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Workshop 1: «SpielBar»: Interpretation and performance of text compositions
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Marco Blaauw, instructor
In his workshop «SpielBar», the trumpet player Marco Blaauw introduces participants to the world of text composition as found in the music of influential musicians and artists of the 20th century such as George Maciunas, John Cage, Cornelius Cardew and Chrisian Wolff. In addition to playing on their own instruments, participants will use «found objects» from daily life such as newspapers, clothing, furniture, branches, paper, the voice as well as the body itself. In this way, a creative approach to music making is fostered, based more on inventive and conceptual input than on instrumental virtuosity.
Participants approach the concepts in an experimental fashion, working out the various possibilities of their chosen «instruments» in a unique ensemble constellation. Openness and curiosity are the only prerequisites!
MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI
Open for all instrumentalists, singers as well as composers
Course language: German andEnglish
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Workshop 2: Ensemble Playing New Music
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Garth Knox, instructor
In alternation with each other, lecturers of the academy deal with general topics of ensemble playing such as rhythm, microtonality, stage presence, and drawing/beating from the instrument. Rehearsal and learning strategies are also explored and put into practice.
MON, TUE, WED, THU
Open to all instrumentalists and singers
Course language: German and English
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Workshop 3: Technology in New Music
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Emilio Guim, instructor
In this hands-on workshop we will learn about basic and advanced techniques for recording a solo or a small ensemble focusing on the sound world of contemporary music. We will review and apply fundamental theory for sound recording, microphones, cables, sound cards, mic placing and basic editing/mixing with the DAW Reaper. At the end we will produce a small recording in-class.
MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI
Open to composers, singers and instrumentalists
Maximum number of participants: 12
Course level: Beginners to advanced. Experience in improvisation is an advantage
Course language: English
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Workshop 4: InterAction Notation (IAN) – Intermedia Improvisation
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Charlotte Hug, instructor
What happens when composition shapes relationships and interactions rather than musical events? InterAction Notation (IAN) is an intermedial notation and composition method developed by Charlotte Hug, which combines composition and improvisation into a vibrant form of comprovisation. Rather than prescribing musical events, IAN uses relationships and interactions as the starting point for musical processes. Sound, material, time, movement and space unfold through collective music-making and artistic creation – in the moment and anew each time.
As a shared language for musical, performative and interdisciplinary contexts, IAN opens up new forms of co-creation and interpretation. The principles, which can be learnt intuitively, can be applied from small ensembles right through to complex collective performances, as well as site- and scene-specific performances.
Following an introduction and examples drawn from international artistic practice, participants will apply IAN directly. They will develop their own musical scenarios, experiment with sound, movement and space, and collaboratively create a performance.
In the workshop, participants will explore:
- the potential of combining composition and improvisation,
- InterAction Notation as a creative tool,
- new forms of co-creation and interpretation,
- expanding their own artistic language through exchange with others.
MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI
Open to composers, singers and instrumentalists of all instruments, as well as those working with electronics.
Maximum number of participants: 12
Course level: Beginners to advanced. Experience in improvisation is an advantage
Course language: German and English
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Workshop 5: Workshop on Noticing
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Jessie Marino, instructor
“To hear is the physical means that enables perception. To listen is to give attention to what is perceived both acoustically and psychologically” – Pauline Oliveros.
This workshop aims to expand our sensorial limits and take special notice of the unremarkable, the mundane. The act of noticing conjures a sense of wonder in what we normally take for granted, allowing us to find inspiration and fascination in our everyday lives. In this workshop we will train our sensorial muscles through daily listening exercises by R. Murray Schafer, Annea Lockwood and Ruth Anderson, and perform compositions which use many heightened modes of attention as their primary musical materials by Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney, and Peter Ablinger among others. The focus of this workshop is to provide ideas for a daily practice which compliments our individual instrumental/compositional/improvisational practices, focusing on the basic needs we have as musicians - to awaken our nervous systems, and give our overstimulated selves a chance to refresh. We will listen, watch, look inward, listen outward, look up and then up again, treasuring our surroundings and taking note on how differently we perceive from person to person, moment to moment, sight to sound to smell.
MON, TUE, WED, THU
Open to everyone, including composers
Course language: English
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Workshop 6: Jamming with 'In C': Music performance
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Gilles Grimaître, João Carlos Pacheco, instructors
«Jamming with 'In C'» offers a dynamic and enriching experience around Terry Riley's iconic minimal music composition «In C». Taking Riley's masterpiece as a starting point, participants will dive into playful rhythmic games and adventures to refine their groove, develop a deep understanding of interplay and expand their timing. Through improvisations, challenging rhythmic exercises and detailed analysis, this workshop empowers musicians to develop with creativity and precision in «In C».
The focus is on building a strong sense of belonging within the ensemble. A distinction is made between simultaneous playing and authentic interplay.
MON, TUE, WED, THU, performance on Thursday at 9 pm
Open to all instrumentalists and singers
Course language: German and English
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Workshop 7: PLAY!
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Lucas Niggli, instructor
‘Play!’ is a fascinating card game, a hybrid framework for music that straddles the line between composition and improvisation. Here, traditional hierarchies of composers, conductors, soloists and performers are dissolved, making the collective creation of a work possible instead. The roles of those involved are only clearly defined during the concert.
The collective creates the music: like life itself, it is a lottery, a matter of dealing with good and bad cards. Through situational action, the ensemble player becomes part of a social fabric, where they may or must take on a wide variety of roles, always utilising their own characteristic language (timbre). In this way, ‘PLAY!’ explores the intersection between ‘power’ and ‘freedom’.
MON, TUE, WED, THU, performance on Thursday at 9 pm
Open to all instrumentalists and singers
Course languages: German and English
