A Relational Practice in HausMusik Brasil Project

Type: Short paper · Article nº 1769

Authors: Janice Possamai Fiedler¹; Cinthia Ruivo²; Giovani Bonassoli Fernandes³; Jaime Bosch?; John Kennedy Pereira de Castro³; João Jordano (Tupanju) Brandalise Pereira?; João José (Awaju Poty) Félix Pereira?; Julio Cesar Melo Miranda?; Kaline Graziela Legat Gulyas?; Maria Ignês Scavone M. Teixeira; Marco Aurélio da Silva Tavares³; Rosane Pletsch?; Renée Rebelo Cicarelli?; Salete Maria Chiamulera Böhler?; Sandra Lucia Simonato Bora¹?; Tatiane Wiese Mathias?; Teresa Cristina Trizzolini Piekarski²; Túlio Ayres?

Presenter: Janice Possamai Fiedler

Institutions: ¹ Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUC/PR); ² Universidade Federal do Paraná; ³ Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM); ? Studium Theologicum; ? UNINTER; ? Universidade Estadual do Paraná - UNESPAR/EMBAP; ? Rede Claretiano de Educação; ? Scavone Ensino Musical; ? Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana do Brasil; ¹? Duettom Escola de Música

Abstract

This work analyzes the edition of the HausMusik Brasil Project entitled “Homage to the Possamai Family.” This project consists of musical recitals held in private homes, involving musicians, family members, and friends. The family that hosts a HausMusik transforms its living room into a stage for musical performance, where everyone present participates actively. This edition, which extended over twelve hours and emphasized Brazilian repertoire, provided participants with a shared musical experience that combined relational, familial, and welcoming aspects.

The event constituted a space in which all those present embodied what Christopher Small defines as “musicking,” understanding music as a verb rather than a noun—an activity that encompasses everyone involved, from the composer to the listener, as well as those who make the performance possible. According to Small (1998), musicking has four main characteristics: it is performative, since it constitutes a musical act; communal, as it involves at least two people on the same occasion; relational, because the quality of the experience is directly connected to the quality of the social relationships among those involved; and holistic, since music engages the human being in all its dimensions.

In light of this edition and drawing upon Small’s concept (1998), we established a new terminology specific to the HausMusik Brasil Project, resulting in the expression HausingMusiking. In this view, not only is music a verb of action (Small, 1998), but so is the house: the gestures, movements, and dynamics of family life are, by their very nature, processes of flow and transformation—hausing. The very nature of the German term Hausmusik (“home music”), which so precisely joins two nouns, transcends its original meaning within the educational-musical practices instituted by the HausMusik Brasil Project.

From the moment a family nucleus accepts the invitation to become a Host Family, to the lived experience of the event, both music (as musicking) and house (as hausing) move, shift, and interact, remaining mutually interdependent. These dual and relational movements generate distinctive transformations, influencing both the family and the musical experience. Within this environment, family and music-making form bivalent connections of differentiated musical densities (Tillmann, 2016). House and music, integrated in a single lived experience, are characterized not only as movements of connection but also as connective relations—reciprocal and self-sustaining dynamics that amplify musical experiences and open pathways for learning through art.

References

Small, C. (1998). Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Wesleyan University Press.

Tillman, J. B. (2016). Experiencing Music – Experiencing Spirituality: Selected Writings of June Boyce-Tillman. Peter Lang.