weaving Voices 01.04.2025 issuu - Flipbook - Page 50
The weaving together of three voices sung simultaneously produces a
much more sonorous sound and has a very different impact on the listener
than a solo voice. 65
Oral transmission
Another fundamental thing about Georgian vocal music is that most of it
is still transmitted orally. These songs can very easily be taught without
the use of sheet music, and that is what we did in this Erasmus+ project.
This is an interesting aspect for those of us who want to deal here with the
use of Georgian songs for educational purposes, since learning by oral
transmission makes this music accessible to as many people as possible. A
Georgian song can be learned by impregnation, voice by voice. A melody
is repeated until it is memorised (for those with a visual memory, having
the text written down on paper can make things much easier). You learn
the second voice separately and successively (this middle voice usually has
the role of launching the song with a call), the first voice (the highest), then
the bass (this voice, which is the lowest, often has fewer movements than
the other two, and is more stable because it serves as a foundation for the
two voices above). Then you sing two, then three voices simultaneously
and the miracle happens!
This popular repertoire does not require specially trained voices, in the
sense that one would hear in classical Western singing, for example in
the lyrical style used in operas, which requires many years of training. All
voices are suitable for singing Georgian songs, as long as they are full and
generous. This music is popular music in the best sense of the word: it is
the expression of the people.
Physicality
Our Erasmus+ project is at the crossroads of various fields (movement,
singing, weaving, writing, to name but a few) which fertilise each other.
An educational benefit that can be found in Georgian songs lies in the
bodily engagement that comes with these songs. We have often used
techniques to awaken body awareness and physical and vocal warm-up
techniques applied in the ‘Roy Hart’ approach, among others. In addition
to these approaches inherited from the legacy of Alfred Wolfsohn 66
(pioneer of this work), Roy Hart 67 and the Roy Hart Theatre, 68 we have
also benefited from the contribution of techniques from other fields
of research (theatre, dance and mind-body techniques, in particular
the Feldenkrais method) at our various international meetings. It was
invaluable for our group to be able to build bridges between the physical
warm-ups and a physical way of singing that involves the whole body. The
Georgian’s special ability to integrate heightened movement awareness
whilst singing is worthy of special note. Even if most of the time they
sing while remaining still, their way of using resonators and their strong
rooting, means that their way of singing involves the whole of their body
from head to toe.
If this physicality is one of the attractions of traditional Georgian songs, it
is of course not the prerogative of this repertoire alone to feel the whole
of one’s body involved in a sound and to sing at the top of one’s voice.
It was the same pleasure that participants in the Weaving Voices project
were able to experience by singing traditional Swedish songs in a natural
world environment, on the banks of a lake, and a few weeks later in the
centre of Leeds! It was one of the highlights of this Erasmus+ project
to sing together not only Georgian, but also Austrian, English, Swedish,
Hungarian songs, and to appreciate their differences and singularities.
Thanks to funding from the European Community for this project, we
have also been on a musical tour of Europe over the last two years.
Moreover, the very strong European feeling among Georgians and their
oft-expressed desire to join the European Union is another good reason
for including Georgian songs in this Erasmus+ project. 69
66 Centre Artistique International Roy Hart - Alfred Wolfsohn (n.d.) Roy Hart Theatre. Available at: https://
roy-hart-theatre.com/legacy/#alfred-wolfsohn [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
65 Aketuri Alilo - Adilei (2018) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqmlfr1gdws [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
67 Centre Artistique International Roy Hart - Roy Hart (n.d.) Roy Hart Theatre. Available at: https://roy-harttheatre.com/legacy/#roy-hart [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
68 Centre Artistique International Roy Hart - Roy Hart Theatre (n.d.) Roy Hart Theatre. Available at: https://
roy-hart-theatre.com/legacy/#the-roy-hart-theatre [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
69 Accession of Georgia to the European Union (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
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