ritual music

Sound Journey: Cycles and Rhythms

中文請往下滑

 

Four days to explore Time through exciting rhythms, solemn melodies and ritualistic cycles.

Repeat repeat repeat.

Refresh refresh refresh.

Four days to reveal the secrets that Time plays with us in our daily lives.

 

JANUARY 24-27 , 2019, JIANSHI – TAIWAN

 

 

 

The Cycles

In our daily lives we are constantly immersed in cycles and rhythms. Some are natural, some cultural, some personal. Think of the seasons and our biological clock; our annual festivities and celebrations, our workweek; the times we get up, we sleep, we relax with friends or family.

How do cycles, like night and day, circadian rhythms (+/- 24 hours) and the seasonal rhythms influence us? How can we understand these rhythms in a time when we are deeply changed by artificial light, the 24-hour economy and fixed working hours, year-through? How can we play with these influences, use them more consciously, adapt them to our needs and to our actual, real-life rhythms? How can we break through our most stubborn, unhealthy patterns or improve them?

No one seems to escape from frequent feelings of being hurried, being late, being busy. Time seems to be either running after us, or we are running to catch up with Time. Music, meditation, hobbies and ‘spare time’ in general are moments to catch our breath and to not feel the pressure of The Clock. Is life really moving faster nowadays?

Many lucid minds have thought about such questions throughout the ages, and our days are no exception. Using examples from many epochs and insights from East and West, we confront these questions. We will look for and find answers in biology, philosophy and science. But most of all, we will explore answers in and through music.

 

The Rhythms

Can we make a music that reflects all these rhythms? A music that is not just for distraction, fun or entertainment, but a music that is charged with deeper meaning, understanding, and deeper transformative elements? What does that music sound like? Will it work?

Music happens to be a powerful messenger of a deeper sense of time. It unlocks secrets of time – and then again it makes the mystery bigger. In these three days we listen to examples of music based on the movements of planets, on the heartbeat, and learn to create our own original musics along similar lines. We create our own music based on the rhythms of cells and planetary movements (can you attune your voice to your cells or to Jupiter?). We look and listen into the rhythms and pulses of our individual ‘bodysphere’, and make them audible. We enact slow rituals to catch Time in its tracks, as it unfolds – as gesture, or dance – in our limbs and escapes – as sound – from our lips. In between we pause, reflect and discuss the ongoing game that Time plays with us. All with the aim to connect more deeply and more wisely with the manifold rhythms of the life forms inside and outside ourselves.

Program day to day

Every day we explore one of the cycle forms with which we want to make music that day.

We start Thursday from the ‘median’ rhtyhms that we can feel and test most easily: those of our own lifecycle and the longer biorhythms such as breath and hearbeat.

We continue Friday with the Circadian rhythms (day-night), expanding to the largest cycles of planets and other heavenly bodies.

Saturday we finish with a focus on the rhythms of cells and organs and also of other species, and look at the full picture of Cycles and Rhythms.

By Sunday we have a more complete picture of time cycles, with attached problems, as well as a picture of the solutions: the rhythms and tones that help us tune-in to the real world.

For each day we review some of the theories, we make our own observations and discuss the problems attached to it. At various stages, we create our own musical responses: sometimes more intuitively, sometimes in the shape of simple compositions that anyone can take part in. Gradually we will get closer to revealing the complex web of time cycles in which our life unfolds, and find answers to the question what we can do to adjust our pace to the unfolding of Time.

Dates, times, prices

OPTION ONE: FULL WORKSHOP.

The full workshop lasts 3,5 days, from Thursda, January 24,  noon (+ evening) to Sunday January 27, afternoon 4 PM. On Friday and Saturday we have a program for all day (including evening), with longer breaks to let everything sink in.

The price for the 3,5 day workshop is NT$ 12.000.

Early bird (till November 5) and R E S O N A N C E students price: NT$ 10.800.

OPTION TWO: 2, 5 DAYS

For those who are short of time (it happens), it is possible to join from Friday, January 25, evening – let us know when you can arrive so we can inform you about the reduced price.

(NOT) INCLUDED:

All meals are included. Transport and lodging are not included. Lodging is on-site at The Rainbow Mountain, Jianshi, where you can stay all the time. The rooming options differ a bit and are handled separately by Sunny Chen.

REGISTRATION

Registration: through the form or write us:

Sunny Chen: ly.sunny.chen at gmail dot com / lineID: soleilc77
Mark van Tongeren: mark at fusica dot nl

Please send a clear proof of your payment (bank transfer) by email to Mark or Sunny.

Max. 12 students.

This workshop is in English with Mandarin translation.

Mandarin registration link (write us for English registration).

 

用四天來探索,探索時間。透過慷慨激昂的節奏,莊嚴的旋律,與儀式性地循環。
重複,重複,再重複。
更新,更新,再更新。
四天的時間,揭露時間在我們生活中所扮演的神秘角色。
(也可以選擇只參加2.5天, 週五到週日)

【帶領者】 Mark van Tongeren 德蘇
馬克.范.湯格鄰(Mark van Tongeren)是一位在藝術與科學疆界耕耘的聲音表演家,擁有二十五年音樂與多媒體表演資歷,為荷蘭萊登大學民族音樂學研究博士。為向大師習藝,他的足跡遍及阿爾泰地區、地中海、以及西藏寺院。在國際上,他是泛唱表演與研究著作的權威。曾任教於台北藝術大學戲劇學系(2003-2004客座講師),政治大學X書院(2012-2014) ,肯園香氣私塾「聲音瑜珈」(2013-)。合作對象包含作曲家、即興創作者、原民音樂家、與台灣舞蹈團體。肯園科西嘉島芳香之旅領隊。2018年帶團前往圖瓦(西伯利亞)進行深度的音樂之旅。 目前與其妻溫佑君以及他們的兩位孩子定居於台灣。
https://www.fusica.nl/biography/

[課程內容]
我們日常生活的無時無刻都沈浸在節奏與循環之中。有些循環是自然現象,有些是文化的,有些則是個人的。循環跟節奏的例子有四季的變化跟身體的生理時鐘、每年的節日與慶典、我們每個星期工作週的週而復始—每天起床、睡覺、和家人及朋友相處。

每個人在自己的生活中似乎都無法逃脫很趕,一直趕進度,很忙很忙的感覺。我們好像一直被時間追,又好像是跑在時間後面追趕它。音樂、冥想、休閒嗜好跟「自由時間」似乎是我們能夠喘口氣,而不感覺時間壓力的時刻。音樂同時也是帶領我們進入一種深度時間的媒介。音樂揭露時間的秘密,又或者,它讓時間更為神秘?

在四天的工作坊,我們會以細胞和星球運行的節奏靈感來玩音樂(你曾經讓自己的聲音調頻到自己的細胞或木星的頻率嗎?)我們可以聆聽和檢視我們自己身體的「身體星球體」,把它化為能被聽見的音樂。我們會參與緩慢的儀式,在慢動作中捕捉時間流動的軌跡—每個肢體的動作和舞蹈、從我們嘴唇邊逃逸出的各種聲音—所有在時間當下發生的一切。在各個活動之間,我們會空下來,來省視與反思時間對我們的影響—人活在時間之中的小遊戲。我們現代的生活中,時間真的越來越快了嗎?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ㄧ些關於循環與節奏的核心問題是:現代人要如何面對充滿時間壓力的世界?我們是否能夠創造一種幫助自己“調頻”到平靜世界的音樂頻率?

我們每天會探索一種循環的形式,整天都用其規律來創造音樂。

週四我們會以直接感受的“中位數平均”節奏開始:像是我們的生命循環或是生物性的生命節奏,例如呼吸跟心跳等等。

週五我們接續著以晝夜循環開始,並延續到最大的星球和其他天體的循環。

週六我們會為細胞跟器官,以及其他物種的生命節奏做個小結。並且更宏觀的檢視循環與節奏。

到了週日,我們對於時間的循環已經會有有較全面的了解:了解其相關的問題,以及各種可能的解決方案——也就是幫助我們與真實世界調頻,透過節奏與音調。

每天我們都會檢視一些概念,提出我們自己的經驗觀察,然後討論相關問題。在不同的階段,我們會創造我們自己的音樂性回應:有時候是直覺性的反應; 有時是透過一些簡單的規則結構,使得所有人都能輕鬆的參與其中。漸漸的,我們會越來越接近我們生命之中時間循環的複雜網絡,進而找到我們在時間的流逝中,該如何調整自己的腳步的方向。

【課程資訊】
[對象]: 任何想深入接觸聲音、音樂的人。任何想要增進聲音、震動、及覺性的聲音音場之技巧以及了解的創作者、身體工作者或心靈修練者。對課程內容有想望者。
[語言]: 英文+中文
[時間]: 2019年1月24-27日,週四中午到週日下午四點
[地點]: 彩虹山嶺-靜淨境教室,新竹縣尖石鎮義興村9鄰93之1號
[學費] 12,000。含十餐和保險
早鳥優惠(至11月5日)/ R E S ON A N CE折扣:NT $ 10,800。
學生折扣(帶學生證):8折

不包含:
* 內灣火車站到彩虹山嶺的交通
* 三晚的住宿
(1500-3600之間,依房型和人數而定。
當學員報名完成,將會說明與協調選擇。
如需特殊住宿安排,請於報名表單末說明。或聯繫我們)

[開課人數]: 最少8人- 最多12人
[折扣]:
– 學生8折 (請帶學生證)
– Resonance 舊生: 10,800

【好奇嗎?請來電或來信了解詳情】
中文: ly.sunny.chen@gmail.com / lineID: soleilc77 陳亮伃
英文: info@fusica.nl Mark van Tongeren

【報名連結】
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1HBwCK59RgwMAKnz8CK27uc1mtd4rYB0cIPaY1o9jY_g/edit

 

Singing with the Bunun

Recently my Resonance students – plus a few guests – joined the second Sound Journey. The first Sound Journey was about the Art of Listening, in Hsinchu. This time, we delved into musical traditions in an outdoor camping/guesthouse site in Puli, with fantastic views of the valleys and mountains of Nantou. The central event was a visit to the Bunun village of Mingder, now called Naihunpu (formerly Naifubo) in the Bunun vernacular. Here we were warmly received by mainly elder people (mostly 50+) of this small community. I visited them for the first time in 2005, when I stayed there for a few days, talking to them and recording their songs on audio and video. I was introduced to them at that time by Dr. Wu Rung Shun, the well-known expert on Taiwanese indigenous music and a recordist/compiler of the most extensive collection of published recordings from Taiwan, The Music of the Aborigines on Taiwan Island Vol. 1-9.

The Music of the Aborigines on Taiwan Island, Vol. 1: The Bunun

The Music of the Aborigines on Taiwan Island, Vol. 1: The Bunun

 

BununPasiButBut2005

Recording the Bunun of Naihunpu in 2005 (they gave me their dress to wear for the occasion).

In 2005 I was struck by the Bunun’s music, their hospitality and their willingness to share their music, dance and wisdom with me. But I had no opportunity to follow up on my visit for a long time. Last year I finally returned, meeting some familiar faces  and quite a few new ones too. I wasn’t just interested to learn more about their music for myself; I thought it would also be great if my students had a chance to experience their music. After all this music is always polyphonic, and it is more interesting to learn it together. So I asked the Bunun leaders if we could come over one afternoon to learn from them, and they agreed. They pointed out that they had Wu Rung Shun’s students visiting and that it was not easy to learn their songs. We were slightly uncertain as to how satisfying this would be for both parties. They had never worked with a group like ours, that is, a group of students that did not study music at the academic level. Perhaps we would not be able to make much of their music ourselves?

We came prepared: all of us had listened to the CD the Bunun from this village had recently produced, with a selection of their repertoire. And the evening before I had talked about different vocal styles and techniques and practised these with the group. We had also tried a Kyrie from Corsica, a polyphonic Christian song that I deemed appropriate to learn during this Easter weekend.
BununSeated

We were warmly received by a large group of about twenty people who were all introduced to us, and we all introduced ourselves to them. They were clearly very willing and eager to teach us about their music and perform for us. They insisted to change to their full traditional regalia of dresses, pants, headbands, earrings and carry-on bags, so they looked fabulous. Surprisingly, what seemed to be newly-made handwoven vests, turned out to be actually quite old, and worn for many occasions throughout the years. They took great care to maintain it.
BununFullRegalia
After watching several pieces performed by them, I asked if we could mingle and spread out between them, men between men, women between women. That would allow my students to better hear that each individual sings something different. After all, in a recording you hear many voices, but you are not really able to find out how one particular voice moves around in the polyphonic network. They readily agreed and so we could hear at close range what different voices do: a completely different experience than hearing the whole song, played back from a CD. Ten years ago I also recorded Amis songs this way, moving between the singers so as to get a clear picture of different individual voices. It was very revealing! Suddenly the chords jump to life all around you, like some kind of enhanced-dolby-5.1-stereo – much better than that in fact.

BununMixedWithUs

The meeting continued with more singing, sitting between the Bunun, absorbing the richnes of their musical patterns and imitating them. They asked us to sing our Corsican Kyrie for them, which my students dared to do, even though they had only learned it the day before. It was an approriate thing to do, as the Bunun are Christians and were actually very busy this time of year preparing for next day’s Easter Sunday celebrations (later that night they still went to church to prepare for it).
BununKyriePresentation
Later on, we saw and heard the men sing the Pasi But But: the most famous of Bunun vocal pieces. It is so unique in the world of music that it is hard to come up with any parallel. When I first heard a recording of the Pasi But But some 20 years ago, I thought of the music of György Ligeti, the contemporary Hungarian composer whom I listened to quite a bit at that time. The slow, draggingly-ascending lines, curled up into each other, make up for a  confusing sound experience, unlike most other types of polyphony (I also listened to hundreds of music traditions around the world, but the Bunun piece resembled none of them).

Thanks – again – to Wu Rung Shun’s PhD thesis of 1995, the mystery of this piece was revealed in all its fantastic detail, including all the meanings, terms, spiritual messages and other practices associated with it. With him and his colleague Dr. Chung Mingder and students at the Taipei National University of Arts we tried the piece many times. We often got lost in the steadily increasing flow of microtonal changes; sometimes we had some degree of succes; it was always intense and exhausting.

PasiButBut2ndSinger

Singing the Pasi But But

We were lucky enough – at least the four males of our group – to be invited to join their Pasi But But after they had done it. Again, each man of our group was surrounded by other men, and each in one of the four pitch-groups, holding hands and twisting arms firmly behind our backs. With the guidance of the experienced Bunun men’s strong, certain voices, there was little risk of messing this piece up, and indeed the three other men who never did it before got through it alright.
Finally, we shared more food, excited talk and some wine, as well as some Jew’s harp and mouth-bow playing to conclude our acquaintance.

BununPestlePlaying
Later that night, after we returned to the house on the mountain slope where we stayed, our group members unanimously rejoiced in this learning experience. Each for themsleves, they had made very different discoveries. One heard new songs that she had never heard before from the Bunun. Another said it was revealing to sing while being surrounded by several elders. A third was thrilled to feel the powerful voice of an aged, yet virile singer next to her. Another found out that the Bunun do not simply hit some notes here and there, but make certain patterns and still structure their pieces even though they improvise. Yet another marvelled at hearing the Pasi But But at close range, which is so different form a concert performance at a distance. One of the men of our group understood much better how this song worked after being taught to sing it with them.

BununSaniSuglumanBununOfferingDiang Nangavulan BununBilingDemuSq

My thanks to all the Bunun participants in the workshop, especially chief/chairman Diang Nangavulan (centre), Biling Demu (right) and Sani Sugluman (left).