A Conversation for BB NaJoPoMo

Puppet Power!

Post 1

Bluebottle

My children are both in a local puppet club and, because they need extra people for their Christmas show (many of their older members having left to go to University) I have also recently joined the club (my wife having already joined last year when my daughter did to help supervise as at the time the leader was reluctant to have any members under 10, but she's done well). Anyway, the club leader decided it would be a good idea if the club members went to Warwickshire to attend a (rod) Puppet Festival being held there, and so most of the members of the club bundled into a minismiley - bus on Friday morning to go to Rugby. In the smiley - bus were 15 of us – only 4 adults, and of the 11 children five were named James (including two of the girls) which could be considered confusing.

We arrived at Warwickshire College where the event was being held on time and saw they had a room dedicated to selling rod puppets and associated materials, which they named the 'resources centre' as in 'This booklet is a great resource and is available from the resource centre', which translates as 'please buy this from the shop'. They had a lot of things for sale, many of them what I would consider to be on the steep side smiley - 2cents but there's no denying the quality. Over the weekend they alternated between calling it a 'conference' and a 'festival', however there were five workshop periods – each workshop period having a choice of at least 12 different workshops you could choose to attend to learn different things related to puppetry – and between the workshops there were competitions in the main hall. Each competition had between six and three finalists in a certain area, such as 'solo & vent' for ventriloquists, open event, team songs, magic, lip synch etc, and on the Saturday night there was a two-hour show led by many of those who were leading the classes.

Both the workshops I went to on the Friday I went to on my own, without anyone else from the puppet club attending. The first workshop I went to on the Friday was titled 'Basic Puppetry', which seemed a good idea on the grounds that I had only just joined the puppet club, and I learnt the six steps of basic puppetry:
0.) Rodding your puppet
1.) The four-step Entrance
2.) Keeping the puppet at the right height (your eye-line level with its belly-button)
3.) Maintaining eye-contact with the puppet.
4.) Lip synch – move mouth once per syllable.
5.) This might have been about realistic movement? (I said I learnt them, I didn't say I remembered them)
6.) The exit.

This was very informative and after seeing some of the ventriloquism competition (which was good because it was the only competition where you could see who the puppeteers were) I went to my second class, which was on 'scriptwriting' which I thought might have some useful transferrable tips to drawing cartoons etc. I must admit I was disappointed as it wasn't really about scriptwriting per se, just a few general tips on writing a short skit and it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Still, I must admit that she knew what she was talking about as she performed skits she had written later on during the show. (I always thought a 'skit' was a single, dramatised joke whereas a short scene is a 'sketch', however she was American so might use different definitions – add the old quote about two nations divided by a common language here). During the workshop she asked the people in the room various questions, while I tried to get away with sitting quietly at the back. First of all she asked, 'how long have people been using puppets for?' and getting the answers, '8 years', '12 years', '23 years', '35 years' while I was thinking 'four weeks'. She also asked where people had gone with their puppets, and being told, 'I've been in dementia wards', 'I've been in churches', 'I've been in school assemblies', 'I've been in toddler groups and nurseries', 'I've been in theatres', 'I've been in care homes and hospitals' and I was thinking, 'I got in a mini-bus this morning.'

Apparently some of the girls went to a workshop titled 'Puppetry for children' and were very disappointed to find the room filled with old people, as the workshop wasn't about children doing puppets but how (old) people can use puppets to entertain children. In fact, the age range of those attending was much older than I expected, as out puppet club is predominantly for children with adults adding additional background characters and guidance, whereas the conference was definitely dominated by people older than me. We weren't the only ones with children there, but they were a definite minority.

The show itself that rounded off the day was truly incredible, especially considering the puppetry was all done with puppets that were available in the 'resource centre' (It's a shop! It's a room with a till where things are bought, so call it a shop! Not a resource centre!) We'd arrived early and got seats in the front row, which led to me worrying that I'd be picked on. There was also a bit of a magic show which involved someone playing Hangman apparently for real, with a gallows, that my daughter was getting very worried during. You don't normally see someone build a gallows and then put their head through a noose right in front of you… Still, that aside it was an incredible, eye-opening day.

<BB<


Puppet Power!

Post 2

SashaQ - happysad

Thanks for writing about this - a fascinating glimpse into a world I wasn't aware of! I salute your group for being based on puppetry by children for children smiley - ok

"First of all she asked, 'how long have people been using puppets for?' and getting the answers, '8 years', '12 years', '23 years', '35 years' while I was thinking 'four weeks'."

Wow... That reminds me of when I was 14 and my music teacher entered me and my classmate into a competition. It was banded by age group so we were in the 11-15 class, but we had been learning for 3 years while our competitors had been learning since they were 3 years old. Needless to say, we didn't do very well smiley - flustered

"Still, that aside it was an incredible, eye-opening day."

smiley - ok


Puppet Power!

Post 3

Bluebottle

smiley - yikes How did you get on with the music competition, and were you playing an instrument, or singing…?smiley - whistlesmiley - musicalnote I did have the option of entering the lip synch competition but d

I've remembered number five! Number five is alive! smiley - eureka The fifth step of puppetry was how to hold two rods. With rod puppets you usually have one hand in the head to operate mouth and head movements – normally the hand you write with – while the subordinate hand operates the hand rods, one for each arm. We were shown how to best hold two rods in one hand, including how to open arms wide, fold arms etc. Essentially there are different techniques from alternating rods, fist-grip, palm-grip and, most useful of all, the X-grip and the advantages and disadvantages of each, as well as interacting with another rod puppet and doing things such as shaking hands and high-fiving, on the grounds that you can't actually see what your puppets are doing.

(Incidentally, the eye-contact is ensuring that the puppet maintains eye contact with the audience, in order to keep their attention, rather than you maintaining eye contact with the puppet).

<BB<


Puppet Power!

Post 4

SashaQ - happysad

Ah, number five is an important skill (that explains why most puppets with one arm are left handed, too). Not easy to get your puppet to maintain eye contact when you don’t have eye contact with the puppet, I can imagine...

We played electronic keyboard in the competition, but the tunes we performed were from Complete Keyboard Player Book 1, and our competitors performed pieces that were like Grade 6 Piano standard so we weren’t in the same league! It was an educational experience, as I went on stage and performed my little tune even though I was consumed by embarrassment, but I wasn’t tempted to enter any more of those competitions! It’s much more fun playing keyboard in the comfort of my own home, and sharing funny videos with h2g2 if I feel like it smiley - biggrin


Puppet Power!

Post 5

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Personally, Sasha, I find your use of the Yamaha keyboard to be very skillful. smiley - smiley You have great musicality and timing - and those aren't that common. It's all about the music, and sometimes less is more, but then you know all that. smiley - winkeye

Also, BB, just to say that I'm following your puppet story with interest. smiley - jester Good luck to everybody!


Puppet Power!

Post 6

SashaQ - happysad

Thank you smiley - biggrin

I think the music teacher was thinking we would do well if we played a simple piece perfectly, but we were already on to Book 2 by then, so we could have played a more exciting tune slightly less perfectly and it would have been slightly less embarrassing, but there we go smiley - laugh I had lessons until I was half way through Book 3 and then I worked through Book 4 by myself, so I do have skills, yes, even though my ability to play different notes with each hand is not in the same league as yours smiley - applausesmiley - biggrin

"Also, BB, just to say that I'm following your puppet story with interest. smiley - jester Good luck to everybody! "

I second that smiley - ok


Puppet Power!

Post 7

Bluebottle

I'm enjoying a puppet-free week now until Monday, although we did resource a 'Foundations of Puppetry' DVD from the resource centre. I could watch that.

<BB<


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