September 26th, 1993In 1999 I started as a gralla player in the group of players at the Colla castellera Jove Xiquets de Tarragona (CJXT) (a group of several hundred people in Tarragona which organizes performances were human towers are erected), for short, "Colla Jove", where I continue still playing. Below, there are some pictures of some of the "towers" built by the Colla Jove, on the seasons when they were erected for the first time:
4x9 sleeved September 26th, 1993
3x9 sleeved 
Santa Tecla 1994
5x8 
Santa Tecla 1994
The group of gralles provides the music to be played when the tower is erected. As our colleague in gralla Oriol Nicolau says: "The ītoc de castells` (tune of the castle) consists of 5 parts, namely start, climbing, crowning, descent, end. The start serves to advice the spectators and members of the group alike (some of them cannot see the construction as they are places in several positions inside the "foot") that the construction is officially an "attempt", a moment which depending of the height of the tower, will begin sooner or later. The climbing consists of two musical elements which go on repeating until the the enxaneta (littl child) reaches the top, the crowning, a moment marked by two high, shining, long notes. The descent begins with two more calm, long, descending notes, after which again comes the quick melody of the climbing, repeated until it comes the end, when the foot is dismantled. Depending of the height of the tower, the end will be long or short, two different tunes which mark the importance of the construction."
Other tunes of the repertoire of the group are, the tune of entry to the open space where the towers will be done, the tune of the walking tower, the tune of vermouth, the tune of procession, and the tune of dawn. And, of course, the repertoire of passacaglia, played when the whole group goes on foot to the place of the performance.
Passacaglia 
Grallers de la Colla Jove 
Finally, by clicking here you will listen to the Toc de castells, the music played when the human towers are being erected. The group playing now, is "grallers de la Colla Jove".
The "toc de castells" is the same music everywhere, but as it has been transmitted by oral tradition, there are many variants. As an example, listen to the same toc de castells but this time played by the School of grallers from Sitges, which to the ears of the people in the area of Tarragona it is really an unusual tune.
