New nordic composers workshop
New Nordic Composers Workshop is a joint Nordic workshop with participating composers, music school pupils and music school teachers from the five Nordic countries: Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark as well as from the Faroe islands. Music school pupils from the Nordic countries will be creating their own music in cooperation with the Nordic composers, and the pupils will perform the music themselves at a concert in Råhuset in Copenhagen during Nordic Music Days.
The purpose
The purpose of New Nordic Composers Workshop is to give children and youths an experience and an understanding of contemporary art music by letting them compose – partly unassisted in small groups and partly in cooperation with professional composers. Also, it is the intention that music school teachers and composers from the Nordic countries, through this developmental process will acquire educational instruments that will enable them to initiate similar projects in their respective countries.
The aim is that it will be an evolutionary meeting of young Nordic music school pupils, and that new experiences can be added to the work with composition in cooperation between amateurs and professionals. The participating children and youths will get experience with the entire process from idea to finished work and on to the actual performance.
The participants
Three music school pupils from each of the five Nordic countries as well as one or two pupils from the Faroe Islands will be participating. The pupils are between twelve and sixteen and play their instrument on a level of having played for at least three or four years. A composer and a music school teacher from each of the five Nordic countries will also be participating.
The workshop will have experimental characteristics as ideas of sound and music are introduced and explored. The participants are divided in mixed national groups and are given tools and inspiration to work independently with group compositions. A composer is attached to each group.
The participating music school teachers make up a group of their own, and some of the experiences from Danish cross institutional and cross occupational projects will be presented to this group. Moreover, the teachers will work together on the basis of the same materials as the pupils and a composer will also be attached to the teacher’s group.
Background
New Nordic Composers Workshop is based on the many experiences made with children and composition. These experiences are made partly in schools with professional composers and musicians, for example Young Composers Workshop (www.skompo.dk) with Else Marie Okkels, and partly in music school projects with composer and music school teacher Østen Ore, among others.
The participants will be presenting their own compositions and perform them at a concert during Nordic Music Days on Saturday, September 11th at 1 pm in Råhuset.
