Abstract, intimidating, unintelligible: These are words I often hear used to describe new music. People who use them might assume that every new-music festival is chock-full of serious, difficult sounds that can daunt even trained musicians, not to mention the musically uninitiated.
The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, however, fits no such description. In fact, it even makes room for some child's play. This new-music festival, now in its 46th season, held its annual children's concert Sunday at the Santa Cruz Civil Auditorium. The free program delighted children and parents alike.
The concert aimed to mix education with entertainment. The tickets, for example, lacked the usual row and seat assignments. Seating sections were labeled instead by descriptions of sounds that various instruments make, including "gong," "pluck," "toot," and "bang." Inside the auditorium, festival workers held signs with the same words, which were big enough even for little eyes to read. Thus, everyone could find their assigned seating section quickly. But nobody would remain seated for long.
The music started off with a bang — literally. The percussion section performed first, playing a short, taiko-inspired piece on Western drums. This was the first of several introductions made to instrument families, coming before the Festival Orchestra played together as a whole. Since this program catered to the short attention spans of its short audience members, though, most of the remaining introductions took place outdoors.
Led by workers bearing the seating signs, the audience left the auditorium in groups and traveled to stations around the building. Brass and woodwind quintets, a harp, and a string quartet performed at the various stations. After the short performances, children were free to ask the performers questions. Astute members of my group, for example, inquired about how many strings there are on a harp, or why woodwinds are called "woodwinds" when they obviously are not all made of wood.
After the introductions to the instruments, everyone gathered back inside the auditorium to hear two pieces performed by the entire Festival Orchestra. The first, Machine by Jennifer Higdon, layered noodles of scale figures on blocks of staccato rhythmic patterns. With the piece clocking in at a brisk three minutes, the children appreciated that it was energetic and, at times, delightfully loud.