Other Lands, Other Sounds
Collaborative Music-Making Workshop
August 23rd - September 03, 2017
A 10 day guided workshop for musicians focusing on collaborative devised music-making, in Góis, a secluded riverside town in the hills of rural Portugal.
Other Lands, Other Sounds 2017 was a 10 day guided workshop for musicians focusing on collaborative devised music-making. Held in Góis, a secluded riverside town in the hills of rural Portugal, the workshop was intended for advanced musicians interested in devised composition, improvisation, movement practices, and site-responsive art.
We began the workshop by instituting an exploratory, laboratory environment. We improvised together as a group, went on sound walks through town and into the surrounding hills, collected found materials, and broke into small groups to compose pieces quickly in response. We started each day with a different movement practice, be it yoga, capoeira, or improv games, both as a way to build ensemble and prepare the mind and body for the day's work. Over the first week, we developed these pieces, exploring different processes for making music, drawing inspiration from movement, landscape, and visual arts.
Mid-week we went on a group excursion to visit the famous slate villages in the hills surrounding Góis. We attempted to have an afternoon picnic and swim at a nearby carcavelos (waterfall), but were unfortunately rained out!
In the second part of the workshop we turned out focus to pulling together the various creative starting points, to create finished pieces. We developed material in more depth, and began collaborating with a visual artist on residency at RV, Beatriz Martinez. We also had the chance to collaborate with the Gois Filharmonic, with whom we created a short piece, performed as part of their concert on our penultimate evening.
We also greatly enjoyed playing our instruments with some local musicians at Pombalino cafe one evening, creating new tunes and sharing our favorite classics.
The workshop concluded with a public presentation for the local community at Casa da Cultura de Góis, including foyer installations, performance art and live music performance, followed by a 45 minute set in the theatre, including video, live music and live visual arts.
TESTIMONIALS
"Great space to explore music making and new ways and processes for music collaboration. Perfect balance between lead workshops and self/group generated ideas and work. Very well supported and encouraged by Filipe, Kate, Rodrigo and the rest of team. Opportunity to grow artistically and make music with new people in new places."
"The Other Lands Other Sounds programme is fantastic – a great opportunity to explore composition and improvisation processes and approaches in a beautiful and supportive environment. The town of Gois is an ideal location for exploring creativity and artistry. I am very pleased to have chosen this programme and the support I received has really helped my work."
"It gave me a platform to begin working in a totally different way. I was introduced to tools to try and open up a creative process in my own playing. Having had a taster I can now start trying to put these elements into my own usually quite straight practice. Its still in its early stages but feels very exciting!"