Biographies

Composer Bnaya Halperin-Kaddari has been commissioned to write the new spielBar-piece for Linkage!, a music educational programme by Ensemble Musikfabrik. Two groups of pupils will rehearse and premiere the piece “Playing with our Hearts” on November 3rd, during the introduction of the concert series “Musikfabrik im WDR 72“.  On our blog, Bnaya has answered some questions about the piece.

You have been commissioned to write a piece for the new project Linkage!. What is the main difference of this commission compared to others?

In recent years I began using more and more the material conditions of the commissioned piece in order to drive the process. Questions like: Which bodies are going to perform the music? In what kind of acoustic space? Or at what time of the day? These are some of the tools I use in the development. So actually, there is no big difference in approach between my previous projects and this one.

The only requirement was, the composition has to be “spielBar” (playable), so it can be performed by participants without prior instrumental knowledge. How is your piece “spielBar”?

‘Playing with our Hearts’ is a participatory musical practice for living players and papers, and makes use of the fact that we each pulsate in quasi-periodic rhythm i.e our constant heart beat. Sonifying the different heart pulses of the players by tapping them on pieces of de-crumbled paper creates a (poly) rhythmic texture that changes over time. So all you need in order to play this music is to have some curious players who would take each other’s pulses and tap what they sense.

Please tell us something about the creative process: How did
you approach the piece? What was especially challenging?

For me playing is listening is playing. Both are active processes that develop over time. So much of our practice as musicians is about sharpening our senses, tuning into very subtle cues from our bodies and our surroundings. I wanted to propose a situation in which a transition from a habitual way of listening to a more focused listening-sensing takes place. Taking someone’s pulse is quite an intimate situation that puts the pulse-giver in a vulnerable position. But the pulse-giver is an active listener as well: Their beat might be affected by what they hear. And thus, the fixed roles of ‘who plays what’, or even ‘who plays whom’ become blurred, a process which I feel is important in developing empathy and enhancing our listening capacity.

“Playing with our Hearts” is the title of your piece which students will premiere on November 3rd at WDR Funkhaus. What does the title tell us about the composition?

Popular culture’s memory is filled with the theme of playing, in a negative sense, with someone’s emotions. I wanted to take this cry – “Don’t play with my heart!” – and flip its polarity, creating a positive situation in which we all play with our hearts as instruments. Not in an emotional manipulatory way, but as a tapping into the constant life pulse that is always there, but only rarely addressed.

Studio Musikfabrik was a guest in Bangkok and participated in the symposium of the Princess Gayana Vadhana Institute of Music 2019. Within one week, the Studio Musikfabrik participants learned new works by Southeast Asian composers and premiered them together with the Asean Youth Ensemble (AYE) in three concerts.

The enthusiastic reports of the young musicians testify to the formative impressions left by this intercultural exchange:

“No matter in which country you make music, it is always the same – you can touch and address people with music. Music connects and gives us the chance to understand each other across all borders and languages.”
Julia Berg, clarinet

“This direct exchange with the composers was one of the great and inspiring experiences in the cultural exchange of the trip to Thailand.”
Alejandro Sarregui, percussion

“For me, the experiences, the sounds, the concerts, the facial expressions, and especially the thought-provoking works were an overwhelming experience that I won’t soon forget.”
Charlotte Ortolf, tuba 

“Just concerts together and the feeling of having created something together that we all love just welds us together so much.”
Moritz Koch, drums

“In general, the entire symposium proved to be a particularly lively and diverse program, with various events taking place simultaneously and enlivening the PGVIM campus. As a result, I was able to make some new contacts and friendships and am glad to have been in chaotic, dynamic and warm Bangkok.”
Sara Cubarsi, violin, Ensemble Musikfabrik

made possible by the support of the Goethe-Institut Bangkok

Alex Nante has been commissioned to write a new piece for our current Linkage! phase. Life, Dream, Light, Silence (2019) will be premiered by pupils of the LVR-Anna Freud-Schule and the catholic primary school Lindenburger Allee on September 15th. For this blog entry, we asked him to tell us more about his thoughts behind his work.

You have been commissioned to write a piece for the new project Linkage!. What is the main difference of this commission compared to others?

I’m used writing music mainly for traditional instrumental setups, such as string quartet, orchestra, ensemble, choir, etc. The Linkage! project is aimed for an unspecified number of performers, of all ages, that don’t read music or that don’t necessarily have an instrumental background. In this sense it was a challenge for me to compose the piece; and also an opportunity to experiment with another type of writing which I’m not used to.

The only requirement was, the composition has to be “spielBar” (playable), so it can be performed by participants without prior instrumental knowledge. How is your piece “spielBar”?

My spielBar piece is an exploration of the syllable OM or AUM, which symbolizes the “vital vibration” of the universe. When I was thinking of different possibilities for the spielBar piece, the idea of this vital sound or vibration appealed to me because it’s something that is present in all traditions and the concept goes way beyond our standard musical knowledge and abilities. And of course: there’s nothing more universal than voice itself.

Please tell us something about the creative process: How did
you approach the piece? What was especially challenging?

It was clear for me that the piece would have four parts: each one corresponding to a component of the syllable AUM, with a silence that is added at the end. It was challenging to transmit the particular character of each component of the syllable with simple instructions so the piece could be learned in one workshop session.

Life, Dream, Light, Silence is the title of your piece which two groups of pupils will premiere on “Musikfabrik im WDR 71” in Cologne. What does the title tell us about the composition?

Life, Dream, Light, Silence is a poetic translation of the symbolism of AUM.
Life is the A sound, the state of vigil, of “normal” consciousness.
Dream is the U sound, the state of our inner world and imagination.
Light is the M sound, a state of deep concentration, a pure state of sound and light.
Silence corresponds to the deep stillness and mystery after the AUM, where eventually new sound can emerge…

For the current phase of the Linkage! project, composer Sander Germanus has been commissioned to write Im Brettspiel (2019), a piece which will be premiered by pupils of Katharina-Henoth-Gesamtschule and of the OGS of Pater-Delp-Schule Widdersdorf on 20th May in Cologne, at the 70th concert of “Musikfabrik im WDR”. To give insights into his work, Sander Germanus answered some questions about his piece.

You have been commissioned to write a piece for the new project Linkage!. What is the main difference of this commission compared to others?

This commission was completely different than any other. To write music for people without any musical knowledge and without playing on a real music instrument was a great challenge. Because the participants do not know the rules of music, I thought it would be best to use certain rules they probably already know, like from a board game, to come to a collective sound.

Im Brettspiel is the title of your piece which students of Katharina-Henoth-Gesamtschule and Pater-Delp-Schule will premiere on May 20th at our concert “Musikfabrik im WDR 70”. What does the title tell us about the composition?

The title Im Brettspiel, as if the participants were in a board game, refers to this. It also refers to Im Vortex (in which the audience is ‘in a vortex’), my new piece that I wrote for Ensemble Musikfabrik. The participants of Im Brettspiel are, as if they were in a board game, both the players and the game pawns. But in this piece they are not walking in circles, like pawns do in a board game; they sit straight on their chairs in a line, but they’re performing their assignments in circles. At the end, all performers finally break out of the game, after creating a cloud of rolling dice, to be free again.

The only requirement was, the composition has to be “spielBar” (playable), so it can be performed by participants without prior instrumental knowledge. How is your piece “spielBar”?

I’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible, still with the possibility for the whole group to come to a collective musical result. The pupils (or other participants) only use simple materials to make music. All pupils have a plate (many different kinds) and two dice from a board game.

There are three parts: in the first, the pupils throw their dice on the plate one after the other, so a rhythm will be created by the whole group. They sit in line, which has a theatrical effect. In the second part, the dice indicate what kind of musical line they have to improvise. Because I thought it was important that there were pitches involved, I came up with the idea to let them sing their own interpretations of little musical assignments, which are linked to the numbers they throw with their dice. In this case, a chaotic sound unfolds as if several radios were mixed together. In the third and last part, they throw their dice again, but now (one after the other) they sing a long note they like or they imitate a note that has already been sung by others. This all ends with a chaos of rolling dice. So a lot can be improvised and no musical knowledge is needed. They just have to follow the rules of the “Brettspiel”.

Please tell us something about the creative process: How did you approach the piece? What was especially challenging?

I imagined a group of adults or children, in an attempt to make music that would work for all of them. The idea of a board game came to my mind because it is played by almost everyone, regardless of one’s age. And the unmistakable sound of the rolling dice would be a great addition to this piece. But to formulate the rules in a way that it is understandable for everyone was a challenge. Hopefully I succeeded. Fortunately, the supervisors of “Linkage!” are present at the rehearsals to ensure that everything is clear and goes well, or to change things a little in a way that it benefits the piece.

Für die erste Phase von Linkage! in 2019 komponierte Ondřej Adámek sein Stück Frische Luft, welches am 17.Februar im WDR Funkhaus am Wallrafplatz uraufgeführt wird. Momentan arbeiten gleich zwei Schülergruppen der Freien Schule Köln und der OGS der Gemeinschaftsgrundschule Steinbergerstraße an ihren Versionen von Frische Luft, die beim Konzert Musikfabrik im WDR 69 – Intermezzi präsentiert werden.

Im Interview gibt Ondřej Adámek einen Einblick in seinen Schaffensprozess des spielBar-Stücks.

Du bist vom Ensemble Musikfabrik beauftragt worden, ein Stück für das Musikvermittlungsprojekt Linkage! zu schreiben. Was unterscheidet diesen Auftrag von anderen?

Normalerweise bin ich mit dem Komponieren eines neuen Stücks schon seit Monaten und Jahren einverstanden. Was am längsten dauert ist die Grundidee zu entwickeln. Das Angebot von spielBar kam plötzlich und kurzfristig. Dann ist nur die Frage: habe ich sofort eine Idee und sage ich ja, oder gibt es nichts und sage ich nein? Ein paar Ideen hatte ich sofort.

Die Voraussetzung für die Komposition ist, dass dieses Stück spielBar ist, damit es von Schüler*innen ohne instrumentale Vorkenntnisse aufgeführt werden kann. Was macht dein Stück spielBar?

Ich habe oft Ideen oder entwickle Klänge, die auch Nicht-Musiker, oder nicht spezialisierte Musiker machen können. Manchmal entwickele ich auch spezielle Instrumententechniken, die auch Sänger schnell lernen können und die trotzdem gut klingen. Ich mache auch Workshops mit Komponisten, Sängern, aber auch mit Schulmusikern, Chorleitern und bildenden Künstlern (je gemischt, desto besser) über VoiceEvent, über das Instant-Komponieren für Stimme, wo alle gleichzeitig die Komponisten, Dirigenten und Interpreten sind. Die Herausforderung in diesem Fall war, das Stück sehr einfach zu machen und trotzdem klar, deutlich und interessant, ohne Partitur. Eine starke Idee, 3 Blatt DINA3, kein Violinschlüssel.

 Kannst du uns etwas über den Schaffensprozess dieses Stückes sagen: Wie bist du an das Stück herangegangen? Was stellte eine besondere Herausforderung für dich dar?

Generell basiert das Stück auf den gleichen Elementen wie meine anderen komponierten Stücke:

Interessanter Klang (Luftgeräusch), kontinuierlicher Puls und persönliche Ideen. Wenn ich Vokalmusik schreibe, arbeite ich mit dem Text auf mehreren Ebenen: von der globalen Bedeutung bis zu jedem Laut: Alles wird Musikmaterial. In diesem Stück auch. Erst brauchte ich ein musikalisches Kontinuum, das einfach spielbar und musikalisch interessant ist. Das ist dieses regelmäßige Pumpen. Dann wollte ich, dass die Schüler auch ihre eigenen Gedanken entwickeln und kurze Texte über „Frische Luft” selbst schreiben.

Dein spielBar-Stück „Frische Luft” wird am 17. Februar von SchülerInnen der Freien Schule Köln uraufgeführt. Was verrät uns der Titel über das Stück?

Der Titel verrät schon fast alles, ich kann nichts dazu ergänzen.