Through this artistic research I have delved deeper into what art for children means and how I as a performer can use my skills to create an artistic project with children as the audience. Through the literature on experimental music, art for children and similar projects, the project has gained a clearer vision and a clearer starting point. The literature has helped to concretize an artistic idea, but also helped shape the value of the project. In addition it has also helped me reflect on my role as a performer and my artistic process in a project like this.
In the practical part of the research, I have together with Jenny and Nicolas through 8 workshops developed a workshop concept. We started with a simple idea and have through exploration over an 11 month period shaped the idea into a concrete artistic project. The goal from day one was to develop a space where everybody could create, and through exploration we have discovered a number of tools and techniques for how we can make this possible by adapting to the audience at each workshop.
In the first five workshops, we developed a structure and exercises that addressed the concept that drawing can become sound and sound can become drawing. By reflecting on what we did in each workshop and the response we received, we ended up with three concrete exercises that shed light on the concept from different angles. The exercises have a clear structure, but are open to many different interpretations from the audience.
In the last two workshops, we had a stable setup for the workshop and therefore focused more on trying out the exercises in different groups. In relation to the sub-question “How does our perspective as adults and musicians affect the way we communicate in these workshops?”, we went into the last workshops with a clearer goal of letting the children control the artistic process. This was after analysis 1 where it emerges that we as musicians need to think more carefully about what abstraction is for children and how we should approach their drawings. Changing this mindset meant new challenges for us as adults, because we had to dare and move away from the familiar and logical conclusions. In the last workshop, we largely let the children take the lead and the result is sounds that we musicians had never planned to make.
In relation to our perspectives as adults and how this affects communication in the workshop, the way we formulate and react to what the children say affects whether we let them control the creative content of the workshop. In general, these verbal tools are about being as open as possible and trying to ask unbiased questions. In relation to this, I discovered that the fact that this is an artistic project comes into play, because we don't have an educational goal as a starting point for the workshop. If the goal had been to teach the children something concrete through the workshop, we could have developed a number of verbal tools that would have helped us steer the workshop in the direction we want, but since the goal of the workshop is to explore, we can't say anything about what direction the workshop will take in advance. As musicians, we must be open to verbally elaborating on the children's ideas, even if they go against our adult sensibilities. Therefore, the verbal communication is also dependent on the experience we musicians gain, and which we can improvise with in later workshops.
In addition to the verbal tools, the context of the workshop also has a big influence on the result of each workshop. How the audience responds varies from workshop to workshop and depends on many factors such as the size of the group, whether the children know each other, whether there are parents or kindergarten staff, how the adults react, etc. In the same way that we musicians have to improvise with the verbal tools, we also have to improvise based on the context. None of the 8 workshops we've done have been the same, and this is precisely the goal of the workshop. In order for us to be open to co-creation, we as musicians and guides must be able to maneuver through the workshop and facilitate that it happens with each individual audience group.
All in all, this project is a contribution to the debate on art for children and how we as performers can relate to children as an audience. The project shows that by creating a project from a practitioner's perspective, we can approach children as more of an equal creative human being. Through the development of this project, we have understood that the goal is not for the children to understand or learn anything through these workshops, but for them to have an aesthetic experience where they can play with new expressions and where they can express themselves. In the same way, we musicians must not try to understand the children's associations with the sounds and drawings we present through the workshop, but rather accept and just be part of the journey.
Even though this project, as mentioned several times, is made from an artistic perspective, the research in many ways also belongs in the field of music education. These workshops are a contribution to a method that goes against the master and student method of teaching and instead focuses on co-creation. One of the biggest differences in these methods is the idea of what music is and should be. In traditional music, the goal is to learn and often conserve a tradition. This means that a master-student relationship must always be present because a student does not have the knowledge they need to play traditional music until they have learned from a master.
In my contribution to the method of co-creation it is about everyone having the same starting point to create, but with this the music will also change. If everyone has the same starting point for creating, it means that we as musicians have to move away from the rules we have learned about music through our music education. We can of course use our skills from our music education in the workshops, but even if I have traditional music competence it doesn't mean that my musical competence dominates the musical competence of a child without music education. We as musicians educated in traditional music must therefore change our view of how music should sound and also use other qualities we have gained through our education than just being able to play traditional music. These qualities are qualities that are more about listening, collaborating, collecting, creating and communicating.
This method of co-creation is not meant as a revolution in music education, but as a contrasting approach to learning about music. The way I felt that I lacked a space to develop my creativity during my music education, I want to do something about this and make sure that the next generation has a more diverse offer in music education.
This project has had a huge impact on my development as an artist, shifting my focus from traditional performance to creative exploration. Over many years as a student of music education, this project has helped me to detach myself from the institution and thus clarify my artistic goals and visions as a young musician. Through this project, I have reflected a lot on music and society and this has given me insight into the fact that there are so many other ways to create value through music than standing on a stage in front of an audience.
Working with children and their creativity has helped me to reconnect with my own creativity, as well as bringing joy and meaning to my artistic work. My exploration of the cello as a non-classical instrument, which has been going on in parallel with this project, has been significantly strengthened during this process. I realised that I have been trying to create a situation that I myself have missed in my own artistic development through this project, and it has helped me understand that the reason why the classical school was not the way for me to go is that I largely feel that music should come from impulse and not concept. Realising this has led me to understand to a greater extent how I work and think about music.
The project has also strengthened my belief in the importance of creativity and the social value of music. This has meant that my thinking about music has also changed and that I disagree with the way we talk about music in the institutions. I've realized that music for me is about individuality, about exploration and impulse, but music for me is also the fact that it is subjective. In addition to this, I think that music for me is a lot about human qualities, unity and being able to express yourself. All these thoughts have made me realise what is important in my artistic development and have helped me understand what I want my artistic work to contain. I want to be a musician who creates and plays music, but I also want to be a musician who makes music and the act of creating more accessible to everyone because I believe that we as humans can learn a lot from art. That's why I want to continue to develop this project so that I can spread the joy, challenges and curiosity that art can bring.
"Lots, learn something new every time. Very interested in developing it more so that we feel we have even more energy." (Frøysa, through questionnaire)
"I have learned a lot and experienced a lot about how to convey different things to young children, as well as how to formulate thoughts about the topics we will cover in this workshop." (Leirtrø, through questionnaire)
"Experience how important art and music are, and how easily children relate to it. Feels good and meaningful!" (Frøysa, through questionnaire)
"Perhaps the most important thing is to see children enjoying hearing and listening to new music and sounds, and that they try to formulate and illustrate what they hear, what they think and what they associate with what they hear - what pops into their heads." (Leirtrø, through questionnaire)