Maria Coma · Vocal Roots Apr/May/Nov 2020

VOCAL ROOTS | Residency Autumn 2020

Nov 9th 2020

COMPOSTION: BODY AND SPACE, INSTRUMENT AND SCORE

Getting into a very playful – unknown places where to compose from, I am immersed in a broad crossfade from explorative stages into composing stages.

With the (creative) process of ‘Vocal Roots’, composition is particularly a constant exploration, playing with the idea that, instead of the empty score, the sound and music is “written on” the empty space.

……………. It becomes a continuous Body-Mind-Soul practice:

One of my main interests is to find a balance where the presence of being is the main source from where sound/melodies/harmonies are arising and where the conceptual knowledge, or the “mind-stuff” (in this case, musical knowledge) gives most of the space to this presence. Not to deny or shot down the conceptual knowledge, but to have it there as a helping witness and assistant.



Entirely using as the main instrument(s) the Voice and the Body as a source of sound, is a ‘limitation’ that defines this project as well as becoming one main support for this practice.

From this process, different outcomes are occurring as well as becoming claimed. Among others, more clearly showing up are an opening up of the special senses and an increase of the spatial awareness.








Nov 1rst 2020

FROM ‘INNER BODY’ TO ‘OUTSIDE SPACE’

I spend the previous stage mainly focused on the INNER BODY, exploring the body as the instrument; an entire cavity for resonance. Diving into the possibilities for internal cavities to resonate; from the pharynx (the most obvious), to the pelvic bowl, the chest, etc, I explored different tissues, especially the bone structure (densest tissue in our body that allows sound and vibration to travel through easier than any other).

As well, I was scanning and tuning into different inner body rhythms; heart beat, breath, blood flow, the pulsating rhythm of the CSF, etc. Attuning into the musicality already existing there, and using it to; play with it or to transform it.












Now, to more clearly compose, the focus starts looking OUTSIDE exploring the relationship between:

………………….the BODY ( the instrument )
…………………………………and the SPACE ( the empty score )

For this, spatial memory and hearing sense are coming more into play, to interact with the inner body – physical memory.



Oct 28th 2020

VOCAL ROOTS # WARM UP #1 · in continuous transformation

Supporting the body to become more available and present. Especially available for vibration and sound to happen and to travel through it. Supporting the whole being to become more present and sensitive to the relationship with the (sound)space.

/ ♪ “Ascencion”, Jon Hopkins /

Shake during 40 minutes. Never stop shaking or pulsing.

Shake all the tissues of your body. Organs, fluids, muscles, tendons, fascia, bones. Shake every cell. Do it in any position you like and changing positions. It is nice to begin in the floor, but you do not have to. Around 20 min.

Standing: keep shaking and pulsing. Bring your focus, one after the other, from down to up, to the seven energy centers in your body (commonly known as chakras). From the centre of your pelvic floor (the perineum) until the last one; top of your head, connecting you with the space.

/ no ♪ /

Tap all your bones – densest tissue in your body -.

Keep breathing. Release your breath. Release your voice.

/ no ♪ /

Overtone singing (‘throat singing’): voice inside your pharynx. As if you would paint with resonance the spaces within, discovering the shape of this inner cavity inside your skull and behind your throat, mouth and nose.

Voice – Sound in all other cavities you can find in your body. Painting with resonance the inner cavities of the entire body, including the ones below the head: Chest, Belly, Pelvic Bowl….

Voice – Sound in and through the other body parts and tissues.

Always allow also external movement to support this processes.

¿Where is your midline, centre line, center of energy ? Look for it.

/ Silence /

Stretch and Placement based on Klein Technique.

/ Silence /


VOCAL ROOTS | Residency April – May 2020
July 26th 2020

During this residency at Lake Studios I started the composition – research for the work Vocal Roots: a piece for 5 voices & bodies based on the human body as a whole instrument and the voice as a fundamental element. Experiencing the alive body as a source of sound with its potential to be(come) music(al).

The core of this piece is a call to reconnect with nature. Departing from a research into embodiment using the basic elements manifested in nature as well as in our bodies.

“I have found that my body is, in a sense, a microcosm of the world, and thus, a laboratory for understanding its meaning” (Stinson, 2004).

I chose to focus mainly in one of the elements: Earth – while acknowledging that all the elements exist in constant interplay with one another – Earth with its attributes: density, frame, shape, boundaries, matter… This brought me to these qualities in my body, voice and breath: getting more in touch with the bone structure, inner cavities, muscles, blood and heart. The relationship between inner & outer was very present.

This is a sound excerpt from myself singing a cappella a Vocal Polyphonic piece (Sisa Tura) on the beginning of the residency while testing the sound of the room, the orientation of the microphones and my body-voice in the space. The so appreciated sound of Lake Studios’ room-space was really playing an important role during this process.




VOCAL ROOTS |Origin

Video Teaser of the a First Residency: Filmed during 10 days of Residency for this work which, so far, I entitle ‘Vocal Roots’. On that journey I shared the very beginning of my explorations for this project with a group of 9 other performers coming from dance, performance, music and voice.

#Concept and Direction: Maria Coma
#Colleagues of Exploration: Dasnyia Sommer, Flora Nacer, Raffaela Then, Clara Conza, Elena Tarrats, Ferran Corral, Azucena Momo, Christine Borsch-supan, Helen Hoffmann.
#Residence Space: Espai Dansa Natura #Executive Production: Biel Martínez Lorca.
#Film by: Raimon Fransoy in collaboration with Xavier Puig and Joan Solé (Elsabeth).


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