Pt Chevalie Students Perform At Art Gallery

Pt Chevalie Students Perform At Art Gallery

Students from Pt Chevalier School perform original music in response to art in the Yinka Shonibare MBE exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery this Thursday 28 May.

Thanks to a partnership with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the students have composed their own musical interpretations of works by the acclaimed British-Nigerian artist.

APO cellist Katherine Hebleymentored the group of 9 and 10-year-olds, who will perform with conventional classroom instruments and found objects such as metal drainpipes in the gallery's Art Lounge, corner of Wellesley & Lorne Streets, from 10.30 to 11.30am and 12.30 to 1.30pm.

Hebley says the children’s awareness of sounds has improved. “They’ve learnt how to relate sounds to emotions and other connotations.”

The gallery’s education co-ordinator Roger Taberner says, "having students work across the usual boundaries of media leads to powerful and rich learning experiences."

Pt Chevalier's senior teacher in performing arts Chris Moore says the students enjoyed the colour and implied movement of Shonibare's works.

"They were intrigued by his use of African fabrics for Victorian costumes and they really got into the hidden meaning of the works, such as issues of exploitation."

"It's a huge challenge to interpret visual art into sound form. Many of the concepts are quite deep. They're totally engrossed by it."

After taking part in the gallery's interpretative programme, back at school the children listened to Baroque, Victorian and African music and discussed compositional techniques such as imitation, inversion, canon, tension and contrast.

Split into groups, each developed composition ideas based on one aspect of the assigned work. For example, one group worked on the sound of the Splat! of oil on the gallery wall. Others used metal drainpipes to represent the destruction of nature by the oil industry.

Moore says the results are "atmospheric soundscapes with fragments of melody and harmony".

Some of the children have made Shonibare-style props, such as masks and fans, to add colour to their performances.

The artist and exhibition organiser, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia, have given the project their blessing.

This event is part of New Zealand Music Month.

The APO partnership with schools initiative, funded by the NZ Community Trust, is now in its seventh year.

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