Music and Silence - The Sound Hu
with Ophiel van Leer
Week 1B 23.7. - 28.7.2012
The sound Hu is described by the Sufis as the principal sound lying behind and in all existence. We will let ourselves be inspired by this sound in its different modes of expression and let ourselves be carried by it.
Practices with breath and mantric sound alternate with periods of silence, meditation through music and voice improvisation. Different principles of improvisational music will be discussed and practiced.
When improvising, we enable ourselves to respond musically to impulses from the other groups, dancers and musicians. Likewise, the music that we sing may be mirrored in dance.
Previous musical knowledge and experience is welcomed but not necessary.
Ophiel Maarten van Leer
Ophiel Maarten van Leer has been leading musical activities in the Zenith Camp for thirty years and has supported its founder, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, to study and perform the B-minor Mass of J.S. Bach with participants in the camp as well as in Germany. Other choir projects, such as Monteverdis Marian Vespers of 1610, have evolved out of this.
Ophiel is a student of Sufism for over three decades. Trained as a conductor and singer, he introduces a spiritual approach in his choirwork.