intercultural – Page 15

30/04/201208/06/2020

A Musical Lotus Pond – workshop at ISME 2012 World Conference

Purpose
Probing the depths of Indian sounds and symbols both for their interdisciplinary potential and intrinsic value.

Content
We pool musical, visual and numerical motifs. Sounds, hand gestures and movements link two school subjects within a single session; and more subjects wherever this approach lends itself to being integrated into a curriculum.

Method
The “Musical Lotus Pond” is a biotope where beauty flourishes in unexpected ways. Each participant embellishes a sheet of paper containing numbers and shapes. These form the basis for musical activities. At the conclusion, the sheets are folded into small cones resembling the “school cones” traditionally used to entice European children to attend school. Children will spontaneously share their experiences with peers and family members.

Application for integrated education
Analytical thinking, self-expression and teamwork are cultivated. For this purpose, motifs derived from Indian music are combined with those belonging to subjects as diverse as visual arts, geography, biology, physical education and maths.

Pure maths is a religion and in the East, valued for more than merely its technical application – Novalis (1799)

Background information
Indian culture is permeated by synesthetic associations that make learning both enjoyable and (cost) effective. Moreover it fosters concentration and teamwork. It is therefore no coincidence that the ubiquitous lotus motif symbolizes the aspiration to rise above the ordinary and beyond predictability.
The presenters work with the motto “Adapting Indian Universals in Music Education” (AIUME); and this in response to the needs of children and music students. Contributions to exhibitions (e.g. Museum Rietberg Zürich and Royal Tropical Museum Amsterdam) complement their artistic and scholarly pursuits: one is a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist; the other trained and performed as flautist in India, and authored The Oxford Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music.

I surely know the hundred petals of a lotus will not remain closed for ever and the secret recess of its honey will be bared. – from Gitanjali by Nobel Awardee Rabindranath Tagore

Listen to Tagore: Unlocking Cages: Sunil Khilnani tells the story of the Bengali writer and thinker Rabindranath Tagore: https://bbc.in/1KVh4Cf >>
The acclaimed BBC 4 podcast series titled Incarnations: India in 50 Lives has also been published in book form (Allen Lane).

“I was moved by how many of these lives pose challenges to the Indian present,” he writes, “and remind us of future possibilities that are in danger of being closed off.”¹

Sunil Khilnani quoted in a review by William Dalrymple in The Guardian, 14 March 2016[↩]

23/04/201205/04/2020

Raga und Tala in Südindien

Blockseminar für Studierende der University of Göttingen

Musicology | Kurze Geismarstr. 1 | 37073 Göttingen

Fr 4. Mai 2012 – 14.30-18.30 Uhr
Sa 5. Mai 2012 – 10.30-15.00 Uhr
Fr 11. Mai 2012 – 14.00-18.30 Uhr
Sa 12. Mai 2012 – 10.00-15.00 Uhr

Der Kurs bietet den TeilnehmerInnen die Gelegenheit, die Kunstmusik Südindiens zu studieren und hinterfragen. Deren kreatives Potential lässt sich mittels systematischer Übungen jederzeit und überall – mit oder ohne Instrument – künstlerisch wie wissenschaftlich analysieren.

Die Vermittlung beruht dabei nur ausnahmsweise auf Notation. In der Regel kommt eine schon im 8. Jh. nachweisbare Methode zur Anwendung, die aus Solfège und mnemotechnischen Strategien besteht. Stimme und Handgesten umreissen musikalische Räume und Zeitabläufe während Texte, Bilder und Zahlen weitere Orientierungshilfen bieten. Seit der indischen Antike fördert dieser Ansatz das gemeinsame Musizieren und erleichtert auch Laien den Einstieg in eine hochdifferenzierte Musikpraxis.

Der für Lernende wie Ausführende gleichermassen verbindliche Rahmen wird von “Raga” (Melodie) und “Tala” (Rhythmus) vorgegeben. Die vorwiegend solistisch konzipierte Ausgestaltung im eng miteinander verknüpften Konzert-, Tempel- und Tanzrepertoire besteht aus Kunstliedern, Hymnen und virtuosen Darbietungen.

Seit dem frühen 19. Jh. wird eine Integration traditioneller Elemente in präzise wie virtuose Ensemble-Darbietungen bevorzugt. Ähnliche Entwicklungen lassen sich seit dem frühen 20. Jh. in ganz Indien auf die Begegnung mit der musikalischen Ideenwelt des Südens zurückführen. So haben V.N. Bhathkhande, der wohl prominenteste Musiktheoretiker und Erneuerer der “Hindustani Sangit” (nordindischer Kunstmusik), und der bengalische Dichter-Komponist Rabindranath Tagore nachhaltig zur weltweiten Verbreitung von Indiens Musik beigetragen. Dies geschah nicht zuletzt durch die Vermittlung virtuoser Interpreten wie Pannalal Ghosh, Ravi Shankar und Hariprasad Chaurasia und namhafte südindische Musiker wie Balamurali Krishna, N. Ramani, L. Subrahmanian und “Vicku” Vinayakram. Sie und andere Vertreter der “klassischen” wie “fusion” Musik (vielfach in einer Person) betrachten sich selbstbewusst als Katalysten einer sich ständig erneuernden “Weltmusik”, die sich bisher wiederholt den Einordnungsversuchen westlicher Musiktheoretiker zu entziehen wusste: konventionelle wie traditionelle und moderne Instrumente einschliesslich Keyboard gelten inzwischen in ständig wechselnden Besetzungen (Jugalbandi) als gleichwertige Partner. Es ist also kein Zufall, dass die meist als “karnatische” bezeichnete Musik (Carnatic music) gerade bei Jazzmusikern Anklang findet.

Workshops >>

Workshop for Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (Netherlands)

Participants from different age groups and cultural backgrounds instantly make music together. They gain self-confidence by making music together even without previous experience. Site-specific workshops for educational and cultural institutions are conducted in English, German, Dutch and French. www.aiume.org

About this video clip
Manickam Yogeswaran recapitulates the variation on a traditional rhythmic pattern created by students.

Workshop at Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (The Netherlands), 30 June 2011.

14/07/201104/05/2020

Learning from one another

Rabindranath Tagore sketched by Dutch artist Martin Monnickendam during a lecture tour in September 1920 © Stadsarchief Amsterdam

In their 1930 discussion, Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein sought to overcome the predicament that “really good music, whether of the East or of the West, cannot be analyzed [Einstein] … and what deeply affects the hearer is beyond himself [Tagore]”

It is in this spirit of learning from one another that we invite fellow musicians and educators to join us; each pursuing his or her quest for the “treasure which is our own” (Zimmer), irrespective of our cultural roots.

As initiators of AIUME, we invite all members of the teaching community to resist compartmentalisation of the arts in general (Coomaraswamy) when they have the potential to transcend discrimination based on ethnicity, gender issues or sectarian beliefs.

“The rhythmic, breathing quality of form is the test of a work of art”
– Stella Kramrisch

Recommended reading

Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. The Transformation of Nature in Art. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2004.
Kramrisch, Stella. The Art of India: Traditions of Indian Sculpture, Painting and Architecture. London: The Phaidon Press (2nd ed.) 1955.
Dutta, Krishna and Andrew Robinson (eds.). Rabindranath Tagore: an anthology. London: Picador, 1997.
Zimmer, Heinrich and Campbell, Joseph (Editor). Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. Bollingen Series VI, Princeton University Press. Princeton, 1946/1972.