The use of Music and Text
Just like all the other elements in a Ludus show, the choice of music is also very important. It can in help to communicate a theme, make the show accessible, create a certain mood or quality, evoke emotions, portray a certain style or give a sense of time and place.
Most of the Ludus shows have original music especially composed, in order to achieve exactly the right sound, style and tempo for a given section. Just as there are often many varied sections in a Ludus show, there are also many diverse pieces of music or sounds used throughout the performance.
All of the Ludus shows contain some text, but this again is used in very different ways depending on the themes and style of the performance. Sometimes text is combined with the movement or the choreography. Text can be heard on the film, it can tell the story, be used to help us understand characters, get across information, or set a scene.
Here are some examples of the different ways in which music and text have been used in a variety of shows and the reasons why they might have been used in such a way.
The use of Music
Clip 1: Trapped
The choice of music for TRAPPED is quite unusual compared to the style of music used in other shows. The choreographer decided to use predominantly existing music rather than have music especially composed. As the piece explores emotions, she wanted the music to heighten emotional states and so chose to use well-known classical music, and mainly strings. This also suits the balletic style of the choreography. In this scene where the daughter finds her mother, the music really evokes those strong emotions.
Clip 2: SOLD
In this section from SOLD called ‘Work’, the music is repetitive, rhythmic and industrial.
It was composed especially for this section and samples of actual sounds from factories were used as a basis for the piece – can you hear them?
The film and choreography have been created to fit the sounds, rhythms and dynamics in the music perfectly. This section really achieves a sense of the relentlessness, danger and harshness of the world of children at work.
Clip 3: Zygote
This music in the ‘Sex Pressure’ section of ZYGOTE was specially composed and here it serves to create a background sound and rhythm to complement the film images and the choreography.
Notice how the music changes as the dancers start to move more quickly and sharply, then in an exaggerated way. What could be being shown here? How is the music helping to get this across?
The use of Text
Clip 1: ID:me
In ID:ME, each character delivers a monologue. These monologues tell the true stories of different peoples life experiences. The dancers use movement in the monologues and they are delivered directly to the audience. Why do you think the stories have been presented in this way?
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Clip 2: Trapped
In this section from TRAPPED, text is used as the Daughter finally manages to contact her Mother after a long and difficult search. Throughout Trapped, there are short sections of text. In some scenes, just a few words from a character works well to heighten the emotions in that scene or communicate a characters’ feelings. We can learn more about the story and different characters through simple conversations. The use of text can also make a scene more surreal or more realistic. How?
Clip 3a: Perfecting Eugene and Clash
Here we see text used in the ‘salsa science’ section of PERFECTING EUGENE and in the ‘brain components’ section of CLASH. The text is really important in these scenes as through the humorous interactions between the comical characters, a great deal of scientific information is conveyed which is important to know and understand in relation to other sections in the show and the issue as a whole.
Clip 3b: Zygote
Text is used in the ‘sex knowledge’ scene from ZYGOTE. Through this question and answer section about sex and contraception, the correct information can be conveyed and common myths dispelled.
Similarly, in the ‘sex talk’ section from ZYGOTE, the words heard in the soundtrack are deliberately chosen in order to let the audience hear correct terminology as opposed to slang words.
