Community Project
“Working alongside a group of young musicians and their teacher, fellow artist in residence Clara de Tezanos and I collaborated for a series of workshops over the course of our residency. As a musician and artist, my contribution focused on the modality of collective sonic improvisation. My goals included introducing participants to the exploration of unique sonic orders, new aural configurations, and additional ways of being while we uncovered new sonic territories.
My contribution to the collaboration was sound-focused. It included leading vocal and instrumental mimetic exercises, introducing ambulatory and stationary listening exercises, and the introduction of sonic and musical improvisation with participants sounding their instruments in unconventional ways. Conversations directed after each exercise or improvisation provided opportunities for exchanges among participants whereby they could newly understand each other’s previously unknown sonic talents. They were encouraged to learn more about their capacity to listen and not simply hear. They experimented while holding sonic space for each other. They developed the sense that improvisation requires self-confidence, collective trust, openness, and an intentional interest in the other’s contribution.
Over the course of four meetings, planned for based on my understanding of the unique acoustic properties emanating from our interaction with the natural environment (including the ocean, weather and wind, and birds) and the mostly concrete architectural structure, we developed conversations beyond the sonic. We shared insights about our experiences. The final workshop culminated in a collective improvisation among all participants. This last improvisation became an opportunity for all participants to contribute unique soundings that encouraged sonic risk-taking, aurality, and collective growth.”
– Daniel Melo Morales.
My contribution to the collaboration was sound-focused. It included leading vocal and instrumental mimetic exercises, introducing ambulatory and stationary listening exercises, and the introduction of sonic and musical improvisation with participants sounding their instruments in unconventional ways. Conversations directed after each exercise or improvisation provided opportunities for exchanges among participants whereby they could newly understand each other’s previously unknown sonic talents. They were encouraged to learn more about their capacity to listen and not simply hear. They experimented while holding sonic space for each other. They developed the sense that improvisation requires self-confidence, collective trust, openness, and an intentional interest in the other’s contribution.
Over the course of four meetings, planned for based on my understanding of the unique acoustic properties emanating from our interaction with the natural environment (including the ocean, weather and wind, and birds) and the mostly concrete architectural structure, we developed conversations beyond the sonic. We shared insights about our experiences. The final workshop culminated in a collective improvisation among all participants. This last improvisation became an opportunity for all participants to contribute unique soundings that encouraged sonic risk-taking, aurality, and collective growth.”
– Daniel Melo Morales.
