In 2000, I presented “Der kleine Harlekin” (The Little Harlekin) by Karlheinz Stockhausen in different kindergartens and primary schools, in San Juan. It was a truly exciting experience because of the children’s displays of affection and the careful attention they paid to follow the piece.
Many of these schools were situated in slum areas with serious socio-economic problems. The affection these children showed was really touching and they expressed themselves not only through displays of affection but also through drawings and words, some of which I share in this space.
Without interpreting or analysing these drawings, which is not by far my specialty, I can’t help talking about things that impressed me, for example, their amazing ability to perceive the core of the musical piece. Almost all drawings are shocking because of the burst of colours and the precise representation of body movement. In “The Little Harlekin”, the clarinetist must dance while playing, move different parts of the body, perform feet rhythm, “draw” the score in the air, etc. It is not a coincidence that, for example, one of the five years old children could draw, for the first time, the entire body system. It is also possible to see, in several drawings, how they represent a sequence of movements, temporally (as in a comic strip). What shocked me deeply was the drawing of a six years old girl, who, still fighting her writing, wrote: “I need you”, “We both look like angels”, “You fly so nicely”, also representing herself with a clarinet.