The Instrument Of Tomorrow: A Cardboard Harp?
Students from Sorbonne University and UNAM, one of our strategic international university partners, gathered in Mexico in June to learn about the simple harp.
The summer program included sharing and learning how to construct a harp and measure acoustic performance, while working with musicians and exploring interpretations of medieval and traditional Mexican music. The summer school was designed to develop pedagogical, economic and sociological studies related to the instrument in France and Mexico, as well as to foster collaboration and exchange among musicians, musicologists, acousticians and instrument makers.
Based on the pedagogical program proposed by the Pop’harpe association, the master’s and doctoral students:
- Received original and unprecedented inter-university and multi-disciplinary training;
- Created cardboard harps built with inexpensive materials by Franco-Mexican pairs;
- Established interpersonal links within the "Music and Science" research community;
- Prepared future shared projects.
The Musiconis research program in musical iconography has fostered collaborations between researchers from the multidisciplinary Collegium Musicæ institute of the Alliance Sorbonne University, Pop'Harpe Association, and UNAM, as well as the birth of an ambitious project of exchange, teaching and research in the framework of an international summer school.
This summer school program encapsulates many of the characteristics integral to Sorbonne University's partnership with UNAM: ambition, innovation, multidisciplinary and open exchange. It also marks the expansion of our partnership into explorations of music.
