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THE JOY OF SOUND

Nine Holes

In todays lesson we learnt the warm up techniques of Yoshi Oida and the Cleansing of the Nine Holes. Yoshi Oida believed that by washing our bodies before a rehearsal, it creates a fresh new start to each devising session. We washed our Belly buttons, mouths, ears and eyes to wake us up. By washing our belly buttons, also known as our Hara, we are connecting to our mothers, as it is a spot of extreme spiritual value as the Japanese believe the soul is in the Hara. This is why when samurai warriors kill themselves after something shameful, they put their katana swords through their belly buttons, as it destroys the soul. We also cleared the space before the rehearsal as this is another Oida technique. An ensemble will work in silence to clear the space of anything that's impractical to the rehearsal. This develops a mutual respect for the space and clears the mind as well as physical environment.

Class Experiment

Today we conducted an ensemble exercise. The experiment consisted of three different songs being played, and as an ensemble we had to choose whether to respond to that piece of music by writing, drawing or physical movement. This exercise made me broaden my mind to different ways of thinking when listening to music. Music is a form of expression and by combining it with other mediums of expression creates something powerful. This exercise was interesting as it made the class get to terms with the joy of music and how our minds respond to sound in a primitive fashion. Some songs make you feel different emotions and we crave a need to express ourselves whether that medium be dance, art or writing. By expressing ourselves it is a release. Thus being joyful. So each song has an element of joy. Songs are created to stimulate different emotions.

Track 1: Leadbelly - Goodnight Irene

This song made me write a piece of writing based upon my Nan. Since both of my Nan's suffer from Dementia and Alzheimer's disease, this song reminds me of my Nan on my mums side as she used to dance to the Irish version of Goodnight Irene. In the care home, we always play music similar to that song and we see her smile and get up out of her seat to dance, and in our way, music brought back our Nan for a short period of time. This song captures the joy of family in my opinion.

Track 2: Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual

This song made me get up and dance. It wasn't so much a physical theatre movement, it was more of a primitive need to get up and dance. It was very happy and joyful which made me think of the brain in the sense of just responding to music without thinking. The beat, rhythm, pace and the instruments in the song strike a chord in all of the class as the song oozes fun.

Track 3: Brian Eno - Music for Airports

In response to Eno's 'Music for Airports', I created a piece of drawing. Said drawing consisted of lots of different stairs leading in a winding circle, leading to the nowhere but always seeming as if there is an end. This piece is very spiritual sounding in nature and doesn't necessarily bring joy, but relaxation. I felt like I could fall asleep peacefully. Which is what Eno had designed the song to be.

MY SONGS OF JOY

This is a tiny collection of songs that bring me joy and make me happy. These songs may be about depressing and sad topics but they still bring me joy.

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)