Kassel, Germany. Christoph Quadflieg, curative educator, singing teacher, choirmaster, and singer, ran Sing’in at Kassel Central Station this summer, a store where people can experience their musicality. In this interview, he talks about the initiative.
What is your intention at Sing’in?
I would like to create a place where all employees can work artistically for a short time every day while singing. It would be a café, and the menu would include ten minutes of singing, sculpting, eurythmy, painting, thinking, or playing. There would be no claim to a study goal here, no “best.” People would experience themselves working and could start at any level of education. For now, it is a store without a café and only with music as food.
Which encounters in the store are particularly memorable for you?
Day 3: “My train leaves at ’46.’” The woman wants to sing the song “Maienwind am Abend.” We sing it with a delicate “dim,” ending with “la, la.” It becomes very easy, she beams. In the evening, I received a text message: “That was the best thing of the day—the May wind, thank you! Great idea.” Day 22: The young Moroccan doesn’t know any songs, so he sings “O” after me. Little by little, his lips, nose, eyes, ears, the top of his head and finally a feeling are supposed to help form the “O”. After a warm and radiant tone, he leaves the store visibly happy. Day 67: A neatly dressed man with a rucksack, a sleeping mat, and no money: we sing, “Hey, ho, get excited …”—he is in tears. He becomes quiet, I say: “That sounds nice”, he replies that he has done everything wrong. I play the postlude of the mourning Pamina—this suffering sounds so beautiful through the music. He calmly leaves after 15 minutes.
Why is music and especially singing so nourishing?
A short while ago, I was chewing, swallowing, shouting, and smiling with you—now, all these body parts and functions are being used to sing a beautiful tone and sound. This is the sensory result of a very largely or fully consciously experienced process of thinking, hearing, feeling, and building. I experience myself creating reality. In this way, we are able to free the longing and the need for art from obstacles.
Contact quadfliegc@t-online.de
Translation Charles Cross
Image Christoph Quadflieg at Sing’in in Kassel main station, photo: Gabriele Wolf
