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Music at the Hospital Day 3 Phase 2 Hospital F | Puppet Portal Project phase 2
2010-11-15
Music at the Hospital Day 3 Phase 2 Hospital F
Fionnuala Conway joined in our workshop today introducing a fresh approach to performance through sound and music. Puppets were built directly onto arms and hands using bandage and bandaids for bodies, twisty pipe-cleaners for jiving legs and air dry dough heads. This meant the puppets were directly involved in the playing of instruments, diverting attention away from the children so they could loosen up while their puppets jammed. It also turned into a novelty to wear bandages for fun. Working in the playroom instills a playful atmosphere and the process was full of merriment. The staff do everything they can to accomodate involvement, including wheeling a whole bed in when necessary! One participant began so shyly, only his toes played out of view but by the end of the rehearsal he had instigated a raucous game of football with a new found friend and after lunch got wheeled back in for more. Only for his self-consciousness, we were all ready to follow him down the corridor when he had to leave for an xray as a parade of tambourines, xylophones, cymbals and drums. Even shy parents found a role for themselves as audience, enthusiastically applauding so our puppets could practice bowing. And Fionnuala managed by great dint of encouragement to enlist a 13 year old boy to assist us in recording our songs, an achievement in itself!
The music element naturally inspires collaboration and energises the participants, alleviating shyness very easily. When it came time to do our web link-up we had a captivated orchestra with instruments at the ready, gathered in the centre of the playroom around the bed to serenade the puppets we saw from the other hsopitals. Delayed feedback actually proved to be an good thing as the children could hear themselves speaking and singing in unision as well as the other puppets response. This might be a device we could use later. When participants saw their voices generating waveforms or listened to them distorted through filters it encouraged them to speak and sing where they might otherwise have felt embarrassed. And we can away with a nice little set of recordings.
Unfortunately, visits to the isolation wards were impaired by timing of various procedures and I didnt manage to get any time to experiment with the windows onto the corridor. The unpredictability is a challenge and sometimes makes me question how useful I am for the children in these wards. It feels sometimes that the time I arrive to make puppets is a precious bit of time that they need to free play as a release. It changes my role, at least the objective of it. But I guess thats interesting enough and observing how children release tension through play, chat or fooling around can be lead to the most uncanny `performances` in an organic way.
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