0
Interview
12 January 2020 2.00 h

Dàmaris Gelabert

Singer educator and music therapis

“I wanted to be Mary Poppins and I did it”

in­ter­view

Thou­sands of chil­dren love her songs, and nurs­eries and schools around the coun­try use them in their classes, while they can also be heard in the­atres and she has a large fol­low­ing on­line. Dàmaris Gelabert is a star in the world of small chil­dren.

Chil­dren’s music is ex­pe­ri­enc­ing good times, but it’s taken a lot to get there.
I’ve been work­ing in this field for 20 years, and it’s true that in­ter­est in our sec­tor has grown ex­po­nen­tially in re­cent years.
To what do you at­tribute the growth in in­ter­est?
Var­i­ous fac­tors. There’s a greater con­cert cul­ture among young peo­ple who are now par­ents and pass­ing it on to their chil­dren. There’s also been a change when it comes to hir­ing chil­dren’s music groups. We’ve gone from just look­ing to keep kids en­ter­tained, to look­ing for groups that offer more elab­o­rate per­for­mances. I found it hard to find my own path, as this de­mand is only re­cent. Four years ago we began rent­ing the­atres for our show and doing a sum­mer tour.
The­atre pro­gram­mers are get­ting the mes­sage.
It seems so, but above all it is down to peo­ple re­spond­ing en­thu­si­as­ti­cally to fam­ily con­certs. I don’t think pro­gram­mers saw that there was a po­ten­tial au­di­ence out there until these shows began to work and new com­pa­nies began ap­pear­ing. The the­atre is an ideal place to get chil­dren’s at­ten­tion and to get them to take part in the music. The se­cret is of­fer­ing chil­dren’s au­di­ences mu­si­cal per­for­mances of the same qual­ity as those of­fered to adults.
What is the main as­pect of the shows?
I love it when the au­di­ence sings along and plays an ac­tive part. For­tu­nately, and after many years, I now per­form the music live.
Your shows sell out. Are you scared of be­com­ing a vic­tim of your own suc­cess?
For the mo­ment, I’m han­dling it [she laughs]. I’m aware that I’ve reached a high level I never ex­pected to. I also know I can’t keep it up for­ever. But I’m hav­ing the time of my life. We have six shows on, and we’re con­stantly get­ting of­fers we can’t refuse, like last year when we were asked to do a chil­dren’s con­cert for the 50th Barcelona Jazz Fes­ti­val, or this De­cem­ber when we per­formed at the Palau de la Música along­side the Vallès Sym­phony Or­ches­tra, a choir of 60 chil­dren. They are amaz­ing chal­lenges, and a bit scary, but also fab­u­lous!
Your music is pop­u­lar with nurs­eries and pri­mary schools. Good al­lies to have.
For sure. I’m grate­ful to them for using my music. Many peo­ple tell me they began dis­cov­er­ing the world of Dàmaris through their chil­dren at nurs­ery, and they now sing the songs at home. It’s been a long jour­ney since the first album, 25 years ago.
Your music has also spread around the world due to so­cial media. How do you think chil­dren should make use of that?
It took me a long time be­fore I de­cided to use so­cial media as a loud­speaker for my songs. I come from the world of ed­u­ca­tion, where it’s an issue of de­bate. When I de­cided to post videos to YouTube, it was with the un­der­stand­ing that so­cial media is a tool for music to reach every­one, but the songs are to be sung in fam­i­lies, at school, or on ex­cur­sions, not as a way of keep­ing kids quiet.
As they get older, chil­dren tend to study music as a sub­ject less.
And it’s a big mis­take. We need to work to bridge the gap be­tween the basic teach­ing of music and learn­ing an in­stru­ment. Any­one can play an in­stru­ment with­out first know­ing how to read music. It’s the same as learn­ing to talk and later study­ing gram­mar. Music ed­u­ca­tion is chang­ing, and there’s in­creas­ingly more in­ter­est in learn­ing music in a more open way that does not ex­clude any­one.
What were your mu­si­cal in­flu­ences?
I was born in Barcelona, but moved to An­dalu­sia aged three, where I lived until I was 13. That meant many mu­si­cal in­flu­ences were not Cata­lan, and I had to catch up later. I al­ways liked the sound­tracks for clas­sic mu­si­cals like Mary Pop­pins. My dream was to be Mary Pop­pins, and in a way I did it! Also, at home music was a big part of our lives, which is some­thing I’ve shared with my own fam­ily.
What is Tot­Sona?
It’s an as­so­ci­a­tion to pro­mote and de­velop ac­tiv­i­ties re­lated to music ed­u­ca­tion at home and at school. We put on work­shops, courses and events that allow us to show music’s ed­u­ca­tional pos­si­bil­i­ties. The best known and most pop­u­lar parts are the con­certs and shows that we take around the coun­try.
You are a greater de­fender of the cu­ra­tive ef­fects of music.
The ther­a­peu­tic qual­i­ties of music have been shown. Con­tact with songs in­flu­ences our men­tal, phys­i­cal and emo­tional health. The ef­fect on chil­dren as an ed­u­ca­tional strat­egy is re­ally im­por­tant, be­cause it es­tab­lishes a learn­ing mech­a­nism that serves them for life.

Non-stop training

Dàmaris Gelabert (Barcelona, 1965) graduated in philosophy and educational science at Barcelona University and specialised in music therapy, graduating with honours from Boston’s Berklee College of Music. After returning from the US, with her husband Àlex Martínez, she set up the TotSona Records label. Her first release was Tot sona!, followed by over 200 songs, most of which appear on 15 albums and two DVDs. In 2018, she won the ARC prize for the best tour adapted for a family audience. In 2012, she opened the Espai TotSona centre in Cardedeu, which offers classes, workshops and masterclasses for teachers. Also, Gelabert teaches a masters in music therapy at the Esmuc college of music and the Gimbernat university school. She also gives talks, courses and seminars in a number of universities, schools and training centres.

Sign in. Sign in if you are already a verified reader. I want to become verified reader. To leave comments on the website you must be a verified reader.
Note: To leave comments on the website you must be a verified reader and accept the conditions of use.

Published on

Most Viewed