Authentic collaboration
One of the biggest challenges for our composers involved in Many Voices: Ensemble was for them to authentically share the compositional process – not just with another person, but with a group of primary school students. Composers and teachers worked hard to find the right way for them to open discussion, facilitate the sharing of ideas, and encourage creativity, but not without hurdles along the way.
Watch the video to hear how our composers approached the project, including the various themes, stimulus and catalysts they engaged with to spark the musical imaginations of the children involved.
Sounds in storytelling
For Aileen Sweeney (The Corryvreckan Whirlpool), who celebrates her Scottish heritage through her music, it was a story that was the driving force of her compositional co-creation with the children involved. We know that great music is often inspired by great stories, and Aileen chose a tale that she knew would grab their attention.
Inspired by the fantasy of such a vivid story and with a sensational storyboard drawn out by the children, their imaginations were easily sparked. To then create the musical sounds that fit the story was a more enjoyable task for the children involved.
Aileen also came equipped with a folk melody for the children to sing, which enhanced the compositional process and gave the piece a strong backbone for the workshop. The folk chant and story can easily be recognised in the score and music by the audience.
In the main chunk of the day, I told them a Scottish story about the Cailleach, who’s the goddess of Winter and about the Corryvreckan Whirlpool. And the idea was for us to create a storyboard, so they drew lots of pictures and had lots of words and we put a guide up on the on the boards that we then sort of mapped out musically, and came up with lots of different sounds.
And then the idea was just to aim to perform that and take a little video, so we had something to take away at the end of the day. I think what worked really well was having quite a detailed story that really helped the kids focus then on the songs they wanted to create and gave them a goal. So it wasn’t just making silly sounds for the sake of silly sounds, and they knew what they were trying to achieve and they also really liked the story.
But what kids don’t like stories about big, massive giants having baths in a whirlpool! – Aileen Sweeney
Drawing music
For Rūta Vitkauskaitė (The Storm), a demonstration of a compositional technique was enough of a catalyst to spark the imagination of the children involved. By showcasing how symbols and images can be interpreted as musical sounds, the children were able to explore this in images they drew themselves. This is a form of music-making that any child, regardless of their previous experience or musical ability, can be involved with, along with the freedom to make their sounds as musically complex and rewarding as they want on their instruments or bodies.
As well as this, by swapping the images the children created between groups, Rūta was able to multiply the number of sounds created and ensure the compositional process was even more collaborative. Eventually, these miniature sounds became miniature stories, which come together to form the full composition and the longer story that introduces the music in the final score.
This approach may seem abstract, but if integrated with a specific theme or musical idea/technique, this could become even more defined and comprehensible to the composer, and indeed the audience, if that is something they want to have more control over. For Rūta, it was a priority to ensure that as much of the story and music came from the minds of the children involved as possible, and this graphic notation also made its way into the final version of the written music.
The biggest highlight was children’s creativity and teamwork. Throughout the workshop, I introduced the idea of inventing sounds, and then drawing them as symbols. I then later gave them empty sheets of paper and asked them to draw sounds in small groups.
I then swapped all the drawings and gave a few minutes to each group to ‘play’ the symbols and pictures they see on their violins and percussion. I felt a bit concerned, as I felt I did not spend a substantial amount of time introducing the idea of ‘playing’ drawings, so even experienced musicians would find it a bit challenging.
However, the children just loved it – they took it very seriously, and prepared little pieces in the few minutes given to them. That really was a ‘window’ for me into how they think, what sounds they enjoy creating and playing, what kind of musical structures they find natural. The diversity of sounds was incredible, and there were patterns that I could see and use in my piece for them. – Rūta Vitkauskaitė
Sharing decisions
Tom Coult (Abide) easily recognised the challenges that this project presented. Not only was there a brief to fulfill, and a premiere to be performed, but there was a compositional process to share with an extraordinary group of people – a relatively large group of 9-10 year olds.
For Tom, the ability for the children to recognise their music within his composition was important, and he worried that this was not achieved. Deciding how you might share decision making with children and young people is a challenging process and one that is developed with practice and reflection.
Music Masters have developed a Youth & Child Voice Toolkit which may help you to consider how and when you may engage with children and young people as shared decision-makers, whether that’s a compositional process or another project or process entirely. We encourage you to explore the toolkit to help you take your first steps in engaging with Youth & Child Voice with confidence.
Normally you owe something to the commissioners (creative freedom but adherence to a certain pre-decided list of practicalities) and something to any eventual performers (something that will be rewarding and possible within time constraints).
Here there was an extra group of people to whom I owed something – the young musicians who worked on ideas in the workshop, with the hope that they would recognise the piece as being related to material they worked on and feel some kind of ownership.
My biggest challenge was making something that the young workshoppers would recognise as being derived from the workshop. I don’t think I succeeded in this as well as I’d hoped – although many aspects of the piece are in some way derived from the workshop and it was greatly helpful in the composition process, many of these are ‘background’ processes or hidden in textures, such that I’m not sure the students would recognise them.
Although we did come up with motifs in the workshop and used them in various ways, I wanted to avoid a piece that is made up of fragmentary little motifs, and instead develop a piece that ‘behaved’ in a certain clear way. This was a good aim, but perhaps resulted in a workshop that was more prescriptive or tightly controlled of the students’ creativity than it might have been. – Tom Coult
What questions should I consider?
- How can I support children and young people to share their ideas?
- What catalyst can I use to spark imaginations?
- What do I need to make sure is in place to develop a safe space for sharing?
- Where and when is my voice important to add to the discussion?
- How can I promote all voices in the space?
What does success look like?
- Children and young people are motivated by a relevant and interesting stimulus
- Every participant can make a valid contribution
- A greater sense of ownership and empowerment for children and young people
- Recognisable input from the children or young people in the final music