Helicona under the microscope
Music and Horses in Helicona
as a case study
Chiara Aquilani (@chiaraquilani) is a Master student in Musicology in UNIMI, Milano and she is researching in music between species!
After some research on the internet, she came across the Helicona project, and in particular the articles about music and horses, and she contacted Davide!
Chiara is interested in understanding how interspecies musical communication works, and the work we do with horses suits her, so she decided to 'study' us.
A few days ago we had our first meeting and it went very well. Chiara is a serious researcher and will do a great job, and the riding school in Noceto (Parma) with Jessica and Federico (Equestri.it) seems to be the right place to develop this research project. The work will focus on the concepts developed by Helicona, namely that music is stronger the more "intentional" consciousness is present in the communicative (and therefore not only performative) act. The horse becomes a decisive factor as a litmus test of this process. Its understanding testifies on the one hand to the musician's awareness of the connection between the INTENTION to communicate and the musical FORM used, and on the other hand to the application of this mechanism in the relationship between subjects (both human and interspecies) and thus to the importance of the RELATIONSHIP with the interlocutor(s) and the necessary declinations of the HERE and NOW (typical of conscious improvisation).
Helicona will be put under the research microscope.
FEW WORDS FROM CHIARA:
"Helicona, what an exciting project! In January, I will document the activities featuring Davide and the horses at the Equestri riding center. The research will focus on the effects of the music played by Davide's violin on the horse, with the aim of examining the role of music in the interspecies relationship, as a vehicle of energetic interconnection between living beings."
Date for 5/6 January 2025. And it is all very exciting.
More news to come
2 EXCITING DAYS OF EXPERIMENTATION HAVE JUST COME TO AN END!
On 5 and 6 January (so cold and wet!) Chiara and Davide were in Noceto at the Sherwood Equestrian Centre together with Jessica and Federico, from Equestri, to share some concepts on communication, body language, relationships, expressive codes, the power of intention, between humans and horses through music. We conducted some experiments with different variables to evaluate what is consistent and what can be different in a musical communication, with respect to each specific situation.
The results are that we now have many questions and new doors open for further research, but we have also seen effective results that confirm that the intuition of working in this field is full of benefits.
The value expressed in the project gives us even more energy to move forward, and inspires us to further collaborations and projects.
MUSIC, WHEN USED WISELY IS A TRUE AMPLIFIER OF OUR EVERY INTENTION,
Chiara Aquilani's words:
"An exciting and stimulating experience. All that remains is to venture in it and try to draw reflections, which will surely enrich the possibilities of interaction, especially with new and interesting approaches!"
