Hi there! I completed the second of my schools listening workshops this week. It was the first workshop in the project where I'd brought a musician into the session with me. First up was Katy Barry, a friend of mine and a professional singer. Katy and I devised the workshop together and we wanted to allow the children to explore contemporary vocal techniques through listening and by joining in themselves.
We began by listening to Katy singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow. The kids all sat and soaked it up and it was really lovely to see them so engrossed. We then had a chat about the use of vibrato and Katy explained that she had been using this technique in the example. We then listened to Katy singing a line with and without vibrato and we asked the kids to note down how each made them feel. Some kids wrote down colours - with warm colours tending to go with the vibrato and colder colours tending to go without vibrato. Some children drew wavy and straight lines and some kids drew more pictorial drawings.
Katy then taught the group some more vocal techniques: trills, growling, glottal pops, and inhalation whilst singing. Some of these are quite experimental techniques and some participants were surprised that we were asking them to growl! Katy and I then shaped a short vocal piece using these techniques. Interestingly, after this exercise quite a few participants didn't consider what they had done to be musical. They thought that it was just noise. I am keen to listen to all of their thoughts and opinions and when asked, most of them could back up quite clearly why they didn't feel it was music.
The second exercise we did with Katy was to apply some vocal sounds to a short nursery rhyme, Polly Put The Kettle On. We chose this as we thought it would be quick to learn for those who didn't know it and for those children where English is not their first language. The children had fun thinking of what sounds they could create to help "tell the story" of the song.
We then had the chance to listen to a recording of a piece by a real pioneer of experimental vocal techniques, Joan La Barbara. I explained that many of the techniques we had learned were developed by this musician. The piece which I chose to play at Pirniehall on the Tuesday was called Hear What I Feel. I explained to the group that Joan had prepared herself for the performance by sitting with a blindfold on for an hour. She then described vocally six object which were presented to her. It's a very odd piece and extremely challenging to listen to (not least because it actually sounds very disturbing at points). I asked the children to sit with their eyes closed and see if they could mime the touching of the objects as they listened to Joan La Barbara describe them. However, with both groups the children found the piece to be too strange and laughter overcame them.
A change of plan then at Preston Street on Wednesday was to play a different piece by this visionary singer. This time I played Circular Song (a piece which I have heard her sing live recently). This is an extended exploration of the technique that we tried where you sing on both exhalations and inhalations. It was originally used by horn players so that they could play long passages, seemingly without taking breath.
The reactions of the participants to this piece were fascinating. More than half sat and traced the shape of the rising and falling melody without being asked to do so. Some children had more extreme reactions. One boy actually started convulsing in quite an odd way but he was smiling as he did it. An interesting thing I am observing is that there is a fine line between extreme reactions that are quite deliberate, and those that are completely unavoidable for the child. I think in this case it started off as a reaction that might get a few laughs but turned into quite an honest improvised movement piece to the music.
Friday 22 January 2010
Thursday 21 January 2010
Music listening schools project begins
I have started working on the next stage of my residency with Imaginate. I will be working with 3 Primary 5 classes in Edinburgh schools on a music listening research project. I'm interested in hearing the pupils' thoughts and opinions on lots of differnet pieces of music. All of the music has been chosen to be challenging as I think it will be interesting for the pupils to listen to music that they might not often get the chance to listen to. I want them to be honest and tell me what they think of the music and I will be getting them to respond in various ways. I'm also going to be working with musicians throughout the project: a singer, a trombonist, a percussionist, and a clarinetist.
I am working in Pirniehall on Tuesdays and Preston Street on Wednesdays. In the second block of workshops I will work with Dalry rather than Pirniehall. The workshops have been structured in this way so I can see whether the children at Preston Street show advanced signs of music listening due to receiving double the amount of workshops.
The first workshop was all about listening to pieces fro solo instruments from late 20th century or early 21st century composers. The first piece we listened to was Kaija Saariaho's Sept Papillons (1st movement) for solo cello. I asked the children to try and identify what instrument they thought was playing and also to listen to the texture of the music.
Most of the children thought the instrument was a violin, but with a bit of prompting they guessed cello. Some of the words they used to describe the texture were: "scratchy", "rough" and "squeaky". They were all quite surprised when I told them that the piece was inspired by butterflies!
The next piece of music we listened to was Continuum by Gyorgy Ligeti - probably my favourite 20th century composer. Continuum is written for keyboard instrument and in this recording it is played on a barrel organ. I asked the participants to close their eyes as they listened and listen out for the speed.
This was a very interesting piece and the effect it had on the children was pretty incredible. Most children felt compelled to move in some way or another. Several mimed the playing of the piece by moving their digits furiously over an invisible keyboard. Some children began to shake and convulse or roll about on the floor. I was also really taken back by a young girl at Pirniehall who hovered her hands above her head throughout the piece - she was completely lost in her own world!
The final piece of music that we listened to was from the Sequenza series by Luciano Berio. These are some of the most respected pieces for solo instruments from the last century and are regarded as being incredibly difficult to play (as well as pretty challenging to listen to!). I played them the Sequenza 7 for solo oboe. During this exercise the participants were asked to draw whatever came into their heads. They all had a sheet of A4 paper plus coloured pens and pencils. There were some great drawings created during this task. Obviously some copying occured but on the whole they were very original. Lots of children at Pirniehall drew saxaphones or horns. Their drawings were all very pictorial. At Preston Street there were a more abstract drawings. Many of the participnats in this school drew in rhythm with the music or even with their eyes closed. One young girl at Preston Street drew a picture which contained a duck, a man crying and a very tall building. The day before at Pirniehall three separate children drew a swan, a man crying and a tall building...
I am working in Pirniehall on Tuesdays and Preston Street on Wednesdays. In the second block of workshops I will work with Dalry rather than Pirniehall. The workshops have been structured in this way so I can see whether the children at Preston Street show advanced signs of music listening due to receiving double the amount of workshops.
The first workshop was all about listening to pieces fro solo instruments from late 20th century or early 21st century composers. The first piece we listened to was Kaija Saariaho's Sept Papillons (1st movement) for solo cello. I asked the children to try and identify what instrument they thought was playing and also to listen to the texture of the music.
Most of the children thought the instrument was a violin, but with a bit of prompting they guessed cello. Some of the words they used to describe the texture were: "scratchy", "rough" and "squeaky". They were all quite surprised when I told them that the piece was inspired by butterflies!
The next piece of music we listened to was Continuum by Gyorgy Ligeti - probably my favourite 20th century composer. Continuum is written for keyboard instrument and in this recording it is played on a barrel organ. I asked the participants to close their eyes as they listened and listen out for the speed.
This was a very interesting piece and the effect it had on the children was pretty incredible. Most children felt compelled to move in some way or another. Several mimed the playing of the piece by moving their digits furiously over an invisible keyboard. Some children began to shake and convulse or roll about on the floor. I was also really taken back by a young girl at Pirniehall who hovered her hands above her head throughout the piece - she was completely lost in her own world!
The final piece of music that we listened to was from the Sequenza series by Luciano Berio. These are some of the most respected pieces for solo instruments from the last century and are regarded as being incredibly difficult to play (as well as pretty challenging to listen to!). I played them the Sequenza 7 for solo oboe. During this exercise the participants were asked to draw whatever came into their heads. They all had a sheet of A4 paper plus coloured pens and pencils. There were some great drawings created during this task. Obviously some copying occured but on the whole they were very original. Lots of children at Pirniehall drew saxaphones or horns. Their drawings were all very pictorial. At Preston Street there were a more abstract drawings. Many of the participnats in this school drew in rhythm with the music or even with their eyes closed. One young girl at Preston Street drew a picture which contained a duck, a man crying and a very tall building. The day before at Pirniehall three separate children drew a swan, a man crying and a tall building...
Tuesday 12 January 2010
David Harradine masterclass
Hello. I've just come back from 3 excellent, creative, fulfilling, and frosty days up in Dunkeld where I was taking part in the Imaginate Winter Sessions masterclass. The class was run by David Harradine, theatre maker/designer and was specifically looking at environment and space.
We had to complete some preparatory work before heading up - we had to bring 5 coloured objects, a photograph a landscape we knew well, 5 objects that describe that landscape, and a written task where we had to visit the same spot on 3 separate occasions and answer questions such as: what can you smell? where is the sky?
Over the course of the 3 days we went on walks in the beautiful snowy hills around the Birnam arts centre. On these walks David helped us to really look at the landscape, questioning colours, textures, shapes and sounds. Often we spent time looking at the small details as much as the large vistas. We would then take these ideas back into the workshop space and create work based on our findings. As it was such a mixed bunch of artists taking part in the workshop we ended up with a real variety of work being created. Some highlights for me were the giant forest caopy that we made from cardboard on the last day (in only 30 mins!), the colour wheel made from our objects brought from home, and some of the more personal, intimate performance pieces that happened throughout the class.
For me it was really interesting to think in such a visual way as I'm used to being creative with my ears, first and foremost! This was a challenge but it was one that I really enjoyed. Our senses are all so clearly linked that I soon found a way of working that incorporated music/sound in a very visual way.
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