1 Introduction
This exposition is a reflection on the created musical performance titled the HumanTree, that I presented in December 2019 as part of the Global Music Master program. The written text, audio and visual elements are all intended to have equal weight and contribute to deconstructing the project and creating greater understanding of the process and outcomes. The main focus of the project was on discovering my inner voice and expanding my artistic identity through working together in an intercultural group. The aim of this written reflection is to document and analyse the collaborative process, describe the philosophy that was behind the creation and expand knowledge about how creativity worked and how these insights can give a greater understanding for future collaborations. I, Roser Gabriel, was the project leader, facilitating the collaboration through the seven themes of the HumanTree.
I chose the metaphor of a tree, as trees have always inspired within me a connection to my roots, empowering my inner strength, regardless of where I am. The awareness of the fundamentals of breathing clearly outlines a needed and inevitable relation between humans and trees that supports life in the world. Thus, I have merged the words Human and Tree bringing a cyclic form framed by similarities of the lives of humans and trees that aims to connect people through interaction.
The roots of my culture are inherent in the project and are brought into the HumanTree through a Catalan song and Christmas tradition. Once the performance begins, the audience is invited to be part of a special world, following the journey through the seven themes. The music is unified by the sound of the accordion and its breath. A music that comes from composing and improvising through collaborative approaches, influenced by folk, world and contemporary musics. The performance of the HumanTree included some degree of improvisation, balancing the planned and spontaneous dialogue and is understood as an active process of communicating that everytime is different and unique.
The overarching aim of this written work is to reflect in depth on the process and final performance of the HumanTree project and the ways in which this reflection might contribute to similar future collaborative artistic community projects. It is therefore guided by the following questions:
- What purpose, vision and resources inspired the HumanTree Project?
- In what ways did the topic, ensemble processes, interaction, and leadership that took place during the HumanTree Project contribute to the artistic result?
- In which ways did this project help me to discover my personal artistic identity?
- What insights from facilitating the HumanTree Project have potential for future collaborative artistic projects?
This reflective text will follow the same structure as the music performance (see Figure 1.0). The second chapter presents the origins of the project, which are the Seeds of the HumanTree, as a metaphor for beginning, and questioning why creativity is a needed fertiliser for growth. In the third chapter, Growing processes, I describe the different learning stages of the creative process that led to the visible growth of the HumanTree performance. Finally, in the fourth chapter, Fruits, I discuss the results and outcomes of the process and performance.
