Text: Dominik Bach, 17.11.2023
»What’d you say?« can be heard echoing around the Elbphilharmonie’s Kaistudio 1. On a sunny Thursday morning in May 2023, the band at the Paracelsusstrasse School transforms the Kaistudio into their very own rock stage. With electric guitar, electric bass, piano, drums and vocals all in the mix, the pupils perform Percy Mayfield’s all-time classic »Hit The Road Jack«. They rehearse their favourite songs with great dedication, performing them at school parties and other similar occasions. Alongside Mayfield’s classic, the musicians also have Miley Cyrus’ »I Can Buy Myself Flowers«, Michael Bublé’s »Sway« and Vietnamese and Croatian songs from their home countries in their repertoire.
The band is usually based in the music room of their school in the Rahlstedt district of Hamburg. The fact that they are now rehearsing at the Elbphilharmonie is all thanks to the TUSCH partnership between the Elbphilharmonie and the school. A collaboration focused on the intellectual development of the area, launched over a three-year period in the 2022/23 season. The Elbphilharmonie’s education department has been offering exclusive workshops to pupils in Rahlstedt since then and inviting them to special school concerts at the Elbphilharmonie.
The TUSCH programme is focused primarily on bringing schools interested in theatre together with Hamburg theatres (TUSCH stands for »Theater und Schule«). However, now with the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier and Kampnagel, there are three major cultural institutions on board with music programmes, expanding the artistic offering.
The school band's favourite songs!
EXCURSIONS INTO DISTANT WORLDS THROUGH MUSIC
The pupils got to know about just how diverse music can be, over the course of several workshops. At »Cosmos Sound«, they learnt first hand how you can not only hear music with your ears but also feel it with your whole body. The relaxing vibrations of the sounds are transmitted directly to the body through sound chairs and water bowls, even becoming visible in the water.
Music can tell stories too of course, and in the »Cosmos Percussion« workshop pupils embarked on a musical voyage around the globe, learning about percussion instruments and playing techniques from different parts of the world, embarking on an adventure on the »sound ship« with roaring seas and booming fog horns, and taking the »sound rocket« on a trip to the moon and to entirely new spheres of sound. Classical instruments like the violin, viola and cello among others were not left out either, with a chance to try them out at the »Classical: Orchestral Instruments« workshop.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF CONCERT
Another highlight presented itself when pupils got the opportunity to attend four themed school concerts in the halls of the Elbphilharmonie in the 2022/23 season. For many, it was their first ever visit to the famous Hamburg landmark! Concert themes included five friends who suddenly awaken from a deep hibernation and have to slowly come back together, penguins who have to find their banana tree at the South Pole, percussion instruments thrown together, and the question of what makes a concert a concert in the first place – including colourful costumes.
The partnership enters its next phase in 2023/24, kicking off with dance workshops with the dancer and choreographer Papis Bâ. The school has also added the subject »TUSCH« to the timetable, meaning that two hours a week are now available for music, dance and creativity. What an enrichment to school life!
