Matevž Goršič
music pedagogue / composer / pianist
Hello ?! Someone is definitely there (from Halo ?! 2012)
Matej Krajnc
Matevž Goršič and Mihael Lajlar are seasoned musicians who have been significantly present on the Slovenian music scene for many years, Lajlar as the musical alter-ego Edenon, Goršič as the driving force of the band Tuned Fish, which in 2010 was also the winner of the Slovenian Chanson Festival. The lyricist of the winning song was Mihael Lajlar, and it is not surprising that the two actors decided to expand their collaboration to the field of children's literature and music; this genre is actually one of the most grateful and long-term "comforting", because children do not forget, and musicians and songwriters build and expand the audience, which in most cases will be loyal to them much later, after all with their own offspring ... and the world will spin forward.
The Halo?! Project, as evidenced by the product in front of you, is by no means another product for children, made according to the pattern of underestimating the youngest audience, which many believe can be eliminated with clichés, quick goodnight fairy tales and some on quickly composed rhymes. Children do not forget, but they are also the most sincere audience and do not know hypocrisy, so it is quickly clear what they like, no matter what their parents show them to listen to.
Goršič and Lajlar are the Hello project ?! set differently; by reflecting on what we can still communicate to children born into the world of instant consumption and globalist aspects today. Can another song about a cat or a hedgehog be included in this? Or should the youngest be told something else, perhaps something about interpersonal relationships, preferably not in an infantile way. They can be told something about their youth, growing up and the values that emerge from it. Lajlar serves with the definition:
Youth is time
timeless spells.
It is a rainbow every day
and just nothing empty.
Come on, buddy, let's fight for the star.
We never go our separate ways.
With youth, there are messages about "my room", family ("Older brother", "Older sister"), extra-family relationships ("First love"). Proof that Goršič and Lajlar, however, do not only tickle a narrow circle of the youngest, means, among other things, the song "Puzzle", which is actually a "song-definition", otherwise special, but known from the roots of the Slovenian poetic canon (BA Novak). It goes like this:
They dress me in gray.
I stand firmly without legs
and I point in all directions of the sky.
I'm hiding a maze in my stomach
from angles, corners and corners -
a haven of miraculous madness.
I hear, I see all the secrets
of its inhabitants.
I am at home inside myself.
The music on the record is varied and diverse; Matevž Goršič is "to blame" for the compositions and performance, Nuša Ofentaušek for the vocals, Alenka Goršič-Ernst's flute is also present, and Goršič and Lajlar also appear in the vocals for some of the songs. The youth choir of the Fran Roš Celje Primary School is an interesting addition to the song "Lullaby for fairy tales", as it brings us closer to the tradition of youth choral singing, as we once knew from a series of records that liked to crackle and thus color our fairy tales a few more .
Project Hello ?! is the author's surplus of the intertwining of Lajlar's excellent lyrics and extremely interesting Goršič's music, and all we can do at the moment is to wish him a happy journey and hope that in the flood of today's half-scrambled products for the purchasing power of the children's market Halo ?! it appears as a kind of dove with a comma from the story of Noah and thus gives us a sign that music for children does not necessarily need to play the same patterns.
“It’s written for you or for me,
for anyone who wants to sing it ",
a collection of new children’s choral compositions
light rhythms, melodies,
and cute children’s texts.
Let it experience its sonic echo
and make performers and listeners happy.
dr. Dragica Žvar
Instructions for songs (from Halo ?! 2012)
Dear music educators, choirmasters, or anyone who will undertake the performance of the songs in front of you. I myself, as a music pedagogue and choirmaster, know that sometimes it is difficult to deduce the composer's idea or, for example, the "idea" of a musical style from the music record. Especially if the music is of a lighter character, what kind of character is present in most of the songs in this collection. I personally think that the basis of music, the rhythmic movement of the body, within the tempo, or otherwise - dance. The relaxation or lightness of the limbs is essential for lighter music to sound in all its full sonority. For some songs that are more pronounced like this, I wrote the word “swing” label. Of course, this is a way of performing in which the melody is sung a little "forward". From experience, however, I assure you that children, like you certainly, have this in their blood. Only with the mind and body is it necessary to indulge in the rhythm dictated by music. I would also like to point out the importance of the lyrics, which can be a key element in perceiving the character of a song. I also think that it is necessary to add content to every tone in vocal music. For example, if the content is playful, let the singers be playful, let it be seen on their faces. Only in this way will the song sound playful. You should also be helped by a CD where the character of the song is clearly audible. Please adhere primarily to the pace prescribed. You may find a song too demanding for the singers you have in front of you. It is true that I wrote the songs with a slightly older children's and youth choir in mind, so I attributed additional voices to some of the songs, which can be performed "ad libitum". I myself "tried" some of the songs with the singers of the children's choir I lead. The singers are 9-12 years old and I was (again) surprised how most of them won the sheet music fairly quickly.
Recordings of instrumental accompaniment are also available to support you at work, so that you do not depend on piano accompaniment. I know that some piano scores are relatively demanding. That's why I added harmonic marks to the songs, so that in many places it is not necessary to follow the record of the piano score in detail. All that matters is that it sounds good. And I believe that with your work, as always, it will be heard. I wish you plenty of joy while recreating songs from the Halo?! Collection.
Matevž Goršič
© 2020 by Matevž Goršič. All rights reserved.
Kocenova ulica 4, 3000 Celje, E-mail: matgor@matgor.com