THE RHYTHM KITCHEN
3 COMPLEMENTARY AND INDEPENDENT MODULES ABOUT RHYTHM AND PRESENCE
IN CIRCLESONGS AND COLLABORATIVE VOCAL IMPRO
"It has been one of the best things out of my comfort zone that I've experienced!"
"Really great: lots of information, very rich and very complementary between the teachers"
"The games and exercises were progressive and allowed you to take possession of the techniques.
I also particularly liked the Sunday morning when we could go back over what everyone wanted to practise again to integrate the material!"
"I had the impression of going to a gourmet restaurant for 2 and a half days, everything was good and I would have liked 5 days to practise more"
"So inspiring! I went home every day with lots of ideas to develop"
"A very beautiful combination of quality of work and simplicity of presence"
THE RHYTHM KITCHEN is a cycle of three weekends of scenic and rhythmic research in Circlesongs & Co-Impro, guided by Giulia Ledda in synergy with 3 fellow pedagogues. A colourful palette of ingredients coming from 16 years of theatrical, vocal, performative and educational practice, from a synesthetic perspective (all the senses awake!) of musical feeling and intuition, vibratory sensation and presence... through the joy of rhythm!
WHY AND HOW :
As an experimenter with a passion for energy, stage and musical presence and all that is organic momentum supported by rhythm, a deep creative desire led me to build this path that is the THE RHYTHM KITCHEN course cycle.
The aim of the cycle is to create a fairly complete framework for training the "inhabited being" from the three gateways, the three vertices of the triangle of stage presence:
- body
- emotion
- speech
Throughout the course, participants will be given a wide range of rhythmic tools and colors to explore their Jackson Pollock in Circlesongs: expressive, instinctive movement with cognition and mastery. With the profound desire to be able, with practice, to surf between these three access points with the greatest pleasure!
In the first module, I have the joy of sharing the lead with Baptiste Vaes, fellow traveller in the Labophonique collective, with whom I share not only the language of Circlesongs and Co-impro, but also an infinite number of working objectives and paths towards musical pleasure, in short: a fresh multivitamin smoothie of benevolence and rigour!
This first module is entirely dedicated to the Body in its mechanical dimension:
- Awareness/mapping of your own support points
- Independence (feet, clapping, voice) and relaxation of the body
- Rhythmic practices from several musical cultures: Balkans, Africa (South, West, North), Brazil
- Stage movement, mechanics and rhythm of gesture
- Elements of traditional Mediterranean dance
- Polyrhythms
The aim of the course is to provide access to a range of tools for creating rhythmically and musically in Circlesongs using your natural physicality and developing your musical discourse while maintaining the best possible connection to your body, literally... without losing ground!
For this second module, I have the pleasure of collaborating with Liane Van De Putte, fellow traveler in the Labophonique collective, with whom I share not only the language of Circlesongs and Co-impro, but also a deep passion for scenic research and immoderate joy for the co-construction of poetic and playful frameworks for vocal improv diving.
On the program:
-Guided imagery and Music
-Memory and Rhythm
-Graphic gesture and rhythm
-Exploration of improv practices from the theatrical pedagogies of Viola Spolin and the Roy Hart Theatre
-Exploring rhythmic practices from different musical cultures (Middle East, West Africa, Latin America)
This module aims to lead participants towards a deep connection with their imagination and creativity and towards a re-connection between physical memory and expressive act, where rhythmic construction is organically at the service of the inhabited being.
For the third module, I invited my friend and collegue Geoffrey Grumelli. Our duo has already tested its good balance of humour and groove in multiples occasions! In the last 3 years we shared a real thirst for creativity in language and rhythms, the creation of a theatre and music show and a solid range of tools coming from our common education in the Rhythms and Rythmics section of the Conservatory of Brussels.
The program:
Articulation & subdivision: Elements of SCAT (binary jazz and swing rhythm); Elements of Konnakol (South Indian rhythm)
Artistic musical forms implying speech: Plenty of joyful games around different concepts (versification, rhymes, spoken word, slams, logorrhea and tongue twisters)
Tools for improvising with words: Creative writing, in space and on paper; Theatrical and musical improvisation games in grommelot (techniques of Dario Fo & Viola Spolin)
The aim of this third module is to enable participants to play with a wide range of rhythmic possibilities in language (real or imaginary) and to retain its organicity and presence in the transition from speech to song.
2025 SESSIONS :
BODIES 10-12 OCTOBER
IMAGINARIES 28-30 NOVEMBER
WORDS 12-14 DECEMBER
Free space of practice of Circlesongs and collaborative vocal improvisation for the students of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels!
Studying music requires a strong discipline which can sometimes affect the pleisure of free creativity.
This space is offered to students in order to gain a possibility of having the pure fun of creation in a collective dynamic, but also to give an opportunity to theatre students to explore musical composition techniques in a spontaneus and playful frame.
With Bobby Mc Ferrin's words:
"Circlesongs is an immersion in sound, creativity, and community. It challenges all participants to play, sing, invent, imagine, and explore. In the circle, we make music, build trust, take risks, and embrace life to the fullest. Every song, every voice has a place"
PEDAGOGIC AND ARTISTIC VISION ABOUT CIRCLESINGING
What is exactly Circlesinging? The basic device is quite simple and probably refers back to the earliest forms of human composition: an improviser in the centre of a circle, progressively entrusts a rhythmic-melodic ostinato to each section of the circle and thereby starts the construction of the musical discourse. The composition thus takes place layer by layer, with the free addition of counterpoints, harmonisations, rhythmic vocal or body percussion accompaniments.
On this sound tapestry, the improvisers can add their singing or poetry solo and simultaneously, progressively modify their own composition. Thanks to gestures similar to that of sound painting, and/or to body expressivity, they can act on the execution time, dynamics, metrics, can evolve the discourse through breaks and relance, move from legato to staccato, from melody to unison, sing in repartee with one or more sections of the circle, in duet with another participant, ... the possibilities are endless!THE
BENEFITS OF THIS PRACTICE are manifold:
* for amateur musicians and singers, to appropriate and embody a large number of musical concepts, in a playful dimension devoid of any judgement on oneself and others, based on the pleasure of sharing and the rather instinctive musicality of bodies.
* for professional musicians, exploring their own musical universe by re-appropriating the pleasure of musical creation and practising listening, vocal precision and rhythmic accents, harmonisation, composition, in a joyful atmosphere free from “institutional” expectations.
* for traditional singing choirs this practice is extremely useful to explore vocal timbres, harmonisation possibilities, freedom and creativity of interpretation, which will then nourish and strengthen their presence in traditional singing. And from a stylistic point of view: to consolidate their cohesion by sharing a more personal vision of singing.
