Ninth Week

On Wednesday morning we had to go to the city of Tuzla to collect the scenery (a miniature pirate ship) for the upcoming show. This meant a long detour on our journey to Srebrenica so we had to leave Sarajevo at 7.00am. Much to our disappointment we arrived in Srebrenica too late to visit the Kindergarten and so we went straight to Potočari. We continued our work on pirates from last week - Hannah again led the pirate warm-up (“climb the rigging!” etc.) and the pirate dance game. We sang the song we had introduced to them last week (15 men/Petnaest ljudi) and then spent some time turning the lyrics from last week into a song. It turned out great and it goes like this...

The lyrics mean...

What does a pirate look like?
Why? Why? Why?
He has scary teeth, voice and black beard.

What do pirates do?
What? What? What?
They steal gold, money and silver.

When a pirate relaxes...
They drink, gamble and play the accordion.

[Captain Pugwash theme plays and everyone dances]

Although it has still not been confirmed, we are very hopeful that the Potočari group will be able to do a small performance of their compositions and other favourite songs at the Children’s Music Theatre show next week. Hopefully this can be arranged as it would be the perfect opportunity for the group to show off their hard work from 10 weeks’ worth of workshops.

In Skelani this week our “Interkulturalno Muzičko Putovanje” took us to Scotland! We introduced them to our country with a little slide-show of Scottish landmarks – we were surprised by how intrigued they were by the pictures! We sang “Donald, where’s yer troosers?” (or Donald, vhers jer truzers? in Bosnian phonetics!). This is a comedy Scottish song about wearing a kilt, and the group seemed to find it hilarious! We then talked a bit more technically about Scottish music, with Hannah playing a strathspey on the viola to demonstrate the feature known as a “scotch snap”. The next verse of the Jednog dana... song drew on this idiom. Again the group enjoyed writing lyrics – this time based on our discussion about Scotland (pipers, kilts, whiskey etc.). Next week we plan to record this group composition, along with one of their favourite songs from the last two sessions (Makedonsko devojće), to make a CD as a memento of our work together.

Eighth Week

We decided to be ambitious with our plans for the next three weeks, and to begin new mini-projects in both Potočari and Skelani. We were delighted to learn this week that it should be possible for the Potočari kids to do a short performance of their work before the “Children’s Music Theatre” show on 12^th December (see event above). For this reason we chose “Pirates” as the theme of their new project, to get them into the spirit of the show. We devised a series of pirate and nautical themed activities including a physical warm-up in which we called out pirate commands which the children responded to with corresponding actions (“climb the rigging!/penjite se po mieže!”, “haul in the anchor!/puvocite sidro!” etc.). We used other pirate related games, including a listening activity in which the children had to learn 3 different pirate dances, each of which went with a different pirate tune (played by Lewis and I). We also sang a pirate song (in Bosnian) roughly translated from the famous “15 men on a dead man’s chest” shanty from RL Stevenson’s Treasure Island. The final part of our workshop focused on writing pirate lyrics, in two groups, which we will make into songs next week. The children worked very well today. We were very impressed by their concentration levels and enthusiasm for this new project, and we are very much looking forward to the last two weeks. We were also very pleased to be able to lead the majority of this workshop in Bosnian for the first time. We are very grateful to our tutor (Ms Mirzana Pasič) for helping with our pirate-related vocabulary.

In Skelani, our new mini-project is called “Interkulturalno Muzičko Putovanje” – the “Intercultural Musical Journey”. Our aim for the next three weeks is to sing a variety of songs from different countries and musical traditions. We would like the kids to get a feel for the musical characteristics of diverse musical styles and to learn a little about other countries and cultures. We have devised and presented this theme to the kids as an imaginary journey by river/sea, starting from Skelani, and travelling first to neighbouring Balkan countries, then further afield (in later weeks). Using a large map of the Balkans as a prop, this week we ‘visited’ and sang songs from Croatia (Sve ptičice iz gore) and Macedonia (Makedonsko devojće), and performed a traditional tune from Romania. (We also made an impromptu stop in Serbia – on the request of one of the kids!) We have suggested that they bring us suggestions of Bosnian songs they would like to sing/perform in following two weeks. During the second half of the session we composed as a group, the first verse of a new song (below), describing and drawing on the musical cultures we experienced today. We hope to add further verses in the following weeks, in contrasting musical styles.

Seventh Week

There were no children at the Kindergarten again this week, so we arrived early in Potočari – in time for a little informal sing-song in the playground. In the workshop the group was in high spirits as usual but they all worked well in circle-based activities. They were particularly attentive during variants on “pass the clap” using the small percussion instruments, and really enjoyed reprising many of the songs they learned in previous weeks (Abutange-vu, Tingalayo and Tekelelo meria) which they sang and acted with gusto.

The Music Theatre rehearsal this week brought together the music section (led by Toni and helped by us) and the dance section (led by Jana Dukanovic), and things are starting to look very promising for the show in a few weeks. We now know where the music we have been preparing will fit into the story and the dancers tried their choreography to our group playing live for the first time.

The school in Skelani was also closed this week due to a Serbian day of mourning, but we are looking forward to resuming work there next week.

This was Sarah’s last week with the project as she has unfortunately had to return to the UK for family reasons.

Sixth Week

Hi!

Due to an outbreak of chickenpox, it was a quiet week at the Kindergarten in Srebrenica this week, with only three children in the workshop. Nevertheless, Toni led a fun-packed 45minutes beginning with our weekly ‘Dobar dan’ (good day) song and followed by lots of short musical games and activities encouraging the children to sing, feel a pulse, and practise their motor skills.

Dobar dan, Dobar dan,
Dobro došli,
Mi pjevamo i sviramo,
Sad zajedno svi.

[Good day, good day,


Welcome everyone,
We sing and we play,
Altogether now.]

It was lovely to see familiar faces again at the Potočari workshop this week: the children now know a large repertoire of songs and in future sessions we can now plan to build on some of the composition work from previous workshops. We began this week’s session with some physical and vocal warm-ups. Toni led a warm-up which involved a call-and-response chant that was then repeated in different voices (loud, soft, singing etc). It was particularly interesting to see the children singing quietly during this warm-up and I think we will push them to sing with different dynamics in future sessions.

During the rest of the session, favourite songs such as Abutange Vu and Tingaleo were interspersed with focus activities and we also taught them a new song called Tekele Lomeria, which contains extremes of dynamics as the singing gets quieter and quieter before suddenly shouting at the end.

Tekele lomeria a in gayeya,
Tekele lomeria a in gayeya,
Aa, aa, in gayeya,
Mm, mm, in gayeya,
HA!!

The music section, under Toni’s guidance, continued to work on the music for the monster scene. This week the children thought about how they wanted to end the piece, and decided that the Dundun should stop, leaving only the djembe and darbuka, and then all rhythms should slowly fade out. We were also able to talk with Jana who leads the dance section and we have organised to combine the music and dance section rehearsal next week which will be very useful.

Unfortunately the majority of the children who attend the workshops in Skelani were watching their friends in a football match this week and so numbers were depleted (only three children). I hope that this was just a one-off occurrence and that next week things will be back to normal. We had planned to spend the session composing with the children, writing the song that the pirates will sing in the show. However, one of the girls had brought with her the lyrics to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face and so an impromptu session was spent arranging this popular hit for percussion, guitar and keyboard.

A few weeks ago, I went with Toni to his nephew’s kindergarten in Sarajevo (Sv Obitelj) and we led a music workshop with the kids there. The session lasted an hour and a half and about 60 children attended! We played lots of musical games and sang lots of songs with the children who were very enthusiastic and remained energetic and engaged throughout the long session. We were even able to do a small composing activity with them where the children drew shapes on a large piece of paper, coloured them in and then used this as a graphical score to conduct the rest of the group. It was a great experience for me to work with such a large number of children and I hope to return with Toni to the kindergarten in the following weeks.

Fifth Week

Lewis and I returned to the school in Dobrinja this week for two workshops on Monday and Tuesday. Again, the groups we worked with were very enthusiastic and a lot of fun was had by everyone. After physical and vocal warm-ups we encouraged the kids to do a lot of singing. We taught them Ogendawa, a Ugandan song the title/lyrics of which translate as 'Where are you going?' or 'Gdje idiš?' in Bosnian. We also introduced them to the morski konj song from our workshop in Skelani last week. We added rhythms, played by the kids on small percussion, to the latter. We gave the rhythms accompanying Bosnian phrases which the kids could repeat whilst playing the instruments and we found this to be a successful method of making relatively complex rhythmic patterns easier to learn and remember.

In Srebrenica this week the Kindergarten session was once again very successful. Toni seems to have a limitless repetoire of fun and engaging musical games which stimulate the children's motor and memory skills as well as promoting their musicality.

Potočari was far more productive this week. We worked with a smaller group, of more familiar faces, and did a non stop programme of energetic musical games, focus/listening exercises and singing. We taught the group two new songs in Bosnian - Tingaleo (from the Carribean) and Abetange Vu (from Africa) which the children greatly enjoyed. This group can be very hyperactive, but we were pleased that generally the children listened very well this week, responding particularly well to a focus game we made up. In this the children passed percussion instruments (shakers, bells etc.) round a circle in time to a medley of waltzes from around the world(!) played by Lewis and I. When the music stopped they had to stop passing and make their instruments completely silent. We wouldn't resume playing until there was complete silence. They improved markedly in the short space of time it took to play this game.

The music theatre workshop went ahead much like last week, this time with three boys instead of two. We worked on developing and practising the music for the monster scene, as described last week.


In Skelani we reprised the Brazilian song from last week, with added rhythms, and also taught them Ogendawa, as in Dobrinja. Our main activity this week was a compositional task in which two groups selected themes and musical concepts from a choice of mystery cards. They had to follow the instructions given on these cards (e.g. 'There arose a great storm...', 'add oboe', 'start loud and get quieter') in order to make up and perform a short piece of music. The idea was to get the kids to invent the music themselves with minimal direction from us, but using the instructions as compositional guides. This went well with both groups guessing/discussing the themes of each other's music.

Fourth Week

The kindergarten workshop closely followed last week's format, which Toni (who leads this workshop) and ourselves felt worked very well. So we sang, danced and played lots of musical games throughout an energetic 45 minutes.

Something that has been slightly problematic thus far in our Potočari sessions is that each week we are not sure which children to expect. There are new kids (of varying ages) every session, and there seems never to be any teachers in the school building. This week in particular there were several older kids, and many of the keen younger ones were not there. We had planned further song-writing and percussion activities, building on the work started last week, but this did not go to plan. We tried, instead, to do whole group percussion work, but many of the new, older kids were quite uninterested and dismissive, to the point that many of them left early (much to our dismay). This was quite off-putting for the younger members of the group (who have attended previous sessions). We suspect that many of these older kids were not who the school had intended to take part in the workshops, but rather they just happened to outside the school when we arrived. As there were no teachers around, we weren't able to discuss this with them, but we hope that Amir may be able to contact the school on our behalf regarding this.

Later that day we had a successful music theatre rehearsal. Toni, who is in charge of the music section for the Christmas show, decided that, despite there being only two boys who have ever attended a rehearsal, this week we should go full steam ahead and start putting together the music for the show. It proved to be a very fruitful workshop, with the two boys directing the ensemble (me on keyboard and everyone else on drums) as they built up music to accompany a scene featuring a terrifying sea-monster! Their drumming skills also continue to improve, as Toni is very thorough in his teaching.

On Thursday in Skelani we continued with our hand percussion work - putting some rhythms together with a fun Brazilian song about a seahorse (or morski konj in Bosnian).

Daleko na moru
Valovi igrau
Morski konj pliva
Traži gdje je riva
Morski konj je zgodan
Morski konj je miran
Morski konj je divan
To je morski konj!


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The beast song from Potočari.

Third Week

Hello!

On the Wednesday of our third week of workshops, things went in general very well. Our first session of the day, in the kindergarten, was full of fun and happiness - we sang songs together (including the "Beauty" song composed last week) and played games involving a lot of music and movement. It seems the little boys and girls really love to dance, and they responded especially well to some Scottish ceilidh tunes which Hannah and I played to round off our activities (on the viola and melodica, respectively).

Our second session of the day was, as usual, in the Potočari school. After some physical and vocal warm-ups, we split into two groups to work on the two sets of lyrics that had been created the previous week. Hannah and I helped our group to turn the words into a song. We were delighted to see how much enthusiasm the kids had for the composing process, and how proud they were of the final product, which turned out as a calm and melancholy song about a hideous beast...

On je strašan jer ima oči kao vuk
He is scary because he has the eyes of a wolf

On je veliki jer ima glavu kao medo
He is big because he has the head of a bear
On je ružan jer ima zube kao krokodil
He is ugly because he has the teeth of a crocodile
Crno-bela zver, crno-bela zver
Black-white beast, black-white beast

Rather than writing a song, Sarah and Toni's group (which was generally a slightly older age-group) focussed on percussion - building up rhythms over which the lyrics were chanted. The workshop finished with each group performing their new piece to the other.

In preparation for our Thursday workshop in Skelani, I had transcribed our most successful improvisation from the conducting activity. We performed this "polished" version to the group, and they seemed to like it! We're planning to develop this piece further over the coming weeks, primarily by getting the group to write percussion parts for themselves to play. To this end, Toni gave an intensive introduction to his hand percussion - djembe, bongos, darbuka, sabar etc. - and then got the group playing simple patterns together to steady pulse. To finish we played a game with the percussion - splitting the group into pairs and asking each pair to come up with a rhythmic pattern based on a particular emotion (happy, sad, fear, love, anger etc.). Each pair played their little pattern to the group and then we asked the pairs to combine their patterns to find out what it sounds like to be happy and in love, or sad and fearful.

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Unfortunately we learned on Thursday that the theme of the Children's Music Theatre performance has been changed from "Beauty and the Beast" to a pirate story called "Captain John Peoplefox". This was rather frustrating, because all of our composition work so far with the various groups, as well as out plans for the coming weeks, was based around "Beauty and the Beast". It is possible that Beauty and the Beast may survive in some form, although we need some time to discuss whether this is feasible and reconsider our position. Hopefully we will have time to alter our plans, as the Christmas show would be the perfect opportunity to bring the various groups from the region together to share their songs etc.