„Sound improvisation: strategies for Here and Now”: workshop lead by Alfredo Costa Monteiro
WHERE? Sokołowsko Laboratorium Kultury
WHEN? 10th of June – 11th of June 2017
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: from 4 up to 15
REGISTRATION: via email gerard.lebik@gmail.com
It was since the first prepared piano pieces by American composer Henry Cowell, almost one hundred years ago, that musical instruments began to acquire a new status within the Avant-Garde music. Given to the possibilities offered by these new approaches, musical focus started to move away from academical compostion and slowly going into new areas, where sound could be expressed more freely, providing new situations, new practices and ways of understanding music.
But it was not until the birth of free improvisation in the 60’s, somehow built at the crossroads of free-jazz, contemporary and concrete music, that instruments took a definitive new function; they were prepared, extended or modified in order to evacuate their own tradition and find new sonic horizons.
And since instruments were not what they seemed any more, the opportunity was also given to make music with objects and electronic devices; in addition, the heritage of the Futurists, mixed with neo-Dada movement Fluxus and its savage assault to musical traditions would give birth to what, today, we call Sound Art.
WORKSHOP
Throughout this workshop, we will analyze what these new approaches have been by making a historical review of some of the 20th century experimental sound practices, and will try to decipher some of this complexity by questioning the means used to carry out experimentation in music. We will explore their scope, not only through some of their aesthetical codes, but also through their internal poetics and their essential politics. Somehow, we will try to refine our perception of sound, integrating new resources, but also deconstructing others previously assimilated.
„Learning to unlearn” will be the main theme of this workshop.
And, of course, we will address some of the fundamental concepts and parameters present in experimental music and sound art, such as listening, collectivity, sound, noise, silence, but also immateriality, permanence or even non-activity. We will also analyze some of the aspects that try to blur the boundaries between improvisation and composition. The aim will be to create certain structures, certain ways of producing sounds related to listening, sharing or decision making, and develop collective and individual situations.
„Alfredo Costa Monteiro’s workshop is realised jointly with Artist In Residence Programme AIR Wro during the artist’s study visit in the framework of A-i-R Sanatorium of Sound Sokołowsko 2018”.
