Autonomous Together : Score for Collective Soundmaking
Colin Self
1.Designate a facilitator to temporarily guide the group through the following activities. The facilitator does not need any pre-requisate of expertise, just willingness and care for the group.
2.Begin with everyone standing in a circle with at least 1.5 meters between each participant
3.Have everyone make eye contact with the other participants in the group to establish the beginning of a collective practice, as a gratitude for the space being created collectively.
4.The Facilitator guides the group in bringing some attention to the breath, slightly deepening and slowing breathing
5.Bringing some attention to the bottoms of the feet as they are on the ground, close the eyes and imagine that you are sending roots down the bottoms of your feet into the earth, through the building or floor material, infrastructure of the city, through the rocky strata of the earth, all the way down to the molten core.
6.With every inhale, bring the warmth of the center of the earth up into the body; first with the ankles then the legs and hips, into the spine and chest, shoulders, etc. until the whole body is filled with warm awareness.
7.Lift the hands to the sky while keeping the shoulders relaxed, taking big expansive breaths to feel the body opening in all directions
8.Imagine a crown of strings lifting you up to the universe above, and the roots simultaneously connecting you to the earth. Remind yourself of the expansive space upward and downward.
9.Exhale into a forward fold if you can.
10.Wiggle around the top half of the hanging body, as though the bottom half of the body is uncooked spaghetti and the top half is cooked spaghetti.
11.After making space in the spine and back and lungs, slowly start stacking the vertebrae beginning to make any vocal sound that feels good.
12.As you come up to standing, continue to either find a tone being sung in the room or introduce a tone to the room.
13.In this space there are no incorrect or bad sounds. Invite sounds of relief, joy, and curiosity into the room.
14.While sounding, see if you can inhale while someone else is singing, so that there is constantly sound filling the space.
15.Respond to the other voices in the room by echoing, harmonizing, or replying with an augmented version of the sounds you hear.
16.If you and the others can agree in feeling comfortable to do so, move in the space you have to explore the room with sound; bodies and voices moving in space.
17.Embrace and explore the potential of different kinds of voices and melodies and (dis)harmonics existing in the room as a collectively autonomous unit.
18.Arrive at the end at the same tone or melody or vocal sound, giving space for both difference and unity.
19.Return to the circle shape at the beginning of the activity.
20.Stop vocalising and take a moment to close your eyes and feel the somatic difference of this action.
21.Open your eyes and make eye contact with the other participants as a visual thank you.
22.Stretch and shake it out. The end.