Healing Tales (300 word commentary and links to videos)

Williams, Alan

Abstract

Composition:

Williams, A (2023) Healing Tales. (50min) A collaborative dance/music theatre composition. Premiered New Adelphi Theatre, Latitude Ensemble, cond. Chris Clark, University of Salford, July 2023.

Link to videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEaPntLho2_N5eMmtiG4USka1HzprHCBf

A 300 word commentary:

Healing Tales is a piece of collaborative composition made with participants from Royal Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. The piece was the result of a pilot research project, called ‘Listening to Healthcare Workers’ Stories’ and used methods adapted from Participatory Design to collaboratively create a piece communicating their experiences on the front line of the Covid 19 pandemic.

The project adapted Spinuzzi’s Participatory Design methods by using a three stage process -

1. Initial exploration of work;

2. Discovery Process

3. Prototyping

Stage 1 – Initial exploration : February 2023

Participants were asked to talk individually about their experiences . We also asked participants to think about their sonic environments from the start of the project, including their own use of music as emotional support.

Transcriptions of interviews were shared with participants to check for accuracy, and that that they had been listened to. Participants were then asked to identify key elements of their testimony they wished to communicate to a wider audience.

Stage 2 –Discovery process: March 2023

a. Group session 1 - storyboarding of events. participants as a group to shared key elements of their experience (identified at the end of stage 1), and these were collaboratively developed into a storyboard, consisting of events, sounds, emotions, and music .

b. Group session 2 - collective improvisation session with Salford musicians under the guidance of participants.

Stage 3 – Prototyping: April 2023

Group sessions 3 and 4. Digital versions of the music were shared with participants as virtual orchestration. Participants could then feed back, in the group, or individually, especially in relation to the sections of the piece inspired by their own experiences. Several sketched sections were discarded as a result of feedback from participants.

The final stage was the performance, which took place on July 20th in New Adelphi Theatre, Salford.

• Online Publication Date: Nov 8, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 8, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2025
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17866/rd.salford.24487882.v1
• Publisher URL: https://salford.figshare.com/articles/media/Healing_Tales_300_word_commentary_and_links_to_videos_/24487882
• Collection Date: Feb 13, 2023