Talk: Translating Knowledge into Music 17 Oct 2015
Focussing on his Little Woodland Heights project, Nick Roth will introduce methods and approaches to translating complex subjects and concepts into child-centred musical and visual languages. These languages can then be used as a mechanism for learning both in and out of the classroom.
Little Woodland Heights explores forest canopy ecology through rich music and visual media. It takes ecological, botanical and anthropological ideas and expresses them in ways that can be develped, understood and embodied by children. The project suggests that music and the wider arts are equally valid ways of understanding the world around us – and in terms of child engagement, may prove complimentary to standard linguistic and numerical educational techniques. In Little Woodland Heights, music composition, performance, sound art and the visual arts provide an environment where information is intuitively accessible and engaging for the young people involved.
Nick will use sound and video clips from the recently completed pilot stage of the project to illustrate the philosophy and ideas behind it. While this project focused on one particular subject, the format has the potential applications to a broad range of areas.
Little Woodland Heights was developed in association with the Arts Council, The Ark, California Academy of Sciences and Irish Museum of Modern Art. Find out more about the project at www.littlewoodlandheights.org
About Nick...
Nick Roth is a saxophonist, composer, producer and educator.
His work explores the liberation of improvisation from composition, the impact of natural forms on technology and the contemporary interpretation of traditional music.
A fascination with emergent cycle and structure provoked ongoing conversations with scientists and research institutions across the interweaving disciplines of mathematical biology, forest canopy ecology, marine geology and hydrology.
Simultaneously, a curious predisposition and a steadfast refusal to accept the existence of boundaries between the real and the imaginary has led to collaborations with an array of international performers, composers, choreographers, directors, visual artists, festivals, poets and ensembles.
Nick is artistic director of Yurodny, a founding member of the Water Project and a partner at Diatribe Records, Ireland’s leading independent record label for new music.
His work is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) and the Association of Irish Composers (AIC).