Guido D’Arezzo It is the name of the Benedictine monk who was responsible for the current name of the musical notes. A figure who lived a thousand years ago, at the end of the first millennium, and to whom we also owe the existence of the pentagram. During this distant time, a hymn that was sung to Saint John the Baptist was very popular and was called ut queant laxis. This melody was key for D’Arezzo because it had a particularity: each musical phrase began with a higher note than the previous one. From the first syllables of each of these phrases, the name we give to the notes today arose: Ut queant laxis/ Resonare fibbris/ Mira gestorum/ Fámuli tuorum/ Solve polluti/ Labii reatum/ Sancte Ioannes. At first Do was called Ut and the pentagram was a tetragram, that is, it had four lines.
This is the story told in my name is guidoshow produced by the Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation of Gran Canaria and supported by the disa foundationwhich starts from the idea, script and artistic direction of Marien GonzalezProfessor of Pedagogy at Higher Conservatory of Music of Canary Islands (CSMC)and which includes a repertoire of pieces of music ancient, medieval and renaissance for the little ones. With the figure of D’Arezzo as the common thread, Elementary boys and girls were able to get closer from April 18 to 21 at the Guiniguada Theater to the ins and outs of musical notation and the musical creations of the time. Tomorrow they will offer their last function for the moment, in a reduced format, at the headquarters that the Conservatory has in Tenerife.
«There are around 10 or 12 different pieces, from Gregorian chants to medieval polyphonies, canons… Very attractive pieces to listen to and many also to sing and dance in the classroom. Teachers are presented with a guide didactic before the concert so that they can work on them in class”, says Daniel Roca, from the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias and in charge of the composition and musical arrangements of the show. «It has been a success, all the representations have been full. Around 3,000 people have seen the show », he adds.
A very special cast
The interpreters of my name is guido are the CSMC Pedagogy students, university-age students who are preparing and training to be future conservatory teachers. During a show that has integrated theater, music, choral singing, dance, they have been under the musical direction of Víctor Ramirez, teacher and performer of the leading role, and have had the digital art of Rubén Armiche. A very complete project that, as Daniel Roca explains, has required months of preparation: “It has taken us almost the entire course.”
Among the plans for the future, Roca highlights that they hope to repeat the performance at some point, although not in the near future. After the success of the performance, a final wish: «We would love to be able to take the show to other places. Although it is complicated, especially due to the logistics of displacing so many people, “concludes Roca.
