Conceived in partnership with the Musica festival, the workshop concerts allow students to learn about a work through listening, exchange and practice. During this concert, which lasts one and a half hours in small groups, the pupils discover an extract from a work and then, accompanied by the performers, they discover its secrets by practising the percussion themselves.
THE COURSE
- A concert : The registered students first attend a concert of the Percussions de Strasbourg. These young spectators are invited to listen carefully and observe the instruments and playing techniques used in the various pieces performed.
- An exchange with the participants: The percussionists explain the device and the acoustic principle used during the concert and answer questions from the participants.
- A practical workshop: Participants are invited to produce a specific technique observed during the concert – a glissando for example, with an acoustic instrument – to perform a cross-fade with a group of instruments, and to reproduce these effects with the help of computers in the case of digital works.
- Interpretation: The session ends with a performance of the results of the workshop on the stage.
Under the direction of two musicians from Percussions de Strasbourg, the participants, young and old, have the opportunity to put into practice the simple playing techniques observed during the concert: Controlling the vibration of the Japanese bowl penetrating the silence, transforming the sound of a cowbell with the help of a timpani, feeling the wave of a big box propagate through the body… So many experiments in which the participants become the actors and which provide each time intense moments and emotions.
CONCERT-WORKSHOPS 2022: RANDOM SPACE MUSIC
2020 CONCERT-WORKSHOPS: 50 CYMBALS, INSPIRED BY RYOJI IKEDA!
In 2020, the concert-workshop will feature an inspired version of Ryoji Ikeda’s work performed by the Percussions de Strasbourg at the opening of the Musica festival: 100 Cymbals.
In 100 Cymbals, 10 percussionists play 100 cymbals, carefully arranged in a 15m by 15m square.
Throughout the piece, the percussionists move among the cymbals, using different sticks and playing modes to give different colours and sounds.
For the concert-workshop, 50 cymbals are played by two percussionists of the Percussions de Strasbourg… and then by the participants!
After the concert, the participants will be divided into two groups and provided with superball sticks to take their place among the cymbals, supervised by a Percussionist of the Percussions de Strasbourg.
At the end of the workshop, after having listened to each other’s performances, each participant can leave with his or her superball sticks to continue the search for sound at school or at home.
The device is also accessible to people with disabilities: it is adapted so that they can fully feel the vibrations among the cymbals.
