A hybrid course – Second masterclass series
Working together on the OUYE project, we gradually realized that we all shared a main focus: reflecting on our absence. To Have an Impact reflects on the absence of minorities in remote natural spaces. DMZ reflects on the absence of hip-hop culture and its recognition within universities. It therefore seemed essential, in the context of project OUYE, to pool our skills, in order to bring the young people affiliated to each of our organisations together and share our analyses. That is how we decided to create a hybrid course, halfway between rap and microadventures…
Together, we decided to go hiking in a remote natural area not far from Rennes (the city we live in). This appealed to our two organisations for multiple reasons:
- Introducing those who had never gone hiking to that activity;
- Giving wider access to that kind of outdoor activity;
- Picking up and recording noises, sounds… that would be used to create an instrumental;
- Introducing those who knew nothing about beatmaking to that skill;
- Learning the methods involved in writing hip-hop;
- Recording at the studio.
We therefore took our backpacks, our picnics and a few recorders and set off for Cap Fréhel. Cap Fréhel is a beautiful place in the North of Britany, 100 km away from Rennes. This was a way to respect one of the principles of microadventuring, namely that it should take place close to home. To Have an Impact was acquainted with this hiking trail and therefore took the lead during this first step of the hybrid course. The setting was quite exceptional, as the hike took us along the edge of the cliff bordering what is known as the Côte d’Emeraude (Emerald Coast). The hike stretched over 15 kilometers and, while we walked, we were able to record several dozen minutes of sounds: the sound of the sea, the sound of our footsteps treading the ground, sometimes sandy, sometimes rocky and sometimes covered in asphalt, the words of the few passersby who were surprised to see us there, in such large and eclectic numbers.
We must absolutely point out that the outing at Cap Fréhel enabled us to combine ToHAI’s and DMZ’s respective skills, i.e. to gather recordings while hiking. These recordings were then used to write a song.
After the hike at Cap Fréhel, we met five times in total: twice to compose the music (selecting the recordings, composing the melodies, arranging the music), twice to choose a theme, then once again to write the lyrics. Once these workshops were over, Thierno, of DMZ, completed the process by mixing and mastering the song at La Source studio.
This experiment enabled us to promote hip-hop and the presence of minorities in natural spaces. Thanks to the beatmaking, writing and recording masterclasses, people who had never even sung before got the opportunity to discover songwriting and the whole process of creating music.