Le Vivier: Paramirabo: Pythagore’s toolkit

Legend has it that when Pythagoras passed by a forge, he was astonished by the wide range of high-pitched sounds he heard as the blacksmiths used hammers of different sizes to strike their pieces of metal. The sounds were rich and varied, sometimes harmonious, sometimes discordant. Once our dear Greek thinker returned home, he immediately began experimenting with a plethora of different hammers and metals. Over time, he detected and then identified musical intervals and some of the relationships produced by harmony. Exploring sound and developing new instruments triggered his elaboration of the principle of an underlying order in the natural world – what we now call physics.

In Pythagoras’ Toolkit, using puppets and live music, Rachel Warr and Benjamin Olivier bring to life a modern-day Pythagoras, exploring sound, space (conceptual/sound/real world), rhythm, harmonies and dissonances (order and chaos), instrument making and design, various musical textures and structures, and even dance. Aimed at children aged 3 to 12, but also open to adults, Pythagoras’ Toolkit will take the audience on a journey through a dialogue leading to an understanding of sound phenomena. The production features musicians from Paramirabo (Quebec), composer Benjamin Oliver and director Rachel Warr (UK), and two puppeteers manipulating a brand-new Pythagoras.