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May 31, 2020: Die Forelle by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps."
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find a translation here
Singing and puppetry by Juliana Brandon. Backing track by Matthew Menovcik.
I have a long history with this, possibly Schubert's most famous, song. I first learned it as a freshman in college and then sang it with my operatic burlesque troupe, Operadisiac. In these shows I was generally dressed in a silver trout costume that I mostly made myself which consisted of a very tight tail that I could only hop around in with a silver corset and silver fish-scaled bra. The upper items came off one by one, eventually revealing a set of trout pasties (one head and one tail). Turns out a hazard of hopping is that things tend to jostle. During one show a pasty fell off, causing the audience to gasp, but they were actually fastened with Velcro to a flesh colored pasty beneath - one of Marchette DuBois' wonderful inventions for quick backstage pasty changes.
Marchette is also a wonderful accordion player, but the accordion is not made to handle the quick ascending scales in all the octaves Schubert wrote in the piano part of this song. Her modification made the accompaniment sound rather like Donkey Kong. This cracked us up to no end, so when my then boyfriend created a backing track for it he utilized the same sounds used in the video game. There's also a little mistake in the backing track, a note that shouldn't be there, but it's grown on me, and I see it as akin to the ink splat Schubert spilled on a copy of the manuscript he was drunkenly scribbling out for a friend.
As for the puppets, I kept it very simple. The fisherman is upside down because this is how trout see. Images above water are upside down to them, and they have large blind spots because their eyes are on either side of their head. Looking up is not their forte. Anglers know this and use it to their advantage. However, I kept the woman watching the trout right side up. This is more for balance but it also highlights the moral character of the two humans in the story. I also gave the trout a sweetheart. The sweetie can be seen at the end searching for the cruelly captured one.
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find a translation here
Singing and puppetry by Juliana Brandon. Backing track by Matthew Menovcik.
I have a long history with this, possibly Schubert's most famous, song. I first learned it as a freshman in college and then sang it with my operatic burlesque troupe, Operadisiac. In these shows I was generally dressed in a silver trout costume that I mostly made myself which consisted of a very tight tail that I could only hop around in with a silver corset and silver fish-scaled bra. The upper items came off one by one, eventually revealing a set of trout pasties (one head and one tail). Turns out a hazard of hopping is that things tend to jostle. During one show a pasty fell off, causing the audience to gasp, but they were actually fastened with Velcro to a flesh colored pasty beneath - one of Marchette DuBois' wonderful inventions for quick backstage pasty changes.
Marchette is also a wonderful accordion player, but the accordion is not made to handle the quick ascending scales in all the octaves Schubert wrote in the piano part of this song. Her modification made the accompaniment sound rather like Donkey Kong. This cracked us up to no end, so when my then boyfriend created a backing track for it he utilized the same sounds used in the video game. There's also a little mistake in the backing track, a note that shouldn't be there, but it's grown on me, and I see it as akin to the ink splat Schubert spilled on a copy of the manuscript he was drunkenly scribbling out for a friend.
As for the puppets, I kept it very simple. The fisherman is upside down because this is how trout see. Images above water are upside down to them, and they have large blind spots because their eyes are on either side of their head. Looking up is not their forte. Anglers know this and use it to their advantage. However, I kept the woman watching the trout right side up. This is more for balance but it also highlights the moral character of the two humans in the story. I also gave the trout a sweetheart. The sweetie can be seen at the end searching for the cruelly captured one.
May 24, 2020: Wiegenlied by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps."
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find a translation here
Singing, backing track, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon.
This is a well known Schubert song, one of many lullabies he wrote, and probably the most famous of them. Pavarotti used to sing this as an encore! In my puppet version the baby starts out in a bubble, which is destroyed, leaving him vulnerable to the cruelty of life. The baby dies and is represented by the lamb, a common theme on 19th century gravestones for children. This is a dark lullaby, as many of them from the Romantic era traditionally are. In the last verse the child has returned to the earth and springs up as flowers.
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find a translation here
Singing, backing track, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon.
This is a well known Schubert song, one of many lullabies he wrote, and probably the most famous of them. Pavarotti used to sing this as an encore! In my puppet version the baby starts out in a bubble, which is destroyed, leaving him vulnerable to the cruelty of life. The baby dies and is represented by the lamb, a common theme on 19th century gravestones for children. This is a dark lullaby, as many of them from the Romantic era traditionally are. In the last verse the child has returned to the earth and springs up as flowers.
May 17, 2020: Winterlied by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps."
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and read an English translation here
Singing, backing track, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
Not every song Schubert wrote about winter is dismal. This one, written on May 13, 1816, actually praises winter's ability to make us more aware of the love in our lives.
When living with my parents a few years ago I noticed how beautiful the shadows of the rose vines were against the lace curtains on the window and thought this surely must be turned into a puppet show. I hand sewed these little curtains and made a two layered set. This was also the first time I tried drawing a bird with color felt pens on clear plastic, and I was surprised how well it turned out.
The piano part to this song is so simple that each line can be played by other instruments. Once at an open studio party I had my friend, Karen Luke-Fildes, play the top part on flute and her daughter, Ellen Kilcup, play the bottom part on cello while I sang along. The backing track I made for this is another version of bells, but dark winter bells.
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and read an English translation here
Singing, backing track, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
Not every song Schubert wrote about winter is dismal. This one, written on May 13, 1816, actually praises winter's ability to make us more aware of the love in our lives.
When living with my parents a few years ago I noticed how beautiful the shadows of the rose vines were against the lace curtains on the window and thought this surely must be turned into a puppet show. I hand sewed these little curtains and made a two layered set. This was also the first time I tried drawing a bird with color felt pens on clear plastic, and I was surprised how well it turned out.
The piano part to this song is so simple that each line can be played by other instruments. Once at an open studio party I had my friend, Karen Luke-Fildes, play the top part on flute and her daughter, Ellen Kilcup, play the bottom part on cello while I sang along. The backing track I made for this is another version of bells, but dark winter bells.
May 10, 2020: Nach einem Gewitter by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps."
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here.
Singing, backing track, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
I just find this song really charming with lovely visuals, so I wanted to puppetize it. This was my first try creating realistic looking cut paper flowers. Each of the birds are based on real birds as well. Philomel refers to the Greek myth of the creation of the nightingale, so she appears in the first verse. In the second verse a lark and a swallow appear feeding from a poppy, dahlia, and pansy.
The piece begins with the mountains beneath a giant dewdrop, a fun effect provided by iridescent cellophane. I chose a music box-like sound for the backing track because it evoked tiny droplets of water falling from bird wings and flower leaves to me. Not much else to say about this one, it's not quite two minutes long!
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here.
Singing, backing track, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
I just find this song really charming with lovely visuals, so I wanted to puppetize it. This was my first try creating realistic looking cut paper flowers. Each of the birds are based on real birds as well. Philomel refers to the Greek myth of the creation of the nightingale, so she appears in the first verse. In the second verse a lark and a swallow appear feeding from a poppy, dahlia, and pansy.
The piece begins with the mountains beneath a giant dewdrop, a fun effect provided by iridescent cellophane. I chose a music box-like sound for the backing track because it evoked tiny droplets of water falling from bird wings and flower leaves to me. Not much else to say about this one, it's not quite two minutes long!
May 3, 2020: Du bist die Ruh by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps."
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here
Puppetry, singing, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
Though I had heard this song before there came a day when I had to listen to it over and over in constant tears. I don't know why. Unfortunately I seem to have gotten too familiar with this song now, but I knew I wanted to make a puppet show out of it. I love this poem! It actually is in a similar vein to the poetry I write myself, so I feel it keenly.
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here
Puppetry, singing, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
Though I had heard this song before there came a day when I had to listen to it over and over in constant tears. I don't know why. Unfortunately I seem to have gotten too familiar with this song now, but I knew I wanted to make a puppet show out of it. I love this poem! It actually is in a similar vein to the poetry I write myself, so I feel it keenly.
This puppet show contrasts states of emptiness/darkness with fullness/light. The woman is a hollow puppet waiting to be filled by the presence of her beloved. She goes about the house she once shared with him and straightens it out for his return, passing from room to room like a ghost. Is her beloved dead or alive? Even I'm not sure.
At the end I included a big pink lotus, a bow to the inspiration Rückert, the poet, found in Indian transcendental philosophy. I originally wanted it to open up, but that proved to be too awkward. I also went back to an old trick I used when coming up with the imagery for the Winterreise puppet show. I meditated and asked Schubert himself about this song. He seemed to have some great insights which I will post on my blog this week. You can find that in the Backstage section of this website. Most pertinently, Franz said that the descending bass line represents walking downstairs into your own heart, and the little trill in the piano before each verse represents the lighting of a candle.
At the end I included a big pink lotus, a bow to the inspiration Rückert, the poet, found in Indian transcendental philosophy. I originally wanted it to open up, but that proved to be too awkward. I also went back to an old trick I used when coming up with the imagery for the Winterreise puppet show. I meditated and asked Schubert himself about this song. He seemed to have some great insights which I will post on my blog this week. You can find that in the Backstage section of this website. Most pertinently, Franz said that the descending bass line represents walking downstairs into your own heart, and the little trill in the piano before each verse represents the lighting of a candle.
April 26, 2020: Auflösung by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps."
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here
Puppetry, singing, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
This song jumped out at me and gave me goosebumps one day when I was otherwise just sitting on the couch doing something mundane. The "fires of rapture" are quite evident in the music, but I find it funny that the nature of these raptures feels very different depending on what key this song is performed in. I haven't yet found a recording in the original key, in which I sing it. Everything I've found has been recorded lower. The recording that grabbed my attention that day is significantly lower, and felt like pure sex in musical form. When I sing it higher it really does give me the resonance of some grand ethereal pleasure that is far beyond this earthly realm. Eh, sex and heaven are clearly related: as above so below?
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here
Puppetry, singing, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
This song jumped out at me and gave me goosebumps one day when I was otherwise just sitting on the couch doing something mundane. The "fires of rapture" are quite evident in the music, but I find it funny that the nature of these raptures feels very different depending on what key this song is performed in. I haven't yet found a recording in the original key, in which I sing it. Everything I've found has been recorded lower. The recording that grabbed my attention that day is significantly lower, and felt like pure sex in musical form. When I sing it higher it really does give me the resonance of some grand ethereal pleasure that is far beyond this earthly realm. Eh, sex and heaven are clearly related: as above so below?
I feel this song is very relevant for me today. Being shut in all day I find myself mustering up the courage to say, "Spring beauty, flee, and leave me alone!" I become feral in spring and summer and it's very hard for me to stay indoors at all, but I'm lucky my work is calling to me so loudly that even though I stay at home by government decree I am also glad to have this chance to work.
With this show I did my best to convey the dissolution of the world and the re-imagining of better castles in the clouds. I hope this ends up being the case in the real world as well, but with firm and lasting roots for these re-imaginings.
With this show I did my best to convey the dissolution of the world and the re-imagining of better castles in the clouds. I hope this ends up being the case in the real world as well, but with firm and lasting roots for these re-imaginings.
April 19, 2020: Frühlingsglaube by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps."
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here
Puppetry, singing, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
This is the first Schubert song I set in puppet form, and one of the first I learned back in freshman year of college. I used to perform this piece with my operatic burlesque troupe, Operadisiac, dressed in a ridiculous "sexy" chicken costume and laying eggs on stage. Seriously, ask me how! But the inspiration for this puppet show came from a different place.
I was sitting in the apple orchard at Carkeek Park, a truly lovely and somewhat haunted place. The set for this show comes directly from my experiences there including the gnarled trunk on the ground, the dandelions and bluebells. I wanted to include the little lawn daisies that dotted the ground, but portraying that many tiny white spots in shadow form would have been too difficult.
Watch it here.
You can read more about this song here and find an English translation here
Puppetry, singing, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
This is the first Schubert song I set in puppet form, and one of the first I learned back in freshman year of college. I used to perform this piece with my operatic burlesque troupe, Operadisiac, dressed in a ridiculous "sexy" chicken costume and laying eggs on stage. Seriously, ask me how! But the inspiration for this puppet show came from a different place.
I was sitting in the apple orchard at Carkeek Park, a truly lovely and somewhat haunted place. The set for this show comes directly from my experiences there including the gnarled trunk on the ground, the dandelions and bluebells. I wanted to include the little lawn daisies that dotted the ground, but portraying that many tiny white spots in shadow form would have been too difficult.
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I often sing this song when I need to comfort myself. Back in my sexy chicken years I received a bit of a shock on the love front just before going out on stage to sing this song, but it certainly helped me feel better. The images in the puppet show are all about healing the heart and expanding your consciousness so that you too can believe that everything will change.
BTW, it's also fun to sing this song at open mic playing the piano interludes on kazoo |
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April 12, 2020, Easter: Der Vollmond Strahlt "Romanze" from Rosamunde by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps" watch it here. You can read more about Rosamunde here and click here for an English translation.
Singing, puppetry, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
Schubert arranged this song in two incarnations. One is with piano accompaniment, and one is orchestrated for use as the incidental music he wrote for Wilhelmina von Chézy's play Rosamunde. Schubert plagiarized himself for much of the music for that play, but it is not my place to go into that here. I find it interesting that there are subtle changes in rhythm between the two versions of this song. I think there is more interest in the version with piano, so that is what I used. A Romanze, or Romance, is basically a serenade. In my mind the orchestrated version of this song plays up this serenade aspect by using winds to evoke what was commonly known as Harmoniemusik in Schubert's time, meaning a wind band that played at parties and was available for hire to play serenades under your sweetheart's window. It was common practice for opera composers to arrange their greatest hits for such bands...or to have these arrangements made anyway without their permission. There is much more to the choice of meter and instrumentation which can be read about in part here.
Singing, puppetry, and backing tracks by Juliana Brandon
Schubert arranged this song in two incarnations. One is with piano accompaniment, and one is orchestrated for use as the incidental music he wrote for Wilhelmina von Chézy's play Rosamunde. Schubert plagiarized himself for much of the music for that play, but it is not my place to go into that here. I find it interesting that there are subtle changes in rhythm between the two versions of this song. I think there is more interest in the version with piano, so that is what I used. A Romanze, or Romance, is basically a serenade. In my mind the orchestrated version of this song plays up this serenade aspect by using winds to evoke what was commonly known as Harmoniemusik in Schubert's time, meaning a wind band that played at parties and was available for hire to play serenades under your sweetheart's window. It was common practice for opera composers to arrange their greatest hits for such bands...or to have these arrangements made anyway without their permission. There is much more to the choice of meter and instrumentation which can be read about in part here.
This is probably the simplest song in my Schubert Scraps compilation in the way of action and number of puppets, but definitely not the easiest as far as manipulating these puppets is concerned. You can see that in this livestream as the first puppet tries to kneel with unintended comic results. I hesitated putting this up because of this mistake, but that is the beauty of live streams! In this video you can also hear me tell the real Easter ghost story that occurred mere moments before I went live. I see this song as a simple ghostly love story, one of the few in the set where the puppets are completely left to their own emotions. I chose a music box sound for the backing track to highlight the somewhat creepy and poignant ghostly nature of this romance.
Since making this video I figured out how to make a shadow puppet that bends at the waist and is more emotive, so I will upload an improved video of this piece soon.
Since making this video I figured out how to make a shadow puppet that bends at the waist and is more emotive, so I will upload an improved video of this piece soon.
April 5, 2020: Nachthymne by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps" watch it here
You can read more about this song here. Find the English Translation here.
Singing, backing tracks, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
This is probably my favorite Schubert song ever, or darn near. I knew the basic translation of it through the music alone before looking it up. I heard a voice in meditation once say "Your love sets the church of my soul on fire," and that line came back to me when I heard this song for the first time. What the heck does that even mean? Society and religion often aim to tell us how to love, making us think that we know what to expect, what love should be like. Sometimes though, if we're lucky, we can experience a love that destroys all expectations, all rules, all boundaries. This song is about such a love. You can hear how chorale like the opening is, this sets the scene for the church, but this music quickly rattles apart and the church is destroyed. Nature takes its place as the soul flies out in search of her beloved. Or so this is my conception of this piece in puppet form. The soul's quest takes her underground after finding her lover's profile in the shape of a hill. She flies through roots and rocks before coming to the ever darkening city of the night where, eventually, she finds the window to eternal union with her beloved in death.
You can read more about this song here. Find the English Translation here.
Singing, backing tracks, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
This is probably my favorite Schubert song ever, or darn near. I knew the basic translation of it through the music alone before looking it up. I heard a voice in meditation once say "Your love sets the church of my soul on fire," and that line came back to me when I heard this song for the first time. What the heck does that even mean? Society and religion often aim to tell us how to love, making us think that we know what to expect, what love should be like. Sometimes though, if we're lucky, we can experience a love that destroys all expectations, all rules, all boundaries. This song is about such a love. You can hear how chorale like the opening is, this sets the scene for the church, but this music quickly rattles apart and the church is destroyed. Nature takes its place as the soul flies out in search of her beloved. Or so this is my conception of this piece in puppet form. The soul's quest takes her underground after finding her lover's profile in the shape of a hill. She flies through roots and rocks before coming to the ever darkening city of the night where, eventually, she finds the window to eternal union with her beloved in death.
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This is, granted, a rather erotic poem and the music does this eroticism justice. Listen to the rising bass line toward the end, full of yearning and excitement. This moment still gives me goosebumps. I just wish I could have made the backing track louder there. Well, maybe I'll fuss with it some more later. That said, this eroticism is not going to be at all obvious to kids, and the puppets are kid friendly, so go ahead and let them watch if they want. If you want to listen to a swell recording of this song sung by Elly Ameling with Dalton Baldwin on piano you can here.
This song opened up the world of Novalis' poetry to me, which is fantastic! He wrote a series of Night Hymns, of which this is only one, and Schubert did set a couple of the others. These Night Hymns are really all about shadow work, about diving into your deepest darkness and transforming it. One of the things I love so much about delving so deeply into Schubert's songs is finding all the poetry that inspired them, and boy oh boy, what a treasure trove that is! |
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March 29, 2020: An die Musik by Franz Schubert from "Schubert Scraps" watch it here
You can read more about this song here and here. Find the English translation here.
Singing, backing tracks, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
I heard that after Schubert's death one of the manuscripts of this song (there are several extant) was divided into eight parts and distributed among his friends. For my puppet rendition of this piece I enlarged the manuscript and hand traced it into the body of the birds. A neat trick of the light I use with this puppet theater is that images on tracing paper do not appear when the puppet is held away from the screen, but they do appear once the puppet is placed directly against the screen. The background is a scrolling scene of emerging sunrise, representing the way music helps us emerge from our darkness. The border of the screen is a mountain, showing how hope can emerge even within harsh obstacles.
You can read more about this song here and here. Find the English translation here.
Singing, backing tracks, and puppetry by Juliana Brandon
I heard that after Schubert's death one of the manuscripts of this song (there are several extant) was divided into eight parts and distributed among his friends. For my puppet rendition of this piece I enlarged the manuscript and hand traced it into the body of the birds. A neat trick of the light I use with this puppet theater is that images on tracing paper do not appear when the puppet is held away from the screen, but they do appear once the puppet is placed directly against the screen. The background is a scrolling scene of emerging sunrise, representing the way music helps us emerge from our darkness. The border of the screen is a mountain, showing how hope can emerge even within harsh obstacles.
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I started working on this piece back in February, 2018 when I was still living with my parents. Here's a photo from that time of the bird against the backdrop of one of my mother's paintings. She passed in December 2019 leaving a vast legacy of paintings and poetry behind which I hope to bring into the light in time. Truly, these past few months have been a time of great darkness for me personally. I have been grateful to music for helping me through it. |
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March 22, 2020: Bach's wedding cantata Weichet nur betrübte Schatten watch it here
Learn more about this piece here. Click here for an English translation.
Puppetry and singing by Juliana Brandon, backing tracks by Kevin Crosby in "Switched on Bach" fashion
This was the very first full length solo puppet piece I ever created back in early 2017 with the hope that one day I will create a show for all nine of Bach's solo soprano cantatas. I chose to start with this one because for the most part I already knew it, but also spring was coming and this piece is very much about spring. At the end you may notice a marching band of squirrels. This is because the very first public performance of this piece was given when I was the opening act for the return of beloved Seattle band, The Squirrels at Darrell's Tavern in April 2017. I opened for The Squirrel's again a couple years later on Groundhog's Day, so I added a groundhog puppet for that occasion and he just stayed in it to win it. SPOILER ALERT: In this particular video I dropped Kitty Cupid when trying to flip him around and had to think on the fly, so the deer shows up to do Cupid's job. It almost cracked me up, so I might keep it this way in the future.
Learn more about this piece here. Click here for an English translation.
Puppetry and singing by Juliana Brandon, backing tracks by Kevin Crosby in "Switched on Bach" fashion
This was the very first full length solo puppet piece I ever created back in early 2017 with the hope that one day I will create a show for all nine of Bach's solo soprano cantatas. I chose to start with this one because for the most part I already knew it, but also spring was coming and this piece is very much about spring. At the end you may notice a marching band of squirrels. This is because the very first public performance of this piece was given when I was the opening act for the return of beloved Seattle band, The Squirrels at Darrell's Tavern in April 2017. I opened for The Squirrel's again a couple years later on Groundhog's Day, so I added a groundhog puppet for that occasion and he just stayed in it to win it. SPOILER ALERT: In this particular video I dropped Kitty Cupid when trying to flip him around and had to think on the fly, so the deer shows up to do Cupid's job. It almost cracked me up, so I might keep it this way in the future.
The Isle of Merlin is up on Youtube! Many thanks to Ben Grover for putting this together and posting it. It is a one act opera, but we threw an intermission in there, so the whole thing is posted in two parts. I hope you enjoy our inaugural production and you can be there in person for the next one.
Merlin Part One
Merlin Part Two
Merlin Part One
Merlin Part Two
Here is the test run of a shadow puppet version of Mozart's The Goose of Cairo in August of 2015 as part of an Operadisiac show, the proto-Paper-Puppet-Opera-Prototype! We weren't able to do the entire thing since we couldn't find a second baritone, not that there even is an "entire thing". The Goose is a fragment that Mozart thought was too stupid to finish, but we had great fun with it and I made it as ridiculous and surreal as possible. The whole thing was caught on video, which you can enjoy in smatterings on Youtube by following the links below. I discovered the wonder of halogen light, so our next production won't be quite this fuzzy, but the fluorescent bulb does create a dreamy atmosphere, I must admit. I do hope to revive this production in full with another baritone some time in the future.
Goose Part One
Goose Part Two
Goose Part Three
Goose Part Four
Goose Part Five
Goose Part Six
Goose Part One
Goose Part Two
Goose Part Three
Goose Part Four
Goose Part Five
Goose Part Six