The sounds of rural schools II (2018/19)

Past event

We start the second course of The sounds of rural schools with the invitation of Juventudes Musicales de León to retake the four musical stories for Youth Orchestra and Children's Orchestra that we performed in the first year. It was a rehearsal process in which we revisited the stories and introduced some new elements, especially concerning the staging: scenography, invitations-programme, proposals for the presentation of the stories,... We did a concert-merienda at the Conservatorio Profesional de Música “José Castro Ovejero” in León.

Then we took the questions we asked ourselves in the first year, “What do we sound like / What does our environment sound like / What does the world sound like”, to a more concrete level. Based on journeys from home to school, we created a sound map of the territory we inhabit. In addition, everyone chose landmarks they saw and elements they heard along the way.

With the map as a reference, we started to research the graphy of sound. We chose some landmarks that attracted us with their variety of sounds and created sound pieces in the form of graphic scores with the sounds heard there. Lines, colours and shapes materialised durations, sonorities and heights. These scores were composed and performed by groups, and each group in turn performed an instrumental version of a score that was not their own. In other words, we checked how legible our notations were for others.

We sent the graphic scores to Hara Alonso who made a second version of some of them. This version was for a ensemble-orchestra of which the CRA students were part of as a section. When Hara stayed at the CRA in May, we produced the final version of the works. Some, like The house of Julia, Martín and Darío, The park of Villaturiel o The tree in Julia's house, were versions of Hara inspired by the students' pieces. Others were a cross-composition, combining sound, narrative and notational elements proposed by the students in the first version and used in a structural way by Hara in the second version, such as Meeting in the park, On the way to Vegas there is a canal y The dog door. Finally, there were pieces that were preserved in the first version, the one made by the students, such as Santibáñez Park y The block. We played all eight pieces in a concert-exhibition at the Cerezales Antonino y Cinia Foundation.

[Consult here the first graphic score version of these pieces].

As part of our research on the graphy of sound we visited the exhibition “The notational turn”.” at the MUSAC. We were able to listen to a performance of one of the exhibition scores, Space Shuttle (strolling music), by an ensemble made up of musicians from Juventudes Musicales de León. We also performed some of the scores that were part of the exhibition.

During the 2018/19 academic year, we are carrying out a creative process We worked on a long-term project that involved many parties. Starting from listening and awareness of the territory, we drew up a sound map on which we improvised, made collective compositions, collaborated with Hara in cross-compositions, rehearsed and produced a concert. We no longer just listened to our environment, we made it sound. We didn't learn knowledge, we created knowledge through sound.

We maintained our assemblies We continue to use the listening notebooks with which we stand and listen attentively to the sounds of the rural school.

Co-financing