What About the Duck,” Maxfield introduces new percussion instruments such as the flexitone to represent the liver. The instruments bring the audience alongside the duck’s travels through the wolf’s spleen, appendix, lungs, tongue and teeth, giving clear instrumentation for the young audience.
“With Prokofiev’s and Maxfield’s compositions, the kids can interact with the music more,” Yarlott said. “I think that all classical music has a story and a purpose, but it takes a bit more imagination to understand classical music which is why the narration helps.”
