Earlier this month, I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the
International Society for Improvised Music Conference (ISIM) in Ann Arbor, MI with my colleague in music education, Ashley DeAntonio. I have attended the ISIM conference for the past three years now, each year becoming extremely inspired through the performances, presentations, and conversations of which I have been a part. In addition to performing with
Paul Scea (Director of
Jazz Studies at West Virginia University) as a part of our duo, '
Space Genetics', I also had the chance to perform with the 'Ophidian Ensemble' in a performance of John Zorn's game theory-based piece, 'Cobra'. The 'Ophidian Ensemble', organized and "prompted" by
Adam Osmianski, consisted of 14 musicians--among us were college students, public school music teachers, collegiate music faculty, and freelance musicians. Zorn's 'Cobra' has been around for several years now and continues to be performed in a variety of contexts. Although quite familiar with Zorn's extensive musical work, this was the first chance I had to learn about and be a part of a performance of 'Cobra'. Some details about the piece can be found on the web
HERE and
HERE. I also had the opportunity to watch a performance of the
University of Missouri Improvisation Ensemble (taught by
Arthur White and led by David Witter) perform a piece using Walter Thompson's '
Soundpainting' technique.
After experiencing these performances, and after being a part of many great conversations with some terrific musicians, Ashley and I have been very inspired to implement these kinds of improvising with our students. The music education value in all of this is immense and falls right in line with where my philosophy of music/education has been for a long time.
Using this blog, we will be keeping a record of our experiences implementing these kinds of improvisation in our classes. Additionally, we will be looking at ways we can connect our work in improvisation with the work of our friends/colleagues in improvisation around the country. Stay tuned...
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