Another long day of explorations in the TA field. The first session was with friends David and Jennie Hietler-Klevans, fellow songwriters working in schools. They have quite an active thing going with lots of albums, great web site. Their presentation was interesting, with both similarities and differences in techniques. Good to know.
The next session was really good – Shapes of Sound – integrating dance and music, especially with improvisation. I broke out my guitar for this one and got to play with Eli on some music while the others moved. We had a really nice opportunity to create a movement piece on ‘homelessness’ in 10 minutes. The other artists put together a really nice piece while I supplied the music. It was truly moving to perform and experience. The teachers and the other artists were visibly transformed as well.
This is the crux of these sessions: to interact with other artists from other disciplines and extemporaneously create on the spot, trust our instincts and make those creative leaps that we do so well.
I don’t really get gigs out of these things, but come away refreshed, reassured and somewhat charged up.