Music Trains 2008

Exploring cultural diversity through music, song and dance

Artsplay Highland
Eden Court Inverness
Friday 30th May to Sunday 1st June

Aimed at: teachers, musicians, arts workers, youth leaders, childcare staff, childminders, health practitioners, carers supporting those with additional needs and anyone interested in learning more about informal music, song and dance education.PLUS performances by Orkestra del Sol and Gamelan naga Mas.

Leaders/ Workshops:

This is Artsplay Highland’s Youth Music Initiative Project funded by the Scottish Arts Council and Highland Council. Music Tutors, Alpha Munro, Steve Sharpe, Monica Neeling have been working with 9 nurseries/childcare providers in the area using Orff and Kodaly methods linked in with the cultural diversity of the children and adults in their respective organisations. Today is an opportunity for the groups to come to Eden Court’s One Touch Theatre to perform what they have learnt with their tutors. This project is part of Artsplay Highland’s continuous professional development programme with voluntary sector organisations and primary schools.

Alpha, Monica and Steve are established music tutors and practitioners in the informal music sector. Alpha has worked with the Feisean movement for 20 years and is the founder of Music Trains, instigating the arrival of Doug Goodkin to the Highlands in 2004 to an Artsplay Training Day in Sutherland. Since then Music Trains has run every year in different formats but always with an Orff tutor at the lead. Monica Neeling runs Music Box and takes classes at Eden Court and across Inverness. Steve Sharpe is know for his African drumming workshops and company Drumfun.

Friday 30th May 6-9pm Singing workshop with Chrissie Stewart

Chrissie is from a Highland background and the singing of lullabies and other traditional songs around the house was taken for granted as she was growing up. She went on to study traditional song as part of her degree at Edinburgh University. Performing and traditional song have been constant features of her life and in recent years she has taught for Highland Council, the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland, Eden Court Theatre, the Care and Learning Alliance and Festivals including Glasgow’s Celtic Connections and Belladrum’s Tartan Heart, working with all ages from pre-school to adult.

In this workshop she will offer ideas on traditional songs in different contexts and teaching by ear, including Scots songs and simple Gaelic songs.

Friday 30th May 1.30-4.00pm

Gamelan music workshops for young people/adults with additional support needs and their support workers.

Gamelanability - The Javanese Gamelan is a collection of ornate tuned percussion ranging from deep resonant gongs to the tinkling tones of the Peking. The instruments are accessible, multisensory and motivational in encouraging listening and playing together as a group. Katherine Waumsley and Margaret Smith  of naga Mas invite you and your support workers to listen, explore and play the Javanese Gamelan. Learn about the traditions of Indonesia and create your own music. (Max 10 participants per workshop + carers. 2x1 hr workshop).

Gamelan Naga Mas (Golden Dragon Gamelan) is a community combined arts group, specializing in workshops and performance. The group was formed in 1991 and is owned by Glasgow City Council. Members of the group (15) include community and professional musicians, composers and university lecturers in the performing arts. A Gamelan is an ensemble of traditional Indonesian instruments made primarily of bronze or iron. Many of the instruments are tuned gongs and metallophones and there are various hand drums, flutes and small string instruments as well. Gamelan is used regularly used as a community facility for education and therapy.

Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June 10-4pm

Nanna Hlif Ingvadottir is a world expert in Orff Schulwerk approach to music education. She was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, 1970 and finished a degree in Music Pedagogy in the Reykjavik Music Academy 1995. She studied at The Orff Institute in Salzburg and finished the B-study “Music and Movement Education”. Nanna now teaches in Elementary School, Music School  and children age 3-7 at a Creative Dance Studio. She conducts 2 children choirs and supervises students who study Music and Movement Education at the University of Education in Reykjavik. Nanna runs 30 classes a week.She has presented workshops in Iceland, Sweden, Scotland, Germany and Austria. Orff Schulwerk is a way to teach and learn music based on what children/adults know and like to do. It approaches music and dance education from many different aspects such as chants and rhymes, moves, clap, known chilsren’s games through painting and drawing, fantasies through all possible senses. Such activities are the frames in creative music-making, movement and music improvisation. In Nanna’s workshops didactic models to lead in a class or any other music groups with children or adults will be presented. Simple games and songs from different cultures, that apart from learning about different cultures, can open doors to many educative exercises and creative approaches. The CANON form will also be explored – singing, moving, drawing, creating an Orff Orchestra.The Sunday workshop is not a repeat of the Saturday.

Indonesian Gamelan and Classical Piping 

Saturday 31st May 10am-12.30pm Cost:
 
Through chant and tuned percussion, experience the beauty of two of the planet’s richest music traditions. Both Highland pibroch and Gamelan have a system of chanting that imitates the instruments, making complex music accessible and fun. The workshop presents material ideally suited to community groups and school classes. Led by Barnaby Brown (canntaireachd), J Simon van der Walt and Margaret Smith (Gamelan naga Mas).
The workshop will involve introduction to the instruments Javanese Gamelan. Learning a lancaran (type of traditional Javanese music). Kecak (interlocking Balinese chant). Canntaireachd (gaelic chanting for ceol mor). Pibroch and lancaran structures as a creative principle in community music-making.Barnaby Brown is dedicated to revealing the ancient artistic traditions of Scotland’s music. He champions an early music approach to Ceol Mor of the Highland bagpipe. He is active throughout Europe as a composer-performer, currently developing inter-cultural works with symphony orchestras, choirs, Japanese Taiko drums, Gamelan, Bhangra, Dhrupad etc.

Body Percussion and Drumming with Steve Sharpe

Sunday 1st June 10am-11.30am

Steve is a well-known and much-adored African drumming tutor from the Highlands. He has been studying the music, arts and culture of West Africa for many years, and has been teaching African drumming and group percussion in the UK since 1999.This workshop will explore body percussion related to dfferent cultures across the world and an understanding of the relationship between music and your body! Body percussion is really fun and accessible and very good for toning your mind and all those motor neuron skills. Steve will incorporate body percussion with drumming during the session.
 

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