Thierry Greblot and Daniel Malavergne, two of the musicians of the Martinet Miners’ Harmony, accompanied by Silvette Millet, perform in five classes in the valley. An awareness-raising action and a bet on the future while the training, founded in 1907, is running out of steam…
A real one-man band. This Monday morning, Thierry Greblot moves slowly, harnessed with around ten musical instruments around his body, to the small classroom of a primary school in Saint-Julien-de-Cassagnas. Inside, there are around twenty students whose return from vacation weighs a little while their teacher, Vanessa Belhadi, inaugurates the morning with a lesson on Marie Curie… It is radioactivity that is in question but, on the arrival of this musician from the miners’ harmony of the Martinet, it’s about breathing that we’re going to be talking about.
Accompanied by Daniel Malavergne, this duo has been working since October to introduce the basics of playing a wind instrument while the vast majority of these students have never even seen the color…We’re going to get up and breathe together, then we’ll blow, without mouthpieces, into the plasticphones to make a sound that doesn’t have to stop.” On the whiteboard Daniel Malavergne initiates a period of concentration before the instruments: trumpet, tuba, trombone and other vuvuzelas are distributed to the children according to their role in this school marching band. A small group, part of a larger ensemble of 120 students from five schools in the Auzonnet valley, forming the “plastoband” whose first concert is scheduled for May 24 at the Martinet.
The goal is, above all, that he discovers music, instruments and that they flourish
“The goal is, above all, that he discovers music, instruments and that they flourish. The goal is not to make them musicians at all costs, assures Silvette Millet, third character of the device. Here, we are very far from culture and it is not reserved for the elite. It also allows us to educate and awaken minds…
On the benches of this elementary and middle school class, Harlan, 10 years old, admires this tuba “all silver and with lots of pipes…”, Lyna rightly finds that “we have a lot of fun, we laugh”Paul, mischievous, esteems “That’s still an hour less lesson”while Arthur imagines “even play outside of school!”
Various reactions rushed into musical time with pedagogy and authority in order to play in unison. “You are as soft as a bank of green beans” says Thierry Greblot while the energy of those who mark time quickly tends to flag. “Don’t go out of time”Daniel Malavergne breathes in their breath as a conch solo breaks up everyone’s rhythm…
At the end of the hour, listening to others gives birth to the creation of a collective “like in a football team where we have to come and recover the one who gets lost”detail Daniel Malavergne.
At his side, before returning to Marie Curie, this musical time offers a teaching time mixing culture, social and pedagogy for the teacher Vanessa Belhadi.“On a social level, this makes it possible to connect the students of the Auzonnet valley, to bring to life a cultural notion with the history of the harmony of the Martinet miners and, finally, in terms of pedagogy, it is important to have professional musicians and real instruments.” So that a true passion is born…
The harmony of the Martinet miners
Swift The Martinet miners’ harmony, founded in 1907, a legacy of the coal mining era, has therefore survived the extinction of the latter. “But the major problem is its renewal by young musicians” specifies Daniel Malavergne, childhood friend of Thierry Greblot and initiator of the. This project, built over three years, forms a brass band school so that tomorrow, kids who have become musicians will continue this musical tradition.
Concert A concert of brass bands and harmonies, with free entry, will be held at Les Mages, on May 23 at 6 p.m., then on May 24, in the park of the Château de Crouzoul, at Le Martinet, with a musical aperitif at 11 a.m. then a concert at 4 p.m.
Scolaire The project concerns five schools in the Auzonnet valley: Les Mages, Saint-Julien-de-Cassagnas, Saint-Jean-de-Valériscle, Saint-Florent-sur-Auzonnet and le Martinet.
