A Tree That Sang: Research Focus Group

Radiophonic theatre play for children followed by research with the focus group of authors and artists.

The Tree That Sang is a radiophonic theatre play with an aim to show children the world of sound and the world of music, as well as the spaces where those worlds overlap and diverge. By exploring the medium of sound and its potential to bring listeners out of the performing space, children in the audience are encouraged to be active participants in that world. Performance is stimulating the imagination of performers and children's audiences at the time of the giant development of visual communications, when pure listening of music and sounds in general seems almost forgotten. By performing the play in various contexts, including schools in areas extremely affected by earthquakes in 2020, performers are stimulated to listen to various audiences and spaces and develop the play further through different types of interaction and community engagement. The special part of the performance in schools within the communities affected by consequences of 2020 earthquakes was the follow-up workshop led by performers where children were encouraged to get envolved in musicking in various ways, using tools and the music from the theatre play itself.

The authors of the play are creative professionals from various artistic fields who are involved in the process of creating and performing the play and the workshops. In order to encompass their experiences and creative processes, the focus group was organised as a guided reflection on the journey of the play from its very beginning. The aim was to put artists from various disciplines in the position of reflective practitioners focused on the artistic development of the theatre play in a continuum, as well as the audience development and community engagement of the Radioteatar Bajsić, with the emphasis of the development of the 'culture of listening' through the performances with various audiences.

The planing and implementation of research with the focus group was led by our researcher and music pedagogue Ana Čorić.

How to develop the art of listening amongst young audiences in contemporary society, mainly oriented on 'visual'?