Workshop | The alpine traditions of maultrommel with Albin Paulus
The multi-instrumentalist and composer Albin Paulus is a multifaceted artist who can boast recordings and collaborations ranging from classical music to vocal experimentation, from traditional music alpine jodel to jazz and world music. At the MWF, he is known above all for his unrivaled mastery and virtuosity in alpine techniques for jew’s harps, which involve the alternation of different instruments to accurately perform diatonic and chromatic melodies.
From Mozart to techno!
In Austria, the Jew’s Harp has played an important role for centuries, especially in traditional music, but also in classical music! Several compositions for this instrument date back to the 18th century, for example, the Concertos for Jew’s Harp and Strings by Johann Georg Albrechtsberger – a friend of Mozart and Beethoven’s composition teacher. In 2012, Alpine Jew’s Harp playing was therefore declared an Intangible Heritage of UNESCO.
To create clear melodies and a bass line simultaneously, both traditional music and classical music use several differently tuned Jew’s Harps in rapid alternation – at least two, but also four, five, and even more! And that’s exactly what we’ll learn in this course.
Playing a single Jew’s Harp is also widespread in Austria. In addition to playing melodies and mastering overtones precisely, I would like to show my very own personal style: this includes some gimmicks/tricks for a “pseudo-electronic” techno playing and the simultaneous use of my own voice, more specifically yodeling and overtone singing.
