This Saturday, July 13 (11 a.m. at the Nezahualcóyotl Concert Hall), the Minería Symphony presents its traditional children's family concert under the baton of Raúl Aquiles Delgado and the special participation of actor, musician and writer Mario Iván Martínez, whose artistic work directed towards children has been recognized worldwide for its imaginative power and effectiveness in storytelling.
We talked to him to share with us the main characteristics of this concert, whose name is Hares, Tortoises and Flats and consists of works by composers Aaron Copland and Leroy Anderson.
For Iván Martínez, "family concerts are transcendent for daydreaming, with them we must persist and try to overcome powerful inertias, because as the great Galician poet Rosalía de Castro says, "It does not matter that dreams are lies, because in the end it is the truth, that it is fortunate that dreaming dies, unhappy that lives without dreaming": It does not matter that dreams are lies, since in the end it is the truth, that he is fortunate who dreaming dies, unhappy he who lives without dreaming".
Here is the full conversation.
His art has triumphed in a particularly complex field: captivating children's imagination. From an external point of view, her work work stands out for its authenticity and ability to directly connect with and stimulate the fantasies of children. From an internal point of view, what is your creative process like? How, from your adult conception of the world, do you manage to create brilliant worlds so attractive to children's audiences (whose complexity to conquer them lies in the fact that there are no limits to their ability to associate with your work)?mbro)?
The great pedagogue Elíseo Diego says: "it is praiseworthy to create proposals for children, but the most important thing is that they embrace them on their own initiative". I agree with this idea. Therefore, I believe that the process to be observed in the creation of projects for young people should find encouragement in a refined literary and musical selection, in order to caress fortunately the sensibility of the most important sector of society, which is childhood. Our work is always guided by a playful spirit, which at the same time contributes to the cultural formation of the new generations, especially in these times of immediacy and overwhelming disposable offer.
As a musician and actor, I am passionate about bringing to life classics of the familiar symphonic repertoire such as Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev, The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns y The Orchestral Guide for Young People by Britten. However, at the same time and with a diversifying eagerness, I have given myself the task of proposing new programs in this line. These works have been nourished by a wide variety of imaginative, musical, theatrical and literary resources. Among them, the following stand out The Ugly Duckling, The Little Tin Soldier, The Legend of the Volcanoes, The Dream Swallower, The Bird Ku, Tom Thumb, The Emperor's New Clothesamong many others. The texts are carefully assembled on pre-existing or commissioned scores so that the spectator is confronted with a new integral, coherent work, whose literature and music could have been conceived at the same time.
In his project Hares, Tortoises and Flatshow does your art dialogue with musical works with such concrete descriptive sound elements as a waltzing cat or a dancing bronco horse? That is, to what extent was it necessary for him to extend or expand the elements that the works of Anderson and Copland already present?
At Of hares, tortoises and flats, zoological musical fantasy I meticulously fuse a selection of works by the American Leroy Anderson with the classic by Aesop, an author of proven narrative skill, The Tortoise and the Hare. Also presented is a selection of works by Copland and Anderson where the zoological theme is prevalent. The isolated musical pieces are preceded by introductory texts that abound with information about the musical creation and the characteristics of the creature that inspired the composer.. The music is thus tinged with history and lyricism, sheltered by the animal theme. I believe that the proposal is a fortunate hybrid with which the child's need for fantasy is satisfied and at the same time the most exquisite musical proposals are sown in the ear of the incipient music lover. Throughout this time and through our adaptations, we have shared with the most relevant musical groups of the country the perennial work of composers such as Mozart, Haydn, Stravinski, Tchaikovsky and Ravel, as well as the work emanating from our own compositions.We have also shared the work emanating from the pen of Mexican composers such as Eduardo Gamboa and Francisco Gabilondo Soler, to mention a few. These programs in particular are always developed with a focus on music in all its diversity and in the awareness that a child's attention span is limited by age. Consequently, the interpreter must conceive his proposal using all the tools at his disposal to obtain the desired attention, always playing with the element of surprise and avoiding the predictable. predictable. In the selection we bet on the discipline of listening and being listened to, to banish the condescending and disposable and the worrying symptoms that may characterize the offer conceived for children: the aberrant senseless violence and a worrying absence of creativity. Here we consider the power of a good score and an equally solid text of descriptive prose, which, together, transcend convention.
Specifically in The Tortoise and the Hare there is an extra layer of complexity: Aesop's fable and therefore building a narrative through various internal movements that, in the style of a classical drama, present dramatic elements such as character building, mood contrasts and structural tensions to release everything in a moral. Could you share with us a little bit of your process to put this project together?
The happy marriage is conceived after carefully punctuating the text on the score. The music complements the story and vice versa. The idea is to foster a constant conversation between text and music. The narrative avoids anarchy by being mathematically paced over the bars of a work whose character and dynamics are pertinent to the action. Therefore, the musicians work with certainty knowing that the narrative will observe predictable congruence and punctuality. In this way, no single diIn this way no discipline is preponderant; words, prosody, staging and rhetoric are as transcendent as the musical. The whole bets on childhood's prodigious capacity for wonder, on detonating the imagination without over-illustrating it. over-illustratingto achieve it mainly with words, music and gestures.
Regarding your collaboration with the Minería Symphony, how has the interaction been, how much have you been able to talk with Raúl Aquiles Delgado to prepare the concert for its premiere?
Maestro Raúl Aquiles Delgado is distinguished for possessing and treasuring his childlike spirit and therefore has shown himself to be receptive to playful and scenic proposals. Raul is at all times an accomplice and builds bridges with a common look: that of the storyteller and the troubadour, as well as that of the musician on the podium. podium. At all times Raul gives me encouragement and guidance. We go through a pre-rehearsal process where the cuts, the fermatas, the dynamics and the dynamics and the spirit of the whole have been agreed upon in happy consensus. This is essential for the orchestra to eventually face a solid duet of captains. No aspect of the process is overlooked and it is remarkable how the musicians are always willing to be part of the game and the staging, either by contributing complementary textsThe musicians are always willing to be part of the game and the staging, whether by contributing complementary texts, improvisations and musical effects in the form of snacks that propel and underline the action or simply by donning feline ears during the cat waltz. In this way narator and orchestra are never divorced: they are one and the same entity in communion.
How musical is your imagination? As a writer and creator of stories, do you continually think of sounds (for for example the characteristics of your characters' voices)?
My father, Mario Iván Martínez Ortega, was a renowned communicologist and music lover. At his side we grew up exhorted to listen, to give time to musical proposals, to avoid them as background noise. Later in my youth I was a member of various choral groups in England and in our country, such as the group Ars Nova and the Convivium Musicum. Also I also recorded a CD on English Elizabethan music as a tenor soloist with the late maestro, Dr. Antonio Corona. Consequently, myConsequently, my profession as an actor finds a transcendent and complementary support in music. The awareness of tessituras, tempo and dynamics that vocal and instrumental training offer you are decisive when facing a multiplicity of characters. In the proposal at hand, for example, the voice of the squirrel remains in the mezzo register, with multiple trebles and harmonics, the hare is a nasal tenor with a notorious hiss, the voice of the tortoise corresponds to that of a baritone with little resonance and airy projection.and airy projection. This punctual awareness of range allows the child to clearly identify the proposed personification. Naturally, my musical training contributes in addition to the process of selecting and reading the scores, to speaking the same language as the orchestra masters, which speeds up the creative process.
What role do you see music playing in childhood?
They say that music begins when man's words are no longer enough, and I agree with this thought. and I agree with this thought. It is regrettable, therefore, that musical education in public schools has been relegated. The discipline is neglected and orphaned by state policies. It is the most abstract and powerful art that man has created! A unique art that contributes positively to the development of cognitive and social language in young people. Gabilondo Soler, Cri-Cri, knew this. Therefore, his vast production relegates to us the most diverse prosody, forms and musical styles. Without realizing it, he put us in contact with wisdom and foundation with all the possible musical rhythms, always with the most prodigious creativity and imagination, with a critical and playful spirit, with unparalleled melodic inspiration. Leroy Anderson, the main composer of the concert, developed something very similar with the young people of his time, which is why he is one of the greatest American creators of light orchestral music. Many of his works, playful and melodious, introduced for the first time the new generations to the great repertoire of symphonic music. Today, in the cybernetic delirium in which we live, we lack such competent disseminators. Therefore, family concerts are transcendent for daydreaming, with them we must persist and try to overcome powerful inertias, because as the great Galician poetess Rosalía de Castro says: It does not matter that dreams are lies, for in the end it is the truth, that he is fortunate who dreaming dies, unhappy he who lives without dreaming.
So, let's keep on dreaming...
