The Improvisorium emerges to fulfill the need for an inclusive improvising experience where musicians feel safe to experiment with the raw elements of music, take risks, expand their musical imagination, and have enough space to discover themselves and others musically.
We believe that every person is creative and has the right to express themselves, regardless of their background or ability level.
We want our relationship with music to be authentic, fun, creative, meaningful and artistic.
We strive for a musical experience that is inclusive, where all the musicians participate in a musical dialog, and where no one is more of a protagonist or soloist than anyone else.
To make that space possible, we all need to:
There may be moments where a musician will feel a sudden inspiration to play a solo, or to be more of a protagonist for a moment, and that is totally welcomed. But that player has the responsibility to be sensitive to the other people's needs and to give the space back to the other musicians after making this musical statement.
We want the participants to feel safe to express themselves, explore freely, make themselves vulnerable, take risks, and expand beyond the limits of what they can already do.
To make that possible, we need to create a safe space where:
This is a playground, or a musical garden where we reflect on our personal relationship with music. It's not a workshop for people to critique your improvising and to make it "better". There are groups where artists get together precisely to get this constructive criticism. But here we come to ask ourselves questions and find the answers inside ourselves: Was I listening all the time? Could have I done something different at that moment? Where can I challenge myself to play something new? How did I feel playing in this song? Nobody can answer those questions for you.
We want to experiment with the raw elements and possibilities that the art of music offers. What we do in this space is not for an audience, it's for the musicians themselves:
The essence is that we are engaging in musical conversations, where musicians interact with each other and are not concerned about putting on a show and entertaining an audience.
Eventually, we may be open to having an audience present at The Improvisorium, but we will keep making music in the same way - for ourselves, and not change what we do to please an audience.
We are deeply committed to establishing a space that allows the full richness of music to be truly felt and experienced. To achieve this, we place great importance on actively nurturing silence as a white canvas, from which our music can emerge and take shape. This silence involves quieting our minds, refraining from distractions such as doodling between musical pieces, and giving our full attention to the music.
We want to play beyond the boundaries of what we already know, allowing ourselves to break the molds of music if we want to. Here are some examples:
We can do whatever we want!
Each Improvisorium session is facilitated by a different member of the collective. This approach provides variety and allows us to explore new ideas that would have never occurred to just one person.
By diversifying the facilitators, we ensure a democratic, dynamic and ever-evolving experience within the collective. We look forward to the unique contributions and perspectives that each member will bring to the sessions.