If the young audience doesn't come to the concert ...

Organizers everywhere are looking for concert guests, especially younger ones. The Leimental Study Choir has now had great success with a very simple idea. For the performance of George Frideric Handel's Messiah the choir held its final rehearsals at the Oberwil/Biel-Benken (BL) secondary school: A trumpet player practiced in the entrance hall, while at the same time schoolgirls walked past him as if it were the most normal thing in the world. The orchestra could be seen through the school windows and the faint sound of the trumpet could be heard across the schoolyard. HallelujahHandel's arias brought some warmth to the dull spring days. The needs of the school and the musicians were easily accommodated side by side. And the interested pupils were given an "en passant" insight into the everyday rehearsals of soloists and orchestra.

For those 7th graders who, together with their music teacher Daniel Vuilliomenet Hallelujah-choir, two special rehearsals were scheduled. It was the first time they had attempted a four-part choral movement. For the sake of complexity, they often rehearsed with the CD playing. This gave the children confidence for the difficult parts. At the first rehearsal with study choir director Sebastian Goll, they joined the members of the choir in separate registers. They began without much ado. In between, musicians from the baroque orchestra L'arpa festante introduced their instruments, the baroque trumpet, the theorbo, the harpsichord, the positive organ and the oboe, usually with a sample of the corresponding literature. Then it was back to the Hallelujah. In order to make the structure of the piece transparent, Sebastian Goll had individual instrumental groups play alone: Where do the motifs vary, where do they overlap, when do they reappear? The inclusion of entertaining, rhythmic elements accompanied the singing, making the structure and dynamics of Hallelujah physically tangible for the children. Sebastian Goll also repeatedly brought Handel's personality and life to life through anecdotes and episodes.

In the second rehearsal, he once again recalled the images he had choreographed. The chorus was asked to spread their arms and speak to the quieter parts. Hallelujah-repetitions. "Of course you are not allowed to do these movements at the concert, but you have to carry them in your heart and people should be able to see your joy, they have to feel that you are living this music!" Some local politicians were also present. One of them said afterwards that she could actually feel the music coming from within; it was fantastic to see the happy faces and the fun of the music.
For three days, music was in the air at the secondary school and brought diverse and positive experiences. One mother emailed: "Working together on this big, beautiful project motivates and delights our son enormously. The concert is omnipresent at home at the moment." It is only incidental that the audience also flocked to the music hall of the Basel Stadtcasino in unexpected numbers ...

Caption
"Hallelujah": physically experiencing the structure of music