On the 1st of April, I attended an Oral Composition Play at 12:00 noon at the Plaza. At the start of the concert, the Instructor had given us a brief overview as to what this performance would be about. The class that was performing had spent the first few months studying and practicing rhythm techniques from world traditions which included the basics of Solkattu and Mora. The instructor mentioned that Solkattu and Mora music is a traditional way of learning and practicing rhythms through vocalizations of nonsense syllables stemming from South Indian Carnatic music. In performance, Solkattu is traditionally called Konnakol. Most percussionists, vocalists, instrumentalists, and dancers all learn these syllables first and then add the sounds of the drum, the pitches, or the dance movements to the vocalizations later on. This particular music was also interlocked with a totally different type of music, this was African music and to be more specific music originating from West Africa. I was quite excited to hear this beautiful composition and the interweaving of two very different types of music from two very different places. Each piece was 3-5 minutes and utilized both ideas from West African and South Indian culture.
When the instructor was explaining what went into creating these pieces I was truly impressed. The students had practiced for 2 hours 4 days a week, their dedication and hard work could definitely be seen through the quality of music that they produced. They had all played percussion instruments from UBC’s world music collection and formed a beautiful ensemble. Each composer taught their own music orally to the group and it was then learned, memorized and practice without notation. This reminds me of what we spoke about in class- during the 19th century, thematic transformations had become a major force where musical performers like Clara Schumann introduced memorizing of music. She concertized throughout Europe and then became a celebrated piano teacher. She taught her students to play all their solo piece from memory so they would perform with greater finesse and confidence and eventually the tradition of memorizing solo music came to be expected. Today, we as musicians spend a lot of time working to memorize music. In my own preparation, I feel I spend half of my practice time striving to learn notes and the other half trying to memorize music and so did the performers on that day because all the music was memorized.
Most of the music that was played was composed to be played in the same way each time which is why a lot of the pieces that were performed sound similar to one another. Some pieces used comfortable grooves and rhythms calculation processes which I believe helped to aid memorization of those pieces. There was also some improv involved and I was able to notice this through the group’s awareness of the composers intent body language and how the rhythms all interlaced.
A few of the pieces that were played were “Pass the Farm Fresh Butter” “The Fishmongers Wife” “Three Gardens” and “Glimpse to Equinox” all of which represent olden times and perhaps could be used as a way to show us the kind of life that people in West Africa and Southern India live. All the performers were also barefoot which again could have been used to represent the authenticity and the attempt to make it as real and as close to African and Indian culture. There was percussion used in all of the instruments and although most of the pieces sounded very similar because of the banging and percussion instruments some of the pieces stood out because of the soprano singing that was employed. It was really interesting to hear them playing this music in the Plaza outdoors in the warmth and it made me wonder how it would have sounded in the Barnett Hall indoors.