Children Learn the Art of Making Sound Effects at the SCRF

From plastic bottles, pipes, cans, straws, balloons, rubber, wood, grains and even an X-ray sheet children visiting the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival were taught how to create sound effects that could be used for animation and theater.

These skills were part of a workshop titled ‘Exploring Foley and Sounds’ given by Jose Angel Soto directors of Cuerda Floja Theater Company in Mexico and his co-director Ana Laura Herrera. Cuerda Floja is an all-encompassing theater company that produces complete productions ranging from clowning to children’s theater to puppeteering. They create every detail of the show including costume and set designs.

“When it comes to our productions we love to be organic in everything as much as we can. That includes having the actors produce the sound effects needed for their shows,” said Jose, who has a background in mechanical engineering. It is that background that has helped Jose innovate and invent the gadgets that produce the sound effects. “We have to invest time and money to study and experiment on many things to recreate these sounds,” he said adding that some sound effects happen by coincidence and others require longer time.

During the workshop children are shown a silent clip of a moving object (such as a train) and they are asked to use the gadgets brought by Ana and Jose to create the sound for the clip. After that they are taught how to create small items, like a simple whistle for instance, out of recycled material. “It’s not difficult and we take them through it step-by-step so that they could understand it easily,” said Ana.

This is the duo’s second participation during the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival and they have also held workshops and performances in many cities around the Middle East. “Children are curious about technology and about the sounds and how they are created. And that’s why they try to feed this curiosity and explore all our gadgets,” she said.

Speaking about the importance of helping them create their own sound-making items Jose said: “We think it’s very important for children to make something with their own hands. When they make it themselves they will appreciate it.”

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