The Setze Cordes app, like the concert, is designed to be used by children from the age of 1 and has been created using the music and aesthetics of the concert of the same name. Through three simple games it helps children to become familiar with some of the music and the instruments which they will be hearing live in the concert and thus succeeds in attracting a lot more of their attention.
The first game is called Compon (Compose) and offers the children a challenge: to see whether they are capable of figuring out how to follow the melody they are listening to. To do so they have to listen to the different options that are hidden in some boxes, which they will also see at the concert, and select the one they think is correct. With this game, children manage to work on their musical ear almost inadvertently while discovering the repertoire they will be seeing live at L’Auditori. The second activity is the game Cronomúsica. In this game they need to get the musician to grab his instrument and get to the stage on time to perform the piece before the melody that they are hearing stops playing. If they get there they hear the applause of the audience and if not, they hear boos and catcalls. The third game is called 4 cordes (4 Strings) and includes three small tasks to get to know the different parts of the stringed instruments. In Què ha desaparegut? (What is missing?) they need to discover which part of the instrument is missing, in On va la peça? (Where does the part go?) it has to be put it in the right place to complete the instrument, while in Dibuixa (Draw), the missing part needs to be painted by swiping a finger over the part of the instrument that has disappeared. All these games need be completed before the melody that starts playing when the challenge begins comes to an end. With the game 4 cordes, children learn about the parts that make up a bowed string instrument in a fun way and are very graphically shown the difference between a violin, a viola and a cello, which are the instruments that make up the string quartet. The app, which is free, is now available for Android and iOS.
Following the same philosophy of making classical music accessible to children, the Servei Educatiu (Education Service) at L’Auditori has created the new show, Setze Cordes, which can be seen by the whole family on 25 and 26 April and on 9 and 10 May. The award-winning Quartet Quixote will be presenting the music for strings on a set designed by Toni Mira with a special focus on keeping the children’s attention the whole time. The string quartet constantly moves around the audience, which is sitting on the floor, playing the instruments practically beside their ears. On the stage there is a pile of boxes from which items are drawn that lead the concert from one piece to another. The repertoire has also been carefully selected so that the children can discover a great repertoire for string quartets by the likes of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann. It will also be possible to hear pieces by Catalan composers and some Catalan folk songs that have been specifically arranged by Joan Vidal for the show.