I had the opportunity last night to experience our new spielBar compendium in person. Marco Blaauw presented the compendium during a workshop as part of the “Akademie für zeitgenössische Musik, Internationale Masterclasses” at the Lucerne University School of Music. After explaining the purpose and content of the new website, Marco separated the workshop participants into 4 groups of 8-9 people. Each group was given one of 4 pieces taken from the website. What impressed me was how easy and accessible the materials were to the participants and the presenter alike. All Marco apparently had to do to prepare was to visit the website, search out the composers he wanted to use and click on the download button. The download included an informative sheet that among other things listed possible instrumentations, a characterization of the piece and preparation and performance tips. This enabled all of the groups to come up with a concept for performance within the short 20 minute rehearsal time Marco gave us to prepare. It was great to experience how quickly and creatively the groups came together. I enjoyed how much fun the workshop participants obviously had with the event, all while they were being exposed in a highly informative, valuable and accessible way to Cardew, Jandl, Rzewski and Spahlinger – and the 4 performances were fantastic!
by Christine Chapman