I write this the week of the 2020 election, but this is not a new question. Within the context of a pandemic, a divisive election with permanent and large ramifications, and an indefinite freeze on performance opportunities and income for most people in our community, […]
I recently read an older NY Times article about the stress of constantly striving to improve. As students work hard in school, I want to point out a few things about improvement. When experts tell us we can do anything if only we work hard […]
What Improv Comedy tells us about learning, performing and focus. Learning and Performing are two different experiences. Learning involves self-evaluating, critiquing, and analyzing. It is incredibly focused and judgment based. You decide if something works or doesn’t, why, and what to do next. Performing is the […]
Part 3: Repertoire Examples Using Dance to Explore Phrasing: Applying it to real music (some examples where we explore this together) We have been working on this with small examples, but let’s try a longer one together. You have everything you need already so feel […]
Continued from last post, “What musicians can learn from other performing arts forms” Ok, so maybe we can grow as artists from exercises of dancers and actors.Now what? Part 2: Starting to Move This second post is designed for people ready to start exploring adding movement […]
Learning from Other Performing Arts: Using dance to explore phrasing Part 1 We have a long tradition in the musical world of learning concepts and exercises from our teachers and from generations before us so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel to improve. For […]
Introduction I have begun to think of art mainly in terms of energy. More abstract and versatile than emotions (saying a piece is joyful or lamenting, etc.), this lens has given me access to art, dance, and music. I also think of art forms as […]
