Ring-Ring
Teaching material for Ring-Ring
For groups 1 to 8 of primary education
The teaching material focuses on three aspects of the performance:
Content: The storyline and the meaning of the story. Learning aspects: stimulating the imagination, empathy, recognising a storyline, imagination.
Form: Animation, shadow and puppetry and music (audiovisual art, musical theatre).
Technology: Acquire knowledge about how light and shadow work (ties in with nature & technology).
Discipline: Audiovisual art, musical theatre, cultural heritage.
Core objective: Orientation to yourself and the world and artistic orientation.
More information and videos
Ring-Ring
Ring-Ring is about a bicycle bell that is lost. He lost his bike and finds himself in the most bizarre situations. He meets strange creatures and passes by fairytale but also dangerous places. A touching adventure full of cheerful but also tricky moments. Whether he will find his bike will remain exciting until the end.
Image and music
In the performance ‘Ring-Ring’ the music fits exactly with the images that can be seen on the screen. Together they make the story.
Look at how this happens the following movies.
The first film is with accordion and the second and third with a full harmony orchestra.
The players
You will watch a performance performed by 4 people; two players and two musicians. Together they are Lichtbende.
They invented the performance, made the images and composed the music.
Ring-Ring is commissioned by a theater in China
In this video, the makers introduce themselves to them.
The technique
The show takes place in a dark space. On a canvas you see shadows and light images, which are called projections.
The projections in this performance are made with overhead projectors. Old equipment that used in the classroom. The teacher put a transparent plastic sheet on it (a sheet). When he drew or wrote on it, it was projected onto the wall through a mirror behind him. That’s how everyone could see it. The precursor of the smart board.
During the show you can see the projectors. They stand in front of the canvas on which the projections can be seen.
Most of the images in the show are made with plastic bottles. In the video on the right, we show some examples.
Accordion
Next to the canvas are the musicians. They make the music live and sounds that match the images.
Wilco Oomkes makes the music to the show. He does so with an accordion. In this film, he explains how the accordion works and is used.
Ring-Ring the story
A man tinkers with his bike, his thoughts wander and he sees in a wonderful day’s cycle bell among the stars.
During the first accordion sounds, a mighty owl finds the bell and lays it in its nest. One after another chick comes out of the egg. Mama owl flies off and on to feed the hungry squeaky chicks. The bell wakes up and rings so loudly that the chicks fall from the nest in panic. The bell does not understand the excitement until the furious mama chases him out of the nest.
Lonely, the bicycle ring wanders through the dark forest where it is startled by croaking frogs. When a storm comes up, everything and everyone is blown away in a gust of wind. Frogs and bells over each other where the bell eventually ends up in the water
Underwater, the bell plays peacefully between swaying fish until it is suddenly swallowed up and disappears into the rumbling stomach of a fish. In an absurdist scene, a fisherman cuts the fish open and frees the bell.
Eventually, the bell will find its lost bike between the flowers. Cheerful fluttering jumping bugs help him grab the bike. It is accidentally swamed away by air. When the bike comes down and is back on the backsliding, it goes with his light to look for the bell. They find each other and together they cycle further and further… until we wake up from the dream.
Ring-Ring is based on the Silver Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner. An exciting search for a magical ring, but now interpreted in the unique Light-Bungling way. A fairy tale full of eye-catching visual and musical finds. The music of Ring-Ring is specially arranged and composed for accordion, percussion and live electronics. Lead motives from the opera now become as strange and surprising as the images in this story.
Listening - exercises
Listen to the pieces of music and try to think about which mood belongs to which music and which picture fits. Now everything is mixed up.
In the show, each figure has its own mood and music. Each figure is different, some are cheerful, others sombre or playful or dreamy.
Which music, which picture and what text belong together?
the mighty owl
he jumping bugs in love
the dancing frogs
Which music, which picture and what text belong together?
What does Mother Owl do?
she attacks
she rests
she feeds
How does she do that?
agitated
calm
sweet
Which music belongs to which picture and which answers are included? Watch out, now everything is mixed up!
Where is it happening?
in the belly
underwater
in space
What does it sound like there?
sluggish and slow
light and sparkling
dirty and sticky
Who will meet the bell?
the bike
the chick
the frog
How does it react?
panicked
ominous
dreamy
Who’s scared?
the bell
the chicks
the small fish
What will happen to it?
it gets eaten
it gets chased
it’s being scared away
PRACTICAL EXERCISES
Bottle animals
Van plastic flessen kunnen de mooiste dieren gemaakt worden.
Plastic bottles can be made into the most beautiful animals.
1 – 2 Bottle fish
3 Great owl
4 Mother Owl
5 Little Owl
Projection portrait
On the overhead projector you can make the craziest faces with objects and materials. Play and discover.
MORE ABOUT "DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN"
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a 14-hour opera by Richard Wagner. He started this in 1848 and it would take 21 years for the entire opera to be completed.
Der Ring is a story of gods in which a ring gives its owner boundless power over the earth.
Wagner gave each character in the opera his own musical motif so you can recognize by the music which person it is.
Der Ring des Nibelungen is often performed in new theatrical settings. Always grand and super fun, just like the music.
Der Ring des Nibelungen (La Fura dels Baus/Mehta)
Das Rheingold (Robert Lepage)