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Facilitated by Mireia Clua
5/16/23
The focus of the first session of the Improvisorium was to explore musical dialogues between the musicians, listening to each other and being very responsive to each others' musical ideas. The facilitator designed three different playgrounds for the musicians to explore this concept together.
Participants were asked to bring the instrument they felt most comfortable with, so that they would be able to express themselves fluidly.
The musicians involved were Josh Finn (electric guitar), Ben Bourque (trombone, bass), Paul Bourque (keyboard controller with midi library), Nick Boni (electric guitar), Richard Lowenburg (keyboard), Antoinette Ady (violin), David Reed (nylon-string guitar), and Mireia Clua (6-string violin).
The initial improvisation activity aimed to break the ice and encourage all participants to play together for the first time. We employed an improvisation game called "Circle of Improvisations".
As we formed a circle, the first person started improvising freely until settling into an ostinato (a repeating phrase). Once the next musician in the circle noticed the established ostinato, it served as a cue for them to begin playing. They would also improvise freely over the first musician's ostinato until eventually settling into their own repeating pattern. Thus, two ostinatos were played together. The process continued as the third musician improvised, eventually settling into an ostinato as well, creating three overlapping patterns. This continued with subsequent musicians joining in, adding new layers of sound. The music became more defined and full with each additional musician. Once the last musician in the circle was set into an ostinato, the game could either continue with each musician taking turns to improvise and introduce new ostinatos or end at that point.
Insights: We played two rounds of this game. During the first round, we went around the circle twice, but we found that with eight participants, the game became too long and tiring to sustain an ostinato for an extended duration. In the next round, we decided to go around the circle only once, allowing for shorter improvisations to maintain a faster pace and fresh energy.
The main activity of the session involved exploring musical dialogues in small formats that were chosen randomly. The purpose of this experiment was to break away from traditional band formations (bass, drum, chordal instrument) and discover unique band combinations that may not have been considered otherwise. For example, how can a trombone, a violin and a drummer make music together?
To determine who would play, we randomly selected a format from a set of cards that offered different options such as duo, trio, quartet, and quintet. We then drew the names of participants from a hat.
Before starting the improvisation, each group would draw an inspiration card. These cards contained intentionally ambiguous and open-ended ideas, serving as a source of inspiration for the musicians. The participants were encouraged to view the card as a spark of creativity and to not feel limited by it. They were free to take their improvisations wherever they wanted to and follow their imagination.
The set of 12 inspiration cards included ideas such as: copycat, musical dialog, being melodic, opposites, take risks, unconventional harmony, grooving, being someone else, minimalism, blending, using silence, textures.
Once a group drew a card, they silently read and absorbed its contents before embarking on their improvisation journey. No prior discussion was held on what or how to play. Meanwhile, the other participants who were not part of that particular group would listen and enjoy the improvisation. The content of the card was not revealed to the listeners, as the aim was to avoid turning it into a contest and to allow the musicians the freedom to interpret the card in their own unique way. There was no right or wrong approach—each interpretation served as a seed idea for musical exploration.
Insights: All the musicians gave themselves totally to the activity with open hearts, both while they were playing as well as when they were listening. The inspiration cards and the small unusual formats made for very fun and surprising musical dialogues. After each little jam, musicians spontaneously shared their feelings and thoughts about that musical interaction, creating a space for reflection and exchange of experiences.
Following an evening of focused exploration within specific concepts and structured playgrounds, the third activity was designed as a break from that. All 8 participants jammed together, and the only directions they were given were to engage in musical dialogues, to listen actively, and to not feel obligated to play the whole time.
Insights: Some participants found improvising with total freedom to be more challenging than playing inside defined boundaries around a common idea. On the other hand, other participants experienced the opposite: they found the moment of freedom to be liberating.
Facilitated by Ben Bourque
6/19/23
The focus of this session was to explore music using non-primary instruments. The goal was to put ourselves in the shoes of a beginner (from a technical standpoint) but with the mind of an experienced musician.
Participants were given the option to choose instruments they had some prior experience with or instruments they had never played before. They were encouraged to be adventurous and try at least one completely new instrument. Participants were assured that there was no pressure to sound good during this session.
Before the session started, we spent some time trying the different instruments and getting minimally acquainted with them.
Here are the instruments that each person chose:
To start the session, we played a variation of the game "Circle of Improvisations". The purpose was to all play together, to break the ice and get acquainted with the new instruments.
The mechanism of the activity was almost the same as in the first session. All the musicians would be in a circle with the non-primary instrument of their choice. One musician would start improvising freely and, after a while, they would transition into playing a repeating pattern or ostinato. Then, the next musician in the circle would join in, improvising freely over the established ostinato before eventually introducing their own repeating pattern. This process would continue with subsequent musicians entering the improvisation, each contributing their unique musical ideas and evolving the ostinato patterns. The circle would progress until all participants had taken their turn, and a collective decision would be made on how to conclude the jam. However, this time, there was a notable difference: musicians had more flexibility with their ostinatos or accompaniment patterns. They were allowed to adapt and modify their musical contributions as the circle progressed, allowing for greater spontaneity and exploration. We just played one round of this game.
The main activity of this session was to improvise together in trios and quartets using non-primary instruments. Before each little jam interaction, we randomly draw names from a hat to determine who would be part of that ensemble. To spark ideas for the improvisation, we used the deck of inspiration cards. Unlike the previous session, where a single card was drawn for the entire ensemble, this time each musician drew their own individual inspiration card. Similarly, we maintained the practice of not disclosing the content of the cards to the listeners, allowing the musicians the freedom to interpret and explore their own inspirations without the pressure of having to do a "good job" interpreting the card.
The third and final activity of this session involved a percussion circle where all the musicians came together to participate. Continuing the theme of exploring non-primary instruments, each musician engaged with percussion instruments they were not familiar with, creating a sense of novelty and adventure. The percussion circle provided an opportunity to have fun exploring rhythm together and end the session in high note.
We noticed that playing instruments with which you don't have any experience, forces you to focus on the only elements of musicality that you can actually control without relying on technique: rhythm, textures, dynamics, musical dialogues, responsiveness, general frequency range (low, medium, high), sound effects.
We also noticed that this experience forces you to be creative without the ability to play exactly what you imagine - and thus, reimagining music with the possibilities that you have.
A benefit of this group activity is that it has an equalizing effect between the musicians, as they all have the same level of ability with the instrument.
Facilitated by Nick Boni
7/07/23
The focus of this session was to explore the connection between the emotions we feel and want to convey musically, with the way we express them physically with our instrument.
Participants were asked to bring the instrument they felt most at ease with, allowing them to express themselves fluently.
The musicians involved were Nyneve Minnear (hand percussion and drums), Josh Finn (electric guitar), Ben Bourque (trombone, bass), Paul Bourque (keyboard controller with midi library), Nick Boni (electric guitar), Richard Lowenburg (keyboard synth), Antoinette Ady (electric violin), David Reed (nylon-string guitar), and Mireia Clua (6-string violin).
Before diving into the planned activities, we started with a brief vocal warm-up.
To open our ears and connect with music together, we did an immersive activity where we used a beautiful drone track and we all sang long sustained sounds over it, with complete freedom to alter the pitch as we progressed. The outcome was that the overall sense of harmony continually shifted and evolved, depending on each person's choices, making the environment sometimes consonant and sometimes more tense. There were also some moments where the group spontaneously increased the energy by raising the intensity of their voices, swelling the notes, and then relaxing into a softer sound.
In this experiment we played in duos to simplify the musical dialogue and be able to focus on the goal of the activity, which was to explore expressing emotion through music using different physical expressions with our instrument. For this activity, we created two new sets of cards:
Emotion cards
Expression cards
To determine the participants of each duo, we randomly drew two names from a hat. Then, the two chosen musicians would draw one emotion card and one expression card, which only they could see (they would both use the same cards). The first musician would take the lead, responsible for expressing the emotion indicated on the card using the specified expression from the other card. The second musician would accompany and support the other musician’s expression. After a while, without pausing, they would switch roles and continue playing, but now it would be the second musician who leads, and the first musician is accompanying.
It was a really beautiful exercise to express an emotion with a particular element of expression on our instrument. The activity was very inspiring, and we had many precious moments of deep musical connection. The duo format made it easier to engage in a fluid musical conversation, as you only have to pay attention, respond and leave space to a single musician at a time.
Facilitated by Josh Finn
7/18/23
The focus of this session was to explore transitioning the music from a group of musicians to another group of musicians, and in the process, transforming the music.
Participants were asked to bring whichever instrument they wanted - could be their primary instrument or their secondary.
The musicians involved were Josh Finn (electric guitar, drums), Ben Bourque (trombone, guitar), Paul Bourque (keyboard controller with midi library), Nick Boni (bass), Richard Lowenburg (keyboard synth), Antoinette Ady (electric violin), David Reed (trumpet), and Mireia Clua (6-string violin).
Before diving into the planned activities, we started with a brief vocal warm-up.
To open our ears and connect with music together, we did an immersive activity where we used a beautiful drone track and we all sang long sustained sounds over it, with complete freedom to alter the pitch as we progressed. The outcome was that the overall sense of harmony continually shifted and evolved, depending on each person's choices, making the environment sometimes consonant and sometimes more tense. There were also some moments where the group spontaneously increased the energy by raising the intensity of their voices, swelling the notes, and then relaxing into a softer sound.
All the musicians were sitting in a circle. The facilitator invited us to share something about our day and express it musically: it could be a sensation we had, a significant moment of the day, or a story of all the things we did. One by one, each musician played a short solo expressing how their day went. Before ending the solo, each musician would hand over the music to the next musician, creating a transition together and gradually transforming one solo into the next.
We went around the circle once, and each person shared their day. Most of us used our instruments to express ourselves in an abstract way. But surprisingly, Ben broke the mold in his solo by singing and playing at the same time. He opened up a new possibility for all of us that we hadn’t contemplated yet, to use words and our voice as an instrument. It was inspiring.
Exploring how to transition between musicians was the main focus of this activity. It was interesting to transform somebody else's music into something of yours and express your story starting somewhere that wasn’t under your control.
Before starting the activity, we used a spinning bottle to randomly form four duos:
Duo #1 started playing an improvisation together, and after a while, handed the music over to Duo #2. In the same way, Duo #2 improvised together for a while, and then handed the music over to Duo #3, and so on. We went around the circle twice, never stopping the music, and smoothly transitioning from one duo to the next, as in a relay race.
Similar to the first playground where we performed solos, it was very interesting to come into an improvisation that already existed, with the idea to take it from there and transform it into your own thing. This time, with the added element of collaborating with our duo partner, the experience became even more dynamic and engaging. The result was a piece of music that evolved and changed as it went around the circle. Each duo transformed the piece into something new, creating totally different landscapes each time.
To know when to transition from one duo to the next, we didn’t communicate verbally, and our body signaling was minimal. We were very engaged and attentive to notice when the music was ready for a change. We followed our intuition and it all felt very natural and organic. Often, the transition was initiated by one of the musicians from the next duo, finding an entry point into the music, and their partner would follow suit. At other times, the musicians from the initial duo would gradually decrease the volume and intensity, creating space for the next duo to seamlessly join. Some transitions were longer than others, sometimes having one musician from the first duo lingering behind for a while, until they felt it was good to leave the musical space completely to the other duo.
This activity was an evolution from the previous one. Now, instead of exploring the transition between duos, we did the same in quartets. We spinned a bottle to form two quartets at random:
Quartet #1: Richard, David, Antoinette & Mireia Quartet #2: Nick, Josh, Ben & Paul
Following the same premise, Quartet #1 initiated their improvisation together. When it seemed that the music was ready for a change, Quartet #2 seamlessly entered the musical landscape, gradually integrating their sounds while Quartet #1 gradually phased out. The transition between the quartets flowed smoothly, akin to a relay race of musical expression. Similarly, when the musicians sensed that the music was ripe for change, the transition occurred from Quartet #2 back to Quartet #1. Each transition served as an opportunity for the music to evolve gradually, as each quartet responded to the existing musical landscape and expanded upon it, guiding the collective improvisation in new and diverse directions. The result was an ever-evolving musical piece that traversed fascinating and contrasting sonic territories.
This session was very enjoyable for everyone, because we all got to play extensively. As the session progressed, we found ourselves becoming increasingly comfortable with the musical dialogue, feeling more connected to one another and more free creatively.
After the session we all talked about our insights. We noticed that there were many kinds of transitions that emerged naturally in the session. The musicians coming into the music that was played, used different approaches to transition the music and take it to another direction. Some of those approaches involved blending into the existing music by copying shapes (rhythmic shapes, melodic shapes), or by copying textures. Another kind of transition was to come into the music boldly as an element of surprise.
We noticed that it was very powerful to transition the music from one group to another before a climax, just before something big is about to happen.
Facilitated by Richard Lowenburg
9/24/23
The focus of this session was to explore musical dialogue and music as a conversation between musicians. The facilitator designed many interesting playgrounds for the musicians to explore this concept together, both musically and conceptually.
Participants were asked to bring whichever instrument they wanted.
The musicians involved were Nyneve Minnear (drums), Josh Finn (electric guitar), Ben Bourque (trombone, bass), Paul Bourque (trumpet), Richard Lowenburg (melodica), Antoinette Ady (electric violin), David Reed (guitar), and Mireia Clua (6-string violin).
We started the session with an open conversation about what musical dialogue means to us. Here are some ideas that emerged:
Musical dialogue happens when we listen to each other and react to each others’ musical ideas, and we give space to others to express themselves.
One thing that's very special about musical dialogue is that multiple musicians can play at the same time and still be in a very active dialogue. When we are speaking, we need to take turns. One person speaks, then listens while the other speaks. If we try to speak at the same time, we lose what the other is saying. But with music we can both be contributing simultaneously to a single statement, literally crafting this statement together.
In music, even being silent is saying something important. There is more happening in a verbal dialogue than just words. At a deeper level, there is also each person’s behavior and energy, and all of this can be explored in music as well.
Before starting any playing activity, the facilitator proposed to spend 2 minutes in silence listening to the room.
In this activity, musicians paired up for a call and response game, similar to the children's telephone game. Each duo began with one musician playing a musical phrase, and their partner responded by playing what they understood. The first musician then played back what they thought they heard, and the exchange continued. This back-and-forth continued until the musicians decided to end the conversation. This process occurred in pairs, moving around the circle of musicians.
In this activity, all musicians sat in a circle. The first musician played a musical phrase as a “call”, and the entire group responded simultaneously, each person with their own improvised “response”. Then, the next musician in the circle played their “call”, and once again, the whole group responded together. This pattern continued around the circle until every musician had the opportunity to share their "call."
This was the main activity of the session. We formed 4 randomly selected duos, by drawing names out of a hat. Each duo was assigned a scene from a theater play that involved a dialog between two characters, and each person chose to be one of the characters. The activity consisted in interpreting the character with music: instead of reading the words out loud in normal language, we interpreted them musically, having a musical dialog.
The facilitator told us that it was allowed to interject and "speak" musically over one another, to mimic the natural flow of conversation in a theater play, when we saw the need for it.
Those are the four duos and the scene they “played”:
Josh & David: ‘Melancholy Play’ by Sarah Ruhl, Scene 10 between Frank and Tilly
Paul & Nick: ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett, beginning of Act 1 between Vladimir and Estragon
Nyneve & Ben: ‘The Odd Couple’ by Neil Simon Act 2, Scene 2 between Oscar and Felix
After having done all the dialogue and conversation exercises, we were invited to jam freely all eight of us together in a free jam. The only guideline was to be mindful of space and silence, to listen and to participate in the music as if it were a big musical dialog.
Starting the session with two minutes of silence and deeply listening to our surroundings, was very powerful. It heightened our sensitivity to sound and focused us in the present moment. Silence created the perfect blank canvas for us to paint with sound later.
The main activity of the night, interpreting theater play dialogues with sound instead of words, was both challenging and profoundly interesting. Afterward, we discussed the various approaches each musician took to interpret their roles musically. Two primary approaches emerged: one involved playing each written word as a sound, and equating the written phrase with a musical phrase, also imitating the inflection and rhythm of the spoken voice. This approach was more literal. The second method focused on capturing the emotion, mood, and meaning of the text, conveying these elements in a more abstract manner through music. This was an interesting discovery that can be carried to our own music performances outside the Improvisorium: approaching a solo focusing on the individual sounds that we want to play (more literal), or focusing on the overall message and story that we want to convey (abstract).
It was interesting to take this discovery to our own music, opening more options on how to approach our own improvised solos: we can focus more on the notes and individual sounds we are playing, or we can take a step back and see the whole picture, and focus on the emotion and story that we want to convey. We didn’t have any judgment or opinion on whether there was a right or wrong way - both approaches are interesting, and it’s nice to have revealed these options.
Another interesting thing that happened in that session was the free jam we did at the end. After all the structured activities, being very focused on listening to each other and having musical dialogues, we embraced the new freedom but maintained a high level of awareness of one another. The result was a very engaging and connected jam session. We could notice a difference in the way we played together. It felt good!
Facilitated by Nyneve Minnear
10/8/23
Inspiration cards for our improv experiments
Is there an aspect of your musicality that comes more naturally to you? Do you invest in this ability more than in others? Has it become part of your musical identity? For example, I think of myself as a very “melodic” improviser. Thus, I exploit that aspect more than others, as it is my forte. And when people ask me what kind of music I like to improvise, I will definitely say that I like improvising melodically. It is part of my musical identity.
But are there other musical identities hidden inside us that we are not paying attention to? Are we neglecting the needs of the “other” musicians inside us? To go back to the previous example, I know that there is a part of me who likes being abstract and a little crazy. Exploring that requires letting go of control and security - taking risks and accepting that maybe the outcome will not be how I wanted it to be. It’s exploring an aspect that maybe doesn’t come as easily to me, and getting out of my comfort zone.
Could we do a session where we reflect on our musical identities and explore other identities that we have inside us?
Are you familiar with the card game named Dixit? The game features a deck of cards with incredibly beautiful and abstract illustrations, which can be interpreted and understood differently by different people. On the cards there is nothing written, just the illustration.
I imagine an improvisation session where we draw Dixit cards to inspire us, and try to recreate the world that we see visually with our music.
(We have a brand new deck of gorgeous Dixit cards).
A jam session where we play all together with the mindset of creating something weird and strange. (Idea inspired by Jay Gandhi at the Stargazing Retreat). This could be a nice warmup activity.
A jam session where we play as softly as we can, as if we didn’t want to disturb the neighbors. The goal is to express ourselves musically and with nuance in a limited dynamic range in a very soft volume. Who knows what could come of this!
A session with the main theme of exploring the techniques of blending and layering. This idea comes from listening to the contemporary piece “Music for 18 Musicians” by Steve Reich.
In one of the activities, all musicians collaborate to create a continuous, extended piece, by playing patterns or sustained notes using their instruments and/or voices. Each musician has the freedom to join or leave the music at their own discretion. When a musician enters the music, they have two choices: to blend in with an existing pattern or to introduce an entirely new layer.
If a musician opts to blend with an existing pattern, they will try to replicate that pattern meticulously, ensuring they match the original articulation and timbre. The idea is to blend the instruments so well that the ear can’t fully separate them. A listener would have a hard time distinguishing the individual instruments.
On the other hand, when a musician chooses to create a new layer, they embark on a fascinating journey of "playing what's not there." They must improvise a pattern that doesn't currently exist in the ongoing music.
Each musician will hold on to a pattern for as long as they want, and let it go by fading away. This will create a long piece of music that evolves and changes gradually.
Throughout the improvisation, each musician has the freedom to hold onto their chosen pattern for as long as they desire, allowing it to fade away organically. This will create a long piece of music that gradually transformers and evolves.
The overarching goal of this improvisation game is to discover the potential of blending and layering in music, exploring the boundaries of auditory perception and challenging the conventional notions of individual instruments within an ensemble.
In this playground, we craft two distinct chapters for our improvisational journey and use signals to transition seamlessly between them.
The first chapter is a chord: we all play a random note at the same time and we sustain it creating a surprising chord. Once we are done with the chord, we signal to start improvising in a predetermined key. At someone’s signal we all stop improvising and each person plays a single note, creating a new surprising chord. And again, once that chord is done, we all start improvising in the same predetermined key we were playing before.
For this variation, we agree on two distinct key/scale combinations for each chapter. We can even specify the articulation or intensity of the chapter. For instance, in the first chapter, we freely improvise in the key of C, and in the second chapter, we explore the E major pentatonic scale with staccato articulation.
Before we begin playing, we create a theme or melody. It doesn't have to be overly complex; it can be a simple, easily accessible melody. We take a moment for everyone to familiarize themselves with this theme, which becomes our first chapter. Then, we designate a key/scale for the second chapter. We alternate between chapter 1, focusing on the theme, and chapter 2, where we freely improvise within the predetermined key.