suddenlyLISTEN - the sLog

Dorian Wrap Up

2011-12-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

After the conclusion of our concert together, Karen Bassett wrote this piece as a sort of post-mortem for our work. I think it wrapped up our work together really well and asked if I could place it here for you to read:

Struggles and Successes in Cross Disciplinary Practice

suddenlyLISTEN and Irondale Ensemble Project spent about twelve hours broken into several short rehearsals in preparation for the theatre/concert of Dorian. In this short time there was a lot to learn from each other’s typical improvisational process of theatre or music. On a surface level, the actors and musicians had to form a common language to communicate effectively. As a humourous example, several rehearsals went by before the musicians realized that when the actors referred to “ the piece” they meant the entire play, not one section of music.

A deeper challenge of cross-disciplinary practice was the desire for the music to be as integral to the narrative as the theatre. From the musician’s perspective, they were adamant that the music not only become background or atmospheric to support the actors; they must be equal partners in the improvised conversation of the piece. When improvising, the actors did their best to stay true to this goal: they fought the ingrained urge to lead the narrative, and listened intently to be led by the music. The musicians also resisted their typical role in theatre as followers of action, and sought to reach out into the space to lead the action, both in terms of physical presence on stage, and in their playing.

In the performance of Dorian, this goal was ultimate in the playing of the evening—sometimes the goal was reached artistically, at other times it was overreached or underplayed. Developing and improvisational give and take, a constant flow between the musicians and the actors, is an idea we want to pursue and provoke further.

The collaborators also dialogued extensively with how much structure was necessary to create a piece based on a novel without compromising the integrity of improvisation. The performance of Dorian was an experiment in that as well. The flow of piece depended both on some narrative structure and some purely improvised pieces. Again, some steps were taken to better understand this balance, but the perfect palate has yet to be coloured.

Finally, a huge revelation in the mix of these two improvised cultures came to Norm Adams, the artistic director of suddenlyLISTEN during Dorian:

“I learned about what a difference an audience makes to a theatre show. In music the audience does have an effect, but they rarely laugh. That makes a difference! When they did, I felt like the piece was suddenly transformed, which gave all of us the opportunity to act and respond differently!”

Editors note: As an addendum to this writing by Karen, I especially like the email I got from Theo Pitsiavas, “I don't think we all really knew what to expect Tuesday night. There were a lot of amazing discoveries and has the potential to go so much further. But we also created some really groovy stuff in a short period of time. I had a lot of fun in this process and from an actor point of view found I that my focus for deeply listening to all the music and dialogue while performing and rehearsing was taken to another level.”

Notice that use of “listening”? THAT confirms a success!

Dorian #4

2011-11-12T11:39:00.000-08:00

Gina Burgess

Have I mentioned the musicians for Dorian enough?
I don't think so: We have assembled some of our regions most interesting and versatile musicians. (I know. I know, "versatile" is overused, but in this case it means something! I swear!)

The other night we got together at the Maritime Conservatory to have a little music rehearsal. I was off a huge day of SNS rehearsal, and Parent - teacher interviews, and through the course of our playing I was so energized and inspired by our musical conversations and interactions, and the way we could easily talk about the work and make it stronger. I felt I must write a bit about them alone!

These people were chosen especially for their extra skills. I went into this process looking for musicians that weren't pure free improvisers (That's what you'll see and hear often at suddenlyLISTEN concerts). Two of these four don't even really play free, very often. But they add a new sound that will challenge Lukas and I (the more experienced free players) to join them in the various idioms they inhabit!

Gina Burgess plays with Gypsophelia and Der Heisser mostly, but she is comfortable playing about seven different styles of violin music! David Christensen is known as a multi-instrumental sideman for Hawksley Workman and Jenn Grant, and an arranger for everyone including Symphony Nova Scotia and most other pop musicians in eastern Canada! And he plays clarinet, but often travels with a glockenspiel. What's not to like there? Lukas Pearse is no slouch in the versatility department with either, he works with Zumbini Circus and Erin Costello, but also with installation artists, performance artists and film makers using electronic instruments to make incredible sounds. And then there's me, I play wherever I can, taking great pride in never backing down down from a musical challenge, and always working to learn new things to open up the possibilities for even richer possibilities!

The Quartet is really nice to play with. Oh yeah, and we have actors too!

Dorian #3

2011-11-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

Okay things are getting serious now, as we are seeing the end of the prep tunnel approaching. Monday night we gathered again and started with new discussions on the 14 tableaus. The actors have decided that announcing each tableau is too obvious (Irondale is sounding like the suddenlyLISTEN of the theatre scene...we don't want to make this too easy for you all!) so they will now inject dialogue after the still, to illustrate what the audience just saw. So we decided the musicians will hold more responsibility: as the dialogue begins we will improvise a short piece, as the actors hear that finishing they'll move to their positions for the following tableau. Listening will be happening big-time!

Then we played with idea of eliminating all the dialogue from a scene and just portraying the other sounds, split into a Victorian upper-class party and an opium den, portraying Dorian's two worlds. This will be an really interesting sound piece that we'll all perform together!

Next we drew up a road map of the whole night and discussed what we still need to do to bring the show to life. We're happy to report that the show will not be 20 minutes long, nor will it be 3 hours in length!

We sure won't be over-rehearsed, but this kind of collective creation is what I love most. Everyone working together, pitching ideas and honing them down to their most effective, most powerful form. We are all thinking of our goals for the evening, always working to the ideals of interaction, and improvisation that were the seeds of this concert idea!

Next we move to The Bus Stop Theatre, and see how things fit there, how much we can use the space and how much lighting we can take advantage of! That will be fun for sure. i love to watch theatre artists work a room!

Pictures and another update will follow. We're pretty excited.

Dorian #2

2011-11-07T05:52:00.000-08:00

We moved to the more colourful, and even cheaper CFNS offices for our next rehearsal on Sunday evening. Thanks Andrea R for setting that up! Last night was really productive as we started to run our "14 stations of the cross piece"

This work was begun by Karen, Theo and Sebastien in the summer in Antigonish. They hoped to work with perspective as a painter works with it in visual art: fore, middle and background. Somehow they got fixated with the 14 stations of the cross, and investigated the works in St. Ninian's Cathedral, trying to reproduce the feel of those paintings in scenes from Dorian Gray. So we have 14 pivotal scenes which are built into tableaus with transitions between tableaus. The music will colour the transitions as well as represent different characters in the book. We've given Gina the role of Dorian, so her work is cut out for her! It's going to be great, and really interesting to smooth out the changes, and see how it looks and sounds in the end!

Tonight we'll work with outrageous Oscar Wilde quotes, and a piece that involves the sounds of different sectors of Victorian English society. This is fun work!

Dorian #1

2011-11-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Our Dorian cast has met twice now, within the prison-like walls of the (very wonderfully inexpensive) Bloomfield Centre, here in Halifax. If you've ever been to Bloomfield (which serves a vital role in our community, providing desperately needed space for arts and community groups) you'll know that it's butt ugly, so I just couldn't torture you with pictures of it. Feel confident that we are beautiful people and as soon as we get to another location you can see us at our best!

We are working fast. Night one was show and tell for musicians, we played a bit to discover our sound, and to show the actors what things might sound like. I was so happy that it was so easy to play with Lukas, Gina and David! I mean, I knew it would be, but you always feel a little relief when it actually IS! And we discussed possibilities for the show, and the basic ideas Karen and I have been working from in our meetings together.

Night two was the actor's turn. They showed us a couple of little scenes that Theo and Sebastien had worked on in the summer (the actors have been working with Dorian Gray for a bit - more on that in later posts). Both scenes dealt with unspoken tension, and gave us musicians some good food for thought.

We talked a lot about where we might begin, and one of the ideas that interested all of us was providing backstory for minor characters, or creating situations that might have been in the story. Then we separated for a few minutes, with actors working on another scene and musicians working on music. We musicians worked with the idea of idiom, which is sort of obsessing me, and we figured out some simple signals to drop into different styles simultaneously: faux jazz, victorian waltz, late romantic, modernist and recitative. The actors created a scene that might have been from the book (but wasn't), and we played it together. The result was rough, but good food for thought!

This is hard and fun, and I think we now have a few conceptual frameworks to fill with improvised material. The next few sessions will work with those, refining our interactions (between Music and Theatre) and solidifying some of the directions we are moving in.

Sunday we meet again (in a more attractive location), so I'll get some pictures to prove that we're not making all this up! Stay tuned......

suddenlyLISTEN's Fall Newsletter

2011-10-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

We are hard at work here at suddenlyLISTEN HQ. So far, this season Hoarse Rattle, with Isaiah and Arthur was a real musical revelation: interactive and almost tonal; and Open Source 1 with JP Carter, Tim, Panos and Geordie was super subtle with constant shifting colours. And have many more great events for you to enjoy, and take part in, coming up!

Please read on and see what we have in store.

Main Series 2 > Dorian

Karen Bassett, Theo Pitsiavas, Sebastien Labelle > actors

Gina Burgess, David Christensen, Norman Adams, Lukas Pearse > musicians

8pm, Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Bus Stop Theatre

2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax

$20 and $10 at the door

How about this for a dangerous idea: theatre and music, interactively created in real time, all within a framework offered by “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, by Oscar Wilde? Improvised opera? Maybe! Risky? Definitely. In collaboration with Irondale Ensemble Project, 3 of Halifax’s most experienced improvising actors and 4 of our most versatile musicians will explore the rich themes from the novel, making music that instigates narrative, and action that is coloured and enhanced by sound. Things are developing rapidly as we begin to meet and work together, watch for updates and more details on our Facebook page or the suddenlyLISTEN website.

Open Source 2 - The Workshop Benefit - December 12^th the sL Improvisation Workshop will offer the second annual Xmas Benefit Show. Last year we raised funds for Medcines Sans Frontieres, while showing off the work of our workshop community. This year we will hold this special event Monday December 12 at 8pm at 1313 Hollis Street. Admission is by donation, with all proceeds going to a charity, of the workshop’s choosing!

Oooh A Contest! - May 12, 2012, sL will present Vox Latrina a concert featuring vocalists DB Boyko and Christine Duncan. While in Halifax, they will perform Stall, by Christopher Butterfield, a duet intended to be performed in a bathroom! So we need to find the largest, most reverberant washroom in HRM, and we need your help! Send submissions to sL by email, and the winner will be showered with gifts, and will be flushed with pride when the performance takes place in their chosen lavatory!

News from the Board of Directors - We welcome our new Board Chair Sarah Hainsworth to sit in the big chair in the sL boardroom, and we thank outgoing Chair Steve Naylor for his continued support. If you are interested in serving on our Board, let Norm Adams know.

Other Events

Feb. 26 - the sum of its parts - featuring Spanner (Newfoundland), Tim Crofts and Norman Adams

Apr. 23 - John Butcher - Still in the works but pretty exciting! Stay tuned…..

The Improv Workshop continues on alternating Mondays at 7:30 pm at 1313 Hollis Street.

All are welcome. The atmosphere is super relaxed and you can sing or play any instrument you like. Just come and make music with us! Email here for details and dates

If you’d like to donate to help us in our activities, we would deeply appreciate it, and you receive a tax receipt!

As always we gratefully acknowledge and thank Nova Scotia Communities, Culture and Heritage and The Canada Council for the Arts for their ongoing support.

The Birth of Dorian

2011-10-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first meeting for Dorian. This November 15^thconcert, will be different from any of suddenlyLISTEN’s projects to date, and we’re pretty excited about how it will turn out!

There were a couple of ideas that started it all. One was a question I have struggled with for years: How can suddenlyLISTEN find new audience members? Our work is not easy listening; it’s not entertainment that draws large audiences historically, anywhere in the world. But for us to grow, even incrementally, we need to lure new people through our doors. How can we do this while not compromising our work? Good question.

The answer I came up with seems simple, but posed new questions: Collaborate with artists from different art forms. Okay, which one? In our 10 years of concert collaborations suddenlyLISTEN has worked with musicians, a poet, a video artist, and dancers. That leaves (amongst others I’m sure) other forms of visual arts and theatre arts.

The second thought was that through this effort to build, I still wanted to work with great performers like Karen Bassett, and low and behold she’s an actor, and an improviser too!

So Karen and I hatched the idea to improvise narrative and music as equal partners: with words inspiring music and music instigating narrative line! Do you think it’s even possible? WE DON’T KNOW!

Now THAT is the kind of risk taking I like. Let’s get started!

Over the summer, Karen had spent time with Sabastien Labelle and Theo Pitsiavas thinking and playing, with the idea of doing a show for Irondale Ensemble Project based on The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Karen and I decided to cooperate and put on a show born from themes from Dorian Gray that is full of both improvisation, exploration and narrative. Our hope is that this will inform Irondale’s play development and I’m confident that it will give an audience a great night out.

It’s a juicy book filled with atmosphere, decadence, magic and lots of thought on art and society. And I think it’s ripe for music as well, as instigator and underscore. So I chose some of our region's most versatile musicians: violinist Gina Burgess, woodwind player David Christensen and my old friend Lukas Pearse on bass. I think that together the four of us can create music that explores not only the themes we decide to look into, but the idiom and style and how they set a mood and a place for dramatic action. And I think we can make music that is powerful that our listening actors will be sent in new narrative directions.

So at our first rehearsal we did a lot of talking. We talked about structure: how much, how rigid, and the importance of it. We talked about pictures: foreground, middle and background, frames, and views. We talked about time: timing, durations, and eras. Our next phase will be to try some experiments and start to sift out what is important, what is interesting, what might be a bore, and what is fun for us to perform! Then we pick our favourite ideas and make pieces out of them eventually grouping them to make a show.

Dorian is our first project with Irondale Ensemble Project, it's our first show with actors, and it's the first one with such a concrete thematic base. A lot of firsts: Only our work together, and time will tell how this will come out and what our audience will witness at Halifax’s Bus Stop Theatre on November 15. But I’m pretty confident it will be rich, expressive and interesting to listen to. Stay tuned!

Better Late than Never: The new season!

2011-09-14T15:06:00.001-07:00

It’s that time of year again, and suddenlyLISTEN is finally ready to announce our 2011/12 season of concerts. We are now entering our second decade of presenting music that surprises, challenges and informs our audiences and our performers! The artists that join forces to create our concerts all believe that a great way to reflect our time is to compose in real-time! We all get our kicks, and make some great music together through cooperation, collaboration, exploration and listening. And that’s what you’ll hear at suddenlyLISTEN concerts: improvised chamber music created before your ears and eyes!

This season we are presenting holds perhaps the widest variety of concerts and artists yet!

The Main Series begins September 15^th at The Bus Stop Theatre with Hoarse Rattle featuring Isaiah Ceccarelli, drums and percussion; Arthur Bull, guitar and harmonica; and Norman Adams cello and processing. Isaiah represents the new generation of Montreal improviser. He has played with everyone on the Montreal scene and tours around the world. His music is rich, responsive and expressive. Arthur is a multifaceted Nova Scotian artist that creates poetry and visual art in addition to playing free with some of the world’s finest improvisers. He is one of those people that plays with total intention, with a gritty sound that harkens back to his blues roots. Hoarse Rattle will be full of that intention plus sonic explorations that will surprise us all!

November 15^th in Dorian, suddenlyLISTEN will be assembling Nova Scotia’s most versatile instrumentalists to work with three actors Form Irondale Ensemble Project to interact and create spontaneous narratives based on A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. We’ll create scenes and stories inspired by Wilde and informed and accompanied by spontaneous music! It will be a collaboration like no other in Nova Scotia. Norman Adams, violinist Gina Burgess of Gypsophelia, David Christensen, a multi-instrumental sideman to many, including Jenn Grant and Hawksley Workman, and Lukas Pearse an sL regular, as well as a frequent collaborator with pop, world music and experimental performers. These musicians will work with artists from the Irondale Ensemble Project: Karen Bassett and Theo Pitsiavas and Sebastien Labelle. Come to the Bus Stop and see the stories unfold!

February 26^th we will discover that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. In this concert, the cello/piano duo of Norman Adams and Tim Crofts will join with Spanner from St. John’s, Newfoundland. Spanner is Paul Bendza – woodwinds, and Rob Power – percussion. Spanner has played together each week at Memorial University for years, rehearsing and recording each session. They perform frequently in Newfoundland, and have released two truly compelling CDs. These two duos, both solid as individual units, will integrate to make a quartet full of musical fun and collective exploration. Come and hear the sum of its parts.

For the final Main Series concert of the 2011/12 season, Vox Latrina suddenlyLISTEN is presenting Canada’s most adventurous creative vocalists, as they tour Canada. Christine Duncan from Toronto and DB Boyko from Vancouver, are frequent collaborators. Together and separately they lead choirs, sing in ensembles, with instrumentalists and create and commission work. On May 12, this duo will collaborate with Norman Adams and guitarist Geordie Haley. As well they’ll do a special performance of Stall, Christopher Butterfield’s bathroom-specific vocal duo! Get ready for some real fun, in a bathroom near you!

Open Source is suddenlyLISTEN’s series of smaller shows at 1313 Hollis. These concerts allow audiences to listen to fresh music and get up close and personal with touring creative musicians. This fall suddenlyLISTEN will be presenting Circuit artist JP Carter from Vancouver on September 26^th. JP playing trumpet and electronics, will collaborate with Halifax’s finest musicians. October 8^th suddenlyLISTEN will partner with 1313 Hollis to present a double bill of Jerry Granelli’s 3 Form, plus Dragos/Diatribes a trio of electronic musicians from Switzerland. The very next week, sL will co-present Canada’s busiest progressive jazz band the Lina Allemano 4, from Toronto. As the season continues, more concerts will be added to this series, we’ve got some pretty cool plans developing too! Don’t miss any of these concerts, come get up close to some great music making.

2011/12 marks the 7^th season of the suddenlyLISTEN Improvisation Workshop. Alternating Monday evenings from September 19^th to May 2012, Norman Adams and Tim Crofts lead sessions for all musicians interested in making free improvised music, regardless of experience or musical ability. This workshop is a welcoming community of people eager to play and share listening based music. Come check it out.

Curating all of suddenlyLISTEN’s concerts is Norman Adams, an award-winning cellist, electronic musician and concert producer that is ready for anything! Through his work as a creative musician he has traveled across Canada and Europe, in addition to bringing the finest artists to Halifax for suddenlyLISTEN concerts for over ten years.

The Final Post from Mulhouse

2011-08-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

I'm a couple of days late on this, but here is my final post from The Meteo Mulhouse Festival. I'm now in London getting set for a show with Sebastian Lexer at Cafe OTO on Monday night.

If it wasn’t so damn hard I think I’d be a morning person. The trip to the Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg Airport was stress free, although it is Saturday, and I did start at 6 AM….I awoke to that boulangerie smell again, which was a nice exit from Mulhouse. It is much cooler today, last night’s rain killed the heat and now it is clear, still and much more comfortable, a beautiful morning for a bike ride….. This is quite an amazing airport with German French and English at play at all times, and a border crossing right in the middle, depending on which country you’re heading to.

All this calm gives me a nice opportunity to reflect on the past week. I heard more improvised music in one go than ever before. Some of which I liked and some of which I could do without, most of which I liked certain aspects of. Yesterday afternoon I heard Daunik Lazro on Bari sax and Isabelle Duthoit on clarinet, in an ancient, and of course hot chapel in Mulhouse. This was also a lean concert with lots of noise, and extended techniques, I liked it's minimal nature and again, the tenacity of it's performers, doing something very fragile and exposed and not giving into something comfortable! I saw the first two sets at last night’s concert: 6ix (with maybe the best name ever) was terrific in some ways, very interactive, yet with independence between players, and nice dynamics. The electronics of Thomas Lehn were especially noteworthy. It was one long piece, which I care less for, but I could hear divisions within, so it was okay. Sometimes the music was almost inaudible, which was unusual for the week, and for the space, but welcome! Next was the Ames Room, a trio with Guionnet, Thomas and an Aussie drummer. It was non-stop punk free jazz, with only one small interruption in the middle. The bassist played variations on two riffs so tenaciously that I ended up liking it! The music was driven by the drummer, who also played very repetitively, but with that great force and non-stop energy. How they found an ending is a mystery. It was loud, it was non-dynamic, it was repetitive, but it’s sheer force and energy appealed to me!

6ix, yes that IS a musical saw!

This week, I learned about what I like, and Joelle reminded me of, and taught me some of those characteristics that Speak to me. To quote JL, the music must be human (plucking at her arms when she says it). The music must have melody or fragments or at least one pitch leading to another, the music must have exchange between players (a conversation). It must be positive or affirming somehow (this is less clear), also rhythm is nice, but this is also open to confusion still. It has to express something or reflect something. I guess that’s why I liked the Ames guys, like it or not, they were saying something strong about the world!

But it wasn’t just the concerts that were inspiring. The playing of my fellow stagiares was fantastic. The level was so high, of listening, of technique (in some cases) and commitment. This music, whether influenced by JL or not, was music I like, and some of the performances were fantastic - Worth the price of admission. Our little concert was a really nice mélange of performances, especially Pascale’s solo made up of JL quotes! My contributions were mediocre, again I was stuck with some difficult partners. But I had nice comments afterward despite it.

Joelle? Well she’s earned the right to say whatever she wants about the music! And that’s what she did, a lot! Sometimes I agreed, and sometimes not. But she was always highly critical, which is interesting to hear. It is very easy to declare any music made in the moment as good, I mean, it was just made up!

At the bar after the concert JL went off on a tirade about how hard her life is, never getting a break, never getting to set a schedule. But when she heard 6ix that night, her light and smiling face showed her enjoyment and why she makes this music.

When she’s happy she’s really happy, when she’s mad, she’s really pissed! And that’s what her idea of music is: no half measures: You’re in, or you’re out! I'm in.

The Drive to the Finish!

2011-08-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

Now it’s Thursday and I’m falling behind in my writing! I got home at 12:30am and the schedule is super intense, with a potential concert to attend, every minute we’re not with JL.

So I’ve skipped the noon concert to play with Marco, an Italian bassist and do some decompression. There has been a lot to absorb here. JL’s opinions are so strong that it can be confusing. But I think I am understanding enough of what she says to appreciate her very individual point of view (that she preaches as gospel) and I think these passionate ideals are helping me to clarify my own! I may be wrong, but she believes music cannot be quiet as an ensemble, because that must be planned. She thinks minimalism is an exercise or an effect.

It seems like her years of experience have lead her past the aspects of improvisation that I find to be the real challenges: large groups playing free, interesting endings, the ability of the group to think as a community, etc; to knowing, thanks to her years of experience, what the outcomes will be: The large group will be chaos without time, or a conductor; the endings of pieces are usually quiet unless planned; The group must plan ahead to achieve a common sound, etc . SO where I like to keep trying, she has accepted the inevitable. I guess I‘d rather keep trying to hear that “ultimate large ensemble improvisation”! Maybe in 30 years I’ll “get the message”.

To JL music is freedom, jubilation, and life, and the result is reflected in all of our different personalities.

So I’m learning a lot here, I’m glad I’m a mature student, if I were any less experienced at this game, I think there is such a good chance that I’d be coerced into a single belief system when there might be many other possibilities.

Later this afternoon I get to go hear John Tilbury (with Keith Rowe) for the first time. He’s from the opposite side of the tracks from JL, the austere, exploring world of AMM and old English improv. He’s also my friend Sebastian’s teacher, which I think will be very enlightening! Also I get to hear Berlin Sound Connective and Axel Dorner!

Magda Mayas and Christine Abdelnour

Later…much later. This schedule is brutal! I just watch 4 concerts in a row, in 2 locations, after a full day with Joelle. Huge. And the concerts couldn’t have been more varied. We started on the top floor of a parking garage for a concert in the round. We were able to walk around the space to get different visual and sonic views. It was quiet and hot and peaceful music, with both pianists coming from a similar school of thought – lots of preparations and playing inside, sound was king! Magda Mayas is a very young artist, made some really beautiful sounds, compared to Tilbury, she was much more active inside literally drawing out a variety of sounds with strokes of her hands. Tilbury and Rowe played old school, with analog electronics and mostly lyrical chords on the keyboard, with a couple of ebows inside. The piece was very long, and we were all pretty sleepy, but the sounds were ever changing and so I remained awake and listening!

Later at Noumatrouff, we heard Berlin Sound Collective. Teriffic playing with loud analog reel to reel tape sounds! The quartet on stage was also processing on tape machines operated from the middle of the seats. When Jerome Noetinger played his electronics solo the lights dimmed on sage and lit up the speakers in the PA! Nice touch. The Axel Dorner played a quiet set with drums and analog electronics. He only ever played whooshes, and controlled his laptop with an interface to the instrument. I was pretty sleep at this point, but I loved the juxtaposition and similarities of the 2 sets of shows, loud and soft, and all focused on sound, as opposed to melody and rhythm. It’s quite wonderful to hear all this music.

The Master John Tilbury

The Hard Work

2011-08-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today I’m learning about the hard work of improvisation. I have been immersed in it for 3 days now, more than is usual for me. And the more I sit and listen and analyze what I hear, the more difficult it becomes to create something new without forcing something. I think it’s the same for everyone; we’re all wearing a bit thin….

Not a very good picture but a greg building!

This morning JL talked about rhythm and combining different rhythms and rhythmic relationships. Yesterday I played first, and it was a joy. This morning I didn’t play until last, so lots of music had been played by the time I had to join a group with another cellist and 2 basses. And it was a difficult quartet, with nobody really taking a lead, except for me, which is where I didn’t want to be! The first piece I tried to create an atmosphere (which I “thought” would be a different sound than we had heard so far in the day.) My idea didn’t seem to take on any steam, and I was kind of stuck trying to force things, and then it ended! “Ne pense pas!” she cried! “It is too sad”, “there was no joy, no life!” All true I guess, sorta. Trying to make something doesn’t work I’m finding. The second piece she liked, but I was not pleased with it, again I was left in the melodic role, where I didn’t have the energy to be and playing material I didn’t care for, but was stuck with!

So the work continues: How to instigate without risk? Impossible. How to create a new global sound without prior discussion with the band? Difficult, but not impossible. How to pull something out of my heart when the ears are overflowing? Whew!

As JL says “Improvisation is a great responsibility”!

This afternoon was a bit more laid back. We are admitting our weariness, certainly JL did. And I sure feel it!

This afternoon she talked about the concert I missed, (due to dropping from exhaustion and getting the start-time wrong) which was a clarinetist playing solo using a lot of alternate techniques and sound/noise. She hates that: It’s not human enough, not heart-felt, it was too “conceptual”. I think some of my fellow stagiares liked it though….

Then she talked about the roles of instruments in improvisation. If I’m correct I think she takes from the jazz world the belief that bass and drums should provide the rhythm (which she feels is essential especially in large group formations). I’m not sure I agree, I think any instrument can be a “bass” or “drum”. But she feels rhythm is the nature of those instruments.

The concert Wedesaday night was very interesting, held at a big rock club in the suburbs, we took a special shuttle bus from centre ville there, a 20 minute drive. The first band was from France and Sweden, called The New Song. They play jangly pieces with depressing lyrics, all sort of in the same timbre and volume. A little lke Bjork for a minute or to, and then back to twangy guitars! He came JL and Vincent Cortois, a cellist. This concert was quite amazing Cortois was a solid player with classical chops and a melodic attitude. They seemed to play as two intersecting islands, only occasionally intersecting but always with great affect. I felt like their communication improved as the show went on and Joelle got more and more theatrical, singing, talking, making gestures. Almost clown-like. But it made sense, she was in the moment and being herself! I believe she practices what she preaches, and that’s what I told her this morning!

Day 2

2011-08-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

I just read the brochure for these Stages: describing Joelle Leandre, it says: “Choosing Joelle Leandre is to admit it might be a bit tough, the lady does not flatter her audience but she knows exactly what she is talking about”

The ferocity of her teaching continues, and we were actually lost one of our stagiares this overnight! In general everyone takes Joelle’s (often repeated, and repeated) evaluations well. Some try to challenge or question her pronouncements but she never backs down. Some try to defend those being pushed, but she never stops pushing. In the end, we all laugh and take it well. I think we all understand that almost everything is a matter of opinion when it comes to improvisation! And indeed her passion for this work is what keep us going, and inspires us. When she says a piece was dull, it always was. When she says it’s brilliant, it really is!

I started off playing this morning, and had the overwhelming feeling of a cleansing as I improvised with 3 others at 9:30 or so. It was marvelous to play with such listeners!

Today Joelle talked about how the first impetus of a piece signals a character. And how important that judgment, or lack of judgment must be! (I’m learning a lot about contradictions too: think, don’t think; play, don’t play; repeat, don’t repeat) I guess that’s what happens when freedom rules the day.

We had a large group lunch at a weird Chinese restaurant, which went pretty late. I had a good conversation with young Gaspard our brilliant 13 year old, (about bikes of course!) He was very helpful with my verb tenses, and I actually feel less exhausted today than yesterday, and maybe a bit more confident in the language department.

There is now talk of a Stage concert. I’ll be interested to see how that goes!

Tonight was the first concert of the Festival, and one I was looking forward to. Especially because Dutch cellist, Ernst Reijseger (playing with some other people, but really….) is here. His recordings were my first examples of improvised cello playing. His virtuosity and wild approach are without compare I think, and I couldn’t wait to hear him for the first time live! I wasn’t disappointed. He plays so cleanly, every lightening fast note is solid and in tune, and it’s funky as hell! Tonight he was playing with a Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje and a Senegalese singer Mola Sylla, who made his entrance from one of the boxes in the first balcony. (May I take a moment to recognize the beautiful hall? It was perhaps the same interior footprint as the Dunn Theatre in Halifax, but 3 balconies high, and gorgeous!). The music was "worldy" in nature, but with elements of new jazz and free music. Reijseger played his 5-string cello like a guitar at times, ripping funky fills into the simple changes. And he could drum on it too, fantastic rhythms and sounds with total abandon. In the end it was a fun experience, fun for everyone, not just jazz or impro fans. Perhaps it wasn't the most profound music, but was fun! The second set was Bubbles and Bangs, a Swiss trio of voice, tuba and drums playing arrangements of pop tunes from Beatles’ Helter Skelter to Eminem! It was up and down for me, the theatre was super hot and it was getting late…the show started at 8 and ended at 11:30! Oy

PS. I awoke at 4am to the overwhelming aroma of baking bread! I love France!

Improv Boot Camp!

2011-08-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

The Conservatoire, ours is at the top, the one with the windows wide open!

The first day is finished, and boy is my brain tired!

The group a the workshop number 15 - 4 bassists, 4 cellists, a trombone, clarinet, various wind instruments, a 15 year old drummer, and 3 vocalists. There are some really, really great players here! There are a couple of weaker ones, but the level is generally very high. Each of us is referred to by instrument name only.

I would like to preface all of this by sharing that I have never “studied” improvisation in any structured way. So instruction on what works and what is required in an improvisation is a real novelty (and in a language other than English? Totally new!).

The structure of today was very much like our suddenlyLISTEN workshops: Joelle chooses ensembles of 2 – 5 play, to play shortish pieces and she comments. Usually we play again after her talk.

But there the similarities end! I believe that Ms Leandre holds a passion that is comparable only to a great white shark with a tasty seal in her mouth (but perhaps with more intensity!). Her comments are peppered with musical examples that she sings (always in the correct pitch as what was played) she tends to give an example, and then give 17 more right after (which is quite challenging to translate) she speaks very quickly, and she can YELL! Sometimes for quite a while! She is analyzing and criticizing us stagiares with the same vigor an (old school) classical instrumental teacher would. You had better not play too loud, play too soft, not play at all, miss an ending, miss a crescendo, or stand wrong! All aspects of the music are open to her analysis and we heard a wide variety of comments on: responsibility to a group, individuality, density, variation, development, lack of development, endings, adding a voice to the ensemble, and much more. It’s a bit of a blur.

She talks about intent, responsibility and the work of improvisation. Work is playing the music well, but also playing the music at all! (being an improviser isn’t a walk in the park, there’s a lot of resistance and poverty to face!)

She calls improvisers a trilogy: improviser, composer and musician (when she says musician I think she means “listening, engaged, musical person)

It’s very inspiring and exciting to get to listen to players for the first time, knowing they’re playing together for the first time, not knowing what is expected of them! It’s the first time my bow has ever shaken while improvising!

It’s right down my alley. It’s the leap off into the unknown that I love, with an added layer of risk of humiliation. All in a language, and at a speed that makes me wonder whether I’m getting the order to jump straight or not!

Three of us, hard at work

17 hours later.....

2011-08-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

It is almost noon here in Basel and my cello and suitcase are in Frankfurt still. I’ve decided to stay and wait for them as Swissport couldn’t guarantee delivery until tomorrow. I just have to wait until 2, so time for my first grande café!

The air is different the languages are varied and I really notice the scent of perfume!

And internet is hard to find.

But I’ve found it now, in Mulhouse! I had to pay for it though....which seems pretty common, the only free wi-fi seemed to be outside a MacDonalds...

I took a walk around the old part of Mulhouse this evening, ate Strasbourgeois sausage and had a blanche beer at an outdoor café in the town square. It’s a great old part of the city with lots of old buildings, curvy alleys and pedestrian streets lined with shops.I also picked up a brochure for Meteo Mulhouse, and was reminded how little I planned for this trip. Because I get to see an armload of great concerts! Joelle Leandre of course, Barry Guy, John Tilbury, Ernst Reisjiger, Axel Dorner, Keith Rowe, Ignaz Schick…whew.

I can’t wait to start listening.

Tomorrow is the first day of the stages, my cello has finally arrived, and I’m pumped! I'm loving Europe.

Nice Streets

The canal that runs in front of Central Station

electric rental bikes...mmm bikes...

The Big Trip

2011-08-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

There’s something about old school country music to give the atmosphere of “being on the road”. That and Brylcreem. Both were subtly represented as our stylin’ Acadian Lines bus driver navigated us through the gray and drowsy Island early morning. It was an appropriate start to an approximately 30-hour trip that will deposit me in France tomorrow afternoon.

This trip will be centered on Meteo Mulhouse, a longstanding festival of exploratory music in Mulhouse, near Basel Switzerland. I’m flying blind on this one, not really having any connection to the place, other than them accepting my application to one of their “Stages”, with French bassist Joelle Leandre. Nova Scotia Communities Culture and Heritage sponsored my trip through a professional development grant. It’s all part of the master plan to get to Europe each year to play music, develop more contacts there so that when I am there, I can get some concerts, and to learn more French!

It will be interesting. The Stages in only in French, so the immersion will be in full force, the concerts will be free, so I’ll get to hear some music, and I’ll get to work with Joelle Leandre. I have met her once during a Skype conversation about coming to Halifax to play for suddenlyLISTEN. Form that brief encounter I can tell you she is force of nature - There is a certain intensity at play there for sure! These are the kind of people I like, so I look forward to having my playing challenged and my ideas about music sounds like, expanded!

I’ll keep you posted on things as they develop! Watch this space.

Now I’ve got to go download some Loretta Lynn or something. A little dab’ll do ya!

The Revisers Open Ears in Wolfville

2011-07-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

When I was approach by Robert Uchida to lead an Improvisation workshop at Acadia in July, I was terrified and at the same time, knew it was the right thing to do.

For a long time I’ve been avoiding trying to figure out how to integrate improvisation into a traditional classical music pedagogy. It seems like a no-brainer for me, but instead of taking the time to think about how to accomplish this I simply avoided teaching wholesale! Simple.

Acadia Summer Strings Festival, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, directed by Robert, is a camp that typified what I thought of as a highly traditional summer course: classic repertoire, string quartets, technical exercises. But then I was asked to be on the faculty. And to be honest I found the first year completely stimulating. It was amazing to revisit some of those traditional values, and actually celebrating it. I guess I added something different to the faculty, and I certainly was happy to work and play with the kids, play chamber music with the faculty and just teach 24/7!

So I was forced out of my complacency when Robert suggested I lead a workshop this year. “Embrace being thrust into areas of discomfort”, I always give this advice, but hardly ever get a chance to test it anymore…..Out I went. But first I thought a lot about what might work with judgmental youth! Where did I start? How do you initiate this kind of work, without frightening them off?

The day arrived, (the second night of the camp - making it harder….) the circle of chairs was set up, the kids and Robert arrived with instruments. Robert opened things up, with a personal story about music outside the comfort zone, then I launched into my piece. I talked a bit about how I began in this music, and how I think it affects my classical playing: how it helps my listening, sharpening things so I can react immediately, and how it lets me play with musicians from other disciplines. Then we started to play: starting with quartets of kids “paraphrasing” a piece of written music: “don’t play the notes, play something like the notes” – mild discomfort, with a few played out. Then to different quartets plucking only a few pre-chosen notes. This got a better reaction. We talked about what sounded good and what didn’t; next new sounds “what sound have you never made on your instrument?” Some thought this was fun, Maeve, our youngest camper, immediately slapped her strings with one of her pink Converse Chuck Taylors! Much to our shock. I pointed out that the same sound can be achieved by slapping the strings with the palm of the hands, with less chance of instrumental destruction. Some laughed, some scratched their strings, others tried to play unusual parts of their instruments. (We’re getting places…) Next we droned on D. People were asked to play out of the drone, making melodies, but always returning to D. This worked because those that weren’t getting it could be safe in the D, and those that wanted to explore could. They found a beautiful ending which turned some heads! Finally we played Pauline Oliveros’ “Tuning Meditation”, a bit of a standard, for work like this. This became quite beautiful, as each person alternated between improvising and tuning with one other sound. The ending was gorgeous and people smiled. Robert was impressed, as were some of my colleagues on the faculty. I felt great, mostly because I heard some voices emerge, there were some kids that got this music. I guess I could have told you who the possibilities would have been ahead of time, but it was so gratifying to hear them discover a sort of music for the first time. It was profound actually!

As we walked up the hill after the class, I was asked to present some music at the final “Highlights” concert. I suppressed my excitement and told Robert I’d ask for volunteers.

We gathered in my room at Denton Hall: Becky the cellist, Hannah the violist, our violinists Sarah, Shelby, Rebecca, and of course Maeve, arrived. At first we talked about structure, and in our first meeting, we made no music at all. But we had a great exchange of ideas, with everyone heard and every possibility considered. We decided to take some of the material from the workshop: sounds, drones and pizzicato. And silence. We fell into this principal of equality without me mentioning it. Things were looking good. In our second meeting, we played sections of our structure. The pizzicato was good there was listening there, people had patience, waiting for the right moment, and they didn’t always follow the rules! Sometimes a little rebellion is good. When we got to the drones section, I lost it. Sarah came in with a melody that was so heartbreakingly beautiful it completely overwhelmed me. Maybe it was the freshness of the experience for them, maybe it was the listening, perhaps the newness of this music made them listen better. I don’t know, but as I wiped my tears out of my eyes, I encouraged them to play different characters in the drone section next time! We could too easily be seduced by that beauty!

We crammed another rehearsal in the day of the concert. We played through the form and came out with about 5 minutes. It was great. I aked what the name of the band was and Maeve immediately chimed up with “The Revisers”. Also great! We did a dress rehearsal in University Hall, a large old hall with a beautiful sound. We talked about dynamic range a bit, and lengths of silences a bit, but The Revisers were ready!

The concert itself was a display of terrific music making. All the kids listened, really listened. They made choices that were musical, they showed restraint, patience and guts! It was all I could have dreamt for. Rebecca, playing out, breaking the mold; Hannah quietly adding perfect underpinnings, and duets; Shelby, calling and responding across the group, Becky, making foundation, room for people to play; Sarah making melodies that move us, while injecting extended techniques that created great colours; and of course Maeve, who although still wearing her pink sneakers, managed to keep them on her feet, while throwing in sounds that made the music change directions, colouring the whole piece!

The Revisers, what an ensemble. Robert has thrown his directorial weight behind this exploratory music, and so we will do another improvisation workshop next year! And next year it will be different, of course, but I can see the possibility of a real change in our music here in Nova Scotia. I have been given the opportunity introduce this to serious musicians at an early age. They won’t all get it or even enjoy it, but they’ll hear a little of the magic that improvised music makes. And a few might get a chance to experience that power first hand.

This year we all heard a LOT of that magic, made not by sleight of hand but by listening, cooperation, musicality and heart. Thank you Revisers!

Ten Things to love about our Tenth Season

2011-06-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

1. Our PEI debut! Played our first concert on PEI at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, when Norm and Lukas Pearse joined Raphael Arsenault as he travelled through on a Circuit tour.

2. Martin and D’Arcy! We celebrated our first Main Series concert Spin with Montreal icon Martin Tétreault, an artist I’ve been planning to bring to Halifax for years. Putting him together with D’Arcy Gray and me, made a concert that an audience member described as ”Scratchy!”

3. Pui Ming! We brought Lee Pui Ming and Erin Donovan back to recreate the trio I loved so much in 2004. The passion of the Pui Ming’s music makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

4. Circuit! suddenlyLISTEN is proud to be a founding presenter of Circuit concerts. These tours have brought Halifax some terrific musicians: Ken Aldcroft, and Nilan Perera, from Toronto, and this year Ellwood Epps from Montreal, and Chris Dadge from Calgary. Even more importantly it has made suddenlyLISTEN a member of an increasingly active national and international network of musicians. I get emails frequently now from artists, looking to add Halifax to their tour. Often we are happy to oblige! Even Parker was a great example of this, and next year, new surprises will abound!

5. Evan Parker! Wow I can still hear that solo piece. Circuit offered us with the opportunity of presenting Mr. Parker in Halifax. He is a legend, and deservedly so. One of the hardest working musicians I know and in top form at over 70 years of age.

6. Workshop Xmas benefit. The workshop played a benefit for Medcines Sans Frontieres in December. It's so great to be able to give back a bit for all the support we receive, and to think beyond our own borders a bit.

7. Gerry Hemingway! Wow, this was some of the most satisfying work I've done for sL ever. Tim Crofts, Lukas Pearse and I had 4 days to play and work and hang out with Gerry. It was like music camp for us. We could ask any question, discuss music and the history of free jazz and free music. When we rehearsed he wordlessly taught us so much about our trio and our individual playing. But when we performed Having Wandered This Far, we were equals. We've listened to the recordings we made and are really pumped about the music we are going to able to release, for you all to enjoy!

8. Transitory. We commissioned Sandy Moore to create Transitory, a site-specific flashmob. We assembled a cast of about 75 to perform the piece at Stanfield International Airport. We blew some minds of audience members, and expanded musical possibility for 52 boys from the Halifax Boys Honour choir. Thanks Sandy for your huge undertaking! Transitory was so much fun for me partially because so much if it was created and rehearsed by others. I could just stand back and enjoy the performances and watch the expressions on people's faces as this music unfolded in front of them!

9. The sL workshop met 18 times this year, welcomed some new members and had some great adventures together! We had four evenings collaborating with dancers thanks to Kinetic Studio and Sheilagh Hunt. And we finished the year playing a Cornelius Cardew score (something I think well do more of next season). Tim and I had a great time giving our friends a chance to play music together, and we learned a lot along the way too. The workshop is the core of suddenlyLISTEN. These folks are our best friends, and our biggest fans.

10. PO and IO! I was personally rewarded to bring Pauline Oliveros and Ione back to Halifax. Musicians we are deeply connected to their teachers and PO is one my most important ones. She introduced the power of conscious listening to my music making and showed me a music that has become my voice! Playing Oceans Deep with them both reminded me about how they command the performance space during a concert. Together we created a whole world that is sound and expression and connection. It is a wonderful place that I try to revisit in every performance! Pauline’s energy and positive attitude at 80 years is awesome. It was such an honour to have them both here.

What a season and a fitting celebration of our ten years. We got to revisit our history, and forged new ground for our music and the organization. We have many people and funders to thank too, the musicians, our board, our donors, Nova Scotia Communities, Culture and Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts. Without these and many other people, suddenlyLISTEN wouldn't be here. But we are, and we have more plans for next year. We are in the midst of figuring that out right now! Rest assured that 2011/12 is going to be fun, with another adventure and surprise filled variety of creative music for you to enjoy! Stay tuned, and see you in the fall.

Some Props to Symphony Nova Scotia!

2011-05-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

I shall pause in the promotion of suddenlyLISTEN's final concert Ocean's Deep (Friday, May 20) featuring Pauline Oliveros, and Pauline's Deep Listening Intensive (May 21) (more information here), to write of things symphonic.

The end of the season at Symphony Nova Scotia tends to be a rather intense time, so as a result this is a little late coming, but a big congratulations to Symphony Nova Scotia and Bernhard Gueller for their commission and programming of Derek Charke's Symphony #1 - Transient Energies. We played 3 performances of this new work in Halifax and Lunenburg NS, April 7, 9 and 10. It was an amazing concert, partially because Derek's piece was coupled with Brahms' Violin Concerto, (debatably one of the great works for violin and orchestra) which was masterfully performed by our concertmaster Robert Uchida.

Okay, so it's nothing new to commission a piece, orchestras do it all the time, well some of the time.... they feel like it's "important to perform the work of living composers", or "of local composers", or "of developing composers." It's sort of a responsibility like eating sweet potatoes or flossing your teeth.

Derek Charke

But what happened here in Halifax became an important artistic statement: Mr. Gueller and SNS commissioned Derek Charke, (an albeit almost local, but also internationally acclaimed composer that lives in Nova Scotia) to composer a major piece, not an overture or a filler piece, but a symphony! In classical music culture, a symphony is big time, it's the heart of a concert, a major piece of music. Derek's piece clocked in at over 40 minutes. Not that size matters, of course, his piece was well thought out, taking the listener on a real sonic journey enhanced by programatic images, which followed a traditional sort of compositional arch. He also incorporated electronic sounds, which fed the listener with new sounds, sometimes adding to the programatic idea, and sometimes so processed that they were recognizable only as sounds, adding to and complimenting to the orchestral sound.

But I digress, I'm not writing this to review the piece, frankly I was playing and didn't have the ideal seat to hear the piece as a whole! I want to impress upon you the profundity of these concerts: Bernhard took a huge artistic risk by programming only two pieces on this concert. The show could have supported a light overture, some piece of fluff by Rossini or Lehar, sure but artistically it didn't need more music! And in programming only the two mammoth pieces, Bernhard did the right thing. He didn't apologize for the new piece or try to disguise it (How could you really? Like hiding an elephant under the rug!) He laid it out there, and with the Brahms Violin Concerto! Courageous and wonderful programming!

It's a concert I'd like to go and hear.

So thank-you Bernhard, first of all: For taking big chance, and then following through with an appropriate amount of rehearsal time, giving this new work your total attention! It is a surprisingly rare quality in a conductor and Berhard has it - total dedication to each piece of music we play. We are so lucky to get to work with leadership like this.

Second to Symphony Nova Scotia for not talking Bernhard out of this plan! When was the last time a Canadian orchestra commissioned a 40 minute symphony? I can't think of it. It was a risk for the organization too, but I believe real art doesn't come without some (or hopefully even great) risk! It's easy to do things risk free, but it isn't quite as fun. This was big and I feel great that our organization had the vision to follow through with this.

To the players of SNS: It's awesome that we could throw ourselves into such a challenge and emerge stimulated and artistically charged it. We played great I think.

To Derek for your ears and imagination! For hearing how this would sound in your head and putting on paper for us to bring to life. It was a terrific experience, an honour.

Oh, and to the CBC who co commissioned the piece and broadcast the premiere of Transient Energies. Look for it on concerts on demand!

And of course the Canada Council for the Arts, for funding the co-commissioning of the piece. I onece sat on a Canada Council commissioning jury, I know how competitive that programme is, wow!

Oh and please remember that suddenlyLISTEN show, May 20!

Evan Parker in Halifax

2011-04-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

It was like a waterfall: constant streamings of sound. And in the streams, jewels would pop out. My ear would be drawn to the jewels and I’d listen. Then, I realize there was a repetition, and then a pattern, and then a melody developing out of this torrent of sound!

The waterfall continued, as waterfalls do, and the melody became a series of variations, born by chance or by design, but always developing, becoming more powerful, fuelled by a creative fire.

I was deep inside the waterfall, the acoustics of the room allowed me to feel like the sound was raining over me. The depth of listening needed to envelope myself in this high speed torrent became too much for me; I had to remove myself, take a step back. And then I’d realize I should go back in, I needed to go back in because I knew this music was a once in a lifetime experience I shouldn’t miss.

In I went again and the sonic world was as beautiful and as complex as it was before, but different and still evolving.

I didn’t want it to end.

When the piece finally concluded, after over 20 minutes of constant sound I was stunned with what we had all experienced. And everyone in the room knew they had shared in a rare moment of artistic mastery, a rare and special musical experience.

Tranistory April 16th, 2011

2011-04-17T08:46:00.001-07:00

Transitory was a great success! I love that fact that these projects cannot really fail. The improbability of assembling such a diverse cast of players, the experience that they receive, and that the support crew, the videographers and sound recordists, received. And the surprise and delight and even consternation on the faces of the unsuspecting and expectant audience members guarantees a successful outcome!

BUT the performances were amazing too. Icing on the cake. The boys choir sang beautifully, Vianney Aubreght was an awesome ringleader, the percussionists from Dalhousie locked the rhythm, and the parade of improvisers from the suddenlyLISTEN workshop added a layer of groove and surrealism to the whole package! People were smiling, and looking confused and surprised and clapping along, a few even joined in!

Most importantly though, people experienced something: Sandy Moore got a huge artistic challenged that he met with his usual joy and wonder. The Halifax Boys Honour Choir got a completely new performance experience that involved collaborating with others, learning new techniques for making sound and singing in a new venue. The kids from The Centre for Arts and Technology who added SO much to this, got a real challenge in capturing the sites and sounds of the performance and the audience and will have an even bigger challenge to cut it all together and show us a final video! Oh and the Airport got to show their customers that art can happen there, and that community can exist within the walls of a building that is often perceived as cold.

So thanks go out to Peter Spurway and Sherrie Clow from Stanfield International Airport. They turned us down at first, and then on a hunch I went back to them almost a year later, and they saw the possibilities I saw. Thanks to Sandy Moore for accepting suddenlyLISTEN’s commission, bringing Vianney on board, taking on so many of the organizational chores, facing his challenges with a light heart and of course making a great piece. Thanks to Vianney for working with the boys so well, and having the enthusiasm that turns young musician’s cranks! Thanks the Pam Burton and Earl Leslie from the Halifax Boys Honour Choir for embracing our crazy scheme and giving so much of the choir’s time in an always busy season. HBHC is a great program: well run, with spectacular musical results, if I could count the number of times I had tears in my eyes at their performances……And of course thanks to the boys and their parents who throw all their energy into all of the choirs activities. Thanks to D’Arcy Gray from Dal Music for finding Clare and Donald who came in at the last minute to anchor the groove for the choir. A special thanks to the students and staff (Thor and Tony) of the Centre for Arts and Technology they came onboard with flexibility and enthusiasm, we can't wait to see the finished video! Thanks to the members of the suddenlyLISTEN Improv Workshop whose musicality and presence made it a better performance, and an even better sounding one as well! Thanks to MJ MacLeod who added another layer of organization to the whole (lord knows Sandy and I are not the most organized at times…) we needed her.

Of course suddenlyLISTEN thanks to Nova Scotia Communities Culture and Heritage who shared our vision and supported both the commission and production of the Transitory project, and support suddenlyLISTEN throughout the year for all our activities.

And finally thanks to Barbara Richman who has supported suddenlyLISTEN for 10 years and who brainstormed the vision for Transitory late in the evenings of February 2010! We had a great time building the concept for the project, and picturing the finished project together. It was great to have her there for the performances yesterday!

So now on to Evan Parker! Tuesday the 19^th, don’t miss it!

This is a fun job

2011-04-15T05:37:00.000-07:00

Transitory is tomorrow, and it is evolving into a collaboration even richer than I could have imagined!

I pictured Transitory as a project that I could share with many performers, and most importantly with Sandy Moore our composer. Well the sharing has happened and we are ready to go (well as ready to go as you can be without a rehearsal in a very complicated performance space!!)

Sandy Moore has poured himself into this project totally: He’s been working along with beatboxer Vianney Aubrecht with the Halifax Boys Honour Choir for the last 2 months. My boys say they’ve been having a great time! As well he’s brought the Centre for Arts and Technology, where he is a faculty member, onboard in a big way. Students from CAT will be capturing audio and video and cutting it all together into a complete video of some kind! I think there’s going to be 3 or 4 audio and 9 or 10 video recorders! Wow.

suddenlyLISTEN has wrangled 10 of our finest improvising instrumentalists from the Improv Workshop. They’ll be doing what they do best in parallel and in concert with the choir.

It’s going to be really fun. AND it’s turning into a complete realization of what suddenlyLISTEN is all about: musical adventure, collaboration, community, and listening. I couldn’t be more pleased, and the show hasn’t even happened.

I’ll write a review on Sunday. See you there!

2011-03-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

suddenlyLISTEN’s 10th season wraps up with great concerts and events

It’s hard to believe that we’re approaching the conclusion of our 10th season. It’s been amazing so far, with great concerts and experiences for our musicians and audiences! And there is more to come - This newsletter will let you know about some of the great events still coming up this spring.Please read on and see what we have in store for you! See you at the shows

Evan Parker is widely acknowledged as "one of the music's greatest living instrumentalists" (The Times), "one of the world's finest ensemble improvisers" (Chicago Reader) and "

one of the modern era's most original voices" (The Wire).

Open Source 4

Evan Parker – saxophone
7pm, Tuesday April 19, 2011

Studio 21 Fine Art

1223 Lower Water Street

$20 and $10 at the door

The chance for us to get present Evan Parker came up this past winter. Mr Parker is finishing a giant (by new music standards) Canadian tour, right here in Halifax, and we are excited and honoured to give him a place to play his truly original music here. Evan will play a solo set and then he’ll be joined by some of Halifax’s most exciting free musicians. They are pretty pumped for this, so it’s going to be great!

"Through Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening I finally know what

harmony is.... It's about the pleasure of making music."

John Cage 1989

Main Series 4

Ocean’s Deep – EHRES featuring Pauline Oliveros

8pm, Saturday May 20, 2011

Saint Matthews United Church

1479 Barrington Street

$20 and $10 at the door

Pauline Oliveros and EHRES is one of the most enduring collaborations originated by suddenlyLISTEN. Since 2006, when they were first presented here in Halifax, they have performed and recorded together regularly, most notably at the 2008 Lincoln CentreOutdoor Festival, in New York City. EHRES is Pauline O playing her accordion linked the EIS processing system, Ione, weaving magical stories into the mix, Norman Adams playing cello, and live processing and John DS Adams creating sound from a table covered with analog signal processors. Together they feed all their sounds into an immersive 8 channel sound system, and back to each other allowing processing of themselves and each other. It’s a web that is as complex as it is rewarding for audiences, creating a magical world where words and sounds meet and become one.

Transitory, an airport flashmob!

Approximately 3pm and 3:30pm,

Saturday April 16, 2011

Stanfield International Airport, Halifax

In March 2010, we were looking for a project that could be a real celebration of the past 10 years of suddenlyLISTEN. The idea of art emerging in unexpected places, and touching an unsuspecting audience is a powerful one, so sL decided a flashmob was the way to go! We have commissioned Sandy Moore to compose a score that embraces improvisation, location and community. So far we’ve scoped out the spaces at the airport, we’ve enlisted a bunch of percussionists, members of the sL Improvisation Workshop and Sandy has taken a beatboxer into rehearsals with the Halifax Boys Honour Choir! We can’t wait to hear and experience these performances! I know it’s not in the spirit of flashmob to tell you about this piece, but you won’t want to miss this very special event.

Other News

On April 9, 2011, Andrew Danson Danushevsky, Brandon Auger and Jim D’Ambrogi (all regular attendees of the sL Improv Workshop) will present Final Moments, a concert at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, admission is only $10 and only 30 tickets are available, so get there early!

The Improv Workshop continues on alternating Mondays at 7:30 pm at 1313 Hollis Street, The next session is April 4th. All are welcome. The atmosphere is super relaxed and you can sing or play any instrument, you like. Just come and make music!

suddenlyLISTEN’s annual fundraising campaign is underway, if you’d like to donate to help us in our activities, we would deeply appreciate it, and you receive a tax receipt!

As always we gratefully acknowledge the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage and The Canada Council for the Arts for their ongoing support.

I can’t stop writing!

2011-03-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

It’s grant season and I’m enjoying the writing more than ever this year. I’ve had a few days in the last couple of weeks where I could give undivided attention to chronicling suddenlyLISTEN’s past, and introducing our 11/12 season - plus editing, adding, swapping words and generally enjoying the giant puzzle that is clarifying ideas. I may not be gifted in the spoken word, but I do love to write and rewrite until Nirvana is reached (in the case of the Canada Council Nirvana in six pages in a font point no smaller that 11!).

So now I’m between edits, waiting for my generous, suportive, super experienced and highly demanding grant helper to do some reading, and send me a new edit with a thousand suggestions!

I’m working on three applications at the same time: one special project and Canada Council Operating (the six pager).

The Special Project is The Cello of Mr O, an idea I’ve been working on for 5 years! It’s been a labour of love that I’ve shared with many friends and fellow artists for sure. And I’ve seen rejections letters in the mailbox, and many a deadline go by feeling guilty for not getting it together to submit too. I’ve recently gotten back in touch with Jane Cutler, the book’s author. She is most enthusiastic and I’m honoured to have the inspiration of such a great piece of kid’s literature, and the support of such a wonderful woman! The story is about a little girl, her experiences in wartime, and her friendship with Mr O an old cellist who lives across the hall. It’s a story about hardship and the power of music and it makes me happy and sad each time I read it. Go out and buy it. And then come to our show, in about a year! I’m working with Steve Naylor on the music part, and we’ll have all sorts of fun programming Max and Jitter as we get past the funding and deeper into the final creation.

This time I think we’re getting it right. Steve has already received a commission from suddenlyLISTEN through the N.S. Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, (many thanks to them!) so we are underway! Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile I guess I’d better stop writing and remember that I’m a mild mannered cellist in real life, and go and woodshed some notes out of the big stack of symphony music on my stand. Back to multitasking…..

We Have Wandered Pretty Far.....

2011-01-28T13:02:00.001-08:00

Having Wandered This Far featuring Gerry Hemingway, Tim Crofts, Norm Adams, and Lukas Pearse is right around the corner. It is cornerstone concerts such as this that make me think that suddenlyLISTEN has been around in my head or on paper or in concert halls for 10 years. Hard to believe but we have wandered along pretty well, with the help of trusting and trustworthy artists, generous governments, and a lot of sweat and equity from me and a few others.

We've just kept going because I've woken up each day thinking about it amongst the many other things I think about (our boys, Sue, bikes, Mendelssohn, coffee). And its something I'm really proud of.

It is most exciting to be able to email Gerry Hemingway and have him show up! Well he hasn't

showed up yet, but he will (I think) tomorrow. It was Tim's idea, in January 2010 I said "who should we get to perform on our next CD, dream big" and he said "Gerry Hemingway". And the rest is about to be history. We have been around long enough and have worked with enough people and have access to enough money to get the biggest guys and girls in the business to come to Halifax!

So as we have wandered, we have built up a reputation for Halifax and sL as a real deal place to go. That makes me feel good because I love it here and I've always believed that great art can happen anywhere, not just giant centres.

So the shows are coming up! Tuesday and Wednesday nights at The Presbyterian Church of Saint Davids. We'll be recording both nights and if we're happy with the music we make, we'll eventually release a recording of them. I hope you can come to one or both nights. It's going to encapsulate all that I've been working for these last ten years - great musicians cooperating to make new music that expresses today, right now.

More information on the show is here.

January 2011? What?

2011-01-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

So it’s New Years, And my resolution is to write more in this blog. I actually just made that up, which is an indication of just how “stream of consciousness” I seem to be. Scary. No really I do want to write more, it helps put some perspective on things, and even a little clarity on what we're trying to do each week.

So I’m staring down the pipe of a busy winter, I’ve just got Gerry Hemingway’s plane reservations together for late January, and Lukas and I have made a plan for the recording we’re doing. Those concerts are February 1 and 2 at The Presbyterian Church of Saint David, on Grafton Street.

Oh yeah, I’ve started promotions for that show too, even though it’s a very busy four-concert week! (one chamber, one orchestral, one solo and one improvy chamber!) (Make sure to check out the new incarnation of the Open Waters Festival Jan 6 – 8, that’s where most of this is happening)

So please keep your eyes and ears open for suddenlyLISTEN. Surf on over to the still new website, (join our mailing list, if you’re not on it already!)(Or let me know how much you love being on the mailing list, or ask to get off of it if it drives you crazy and keeps you home on concert nights) then to the Facebook group where I put up links and notices, (Feeling like a joiner? You can join that too while you’re there…) We’ve got very exciting things on the go for 2010/11 Part Two!

In lieu of writing more, I’d like to celebrate the year so far with some pictures! They are possibly worth a thousand words. More thoughts will follow, I promise.

Until then, drop me line, and Happy NewYear too!

Overlap Time!

2010-11-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

It’s that crazy overlap time of year. The snow has made it’s first appearance, which means December is approaching, which means my schedule, or at least my mental demands will soon lighten, which means February is almost here, which mean I have to start thinking about NEXT season!

“But I’m still in the middle of THIS season!” the haggard Artistic Director cries out into the soggy night.

“Yes indeed, you are” says Fate (also known as our generous funding bodies), “but get your brilliant ideas together and get them down on paper, ‘cause the deadline is just around the corner”.

“Oh, woe!” says I. “I’m still trying to keep all the balls in the air, I can’t handle any more!”

“Whatever” sez Fate.

So here I am again, adding to the juggle, overlapping this year and next. Before you get all sympathetic and worried about my mental health, be comforted, I’m feeling good this year; I got a couple of my brilliant ideas in late summer! So really it will just be the transcription of these ideas from my brain into concise and exciting prose, impressing Fate and ensuring the continuance of our work, that will be necessary! No sweat.

But this tale of challenge and the sweat of my brow, leads me to give you a little heads-up on what exciting ideas I had about a year ago! Maybe you don’t know about this stuff yet…..

So we have some amazing concerts coming up, you can see that info on the website: Gerry Hemingway, only about the greatest creative drummer out there, will be playing a recording with me, Tim Crofts and Lukas Pearse for our second CD. We are pretty excited about that. That’s in early February. And in May, Pauline Oliveros will return to play with EHRES (PO, Ione, John DS Adams and me). Pauline is one of the true innovators, creating some of the first electronic music, working with the pioneers like Cage, playing with many of the important figures of this century and the last, and inventing Deep Listening which she has practiced, and surrounded herself and her students with for decades. She’ll play a concert with EHRES, and give a half day Deep Listening Intensive to members of the public. Anyone and everyone will be welcome to this, and I encourage you to experience Pauline’s teaching. Your ears may get turned right around, and your ideas about music may be irrevocably changed! I hope they do, mine were!

Okay that’s the stuff you know about. The exciting things you don’t know about include a flash mob and a telematic project that links students from here to California to Taipei, Taiwan!

Okay, that one first: Last season, you may remember suddenlyLISTEN assembled three cellists from Nova Scotia who played in real time with Chris Chafe a cellist and pioneer of telematic music, (music that is shared between far flung locations through the institutional internet, called the Canerie Network, here in Canada). That was cool, we had crystal clear sound with next to zero delay, and we shared a nice concert across 4000 or so kilometers. This year I’m giving it to students. I’m connecting music students from Halifax to others at Stanford and (get this) the National Taiwan Normal University! The back-story to this is I asked Chris Chafe, who is a professor at Stanford University, to help me connect to somebody really far away for this. He said “how about Taiwan”. He has an ex-student on the composition faculty there, who is familiar with this work and is ready to go! I’m totally excited; Taiwan is really, really far from Halifax - Like 13 hours of time difference! I don’t even know how we’re going to schedule this concert! But we will, and audiences will hear new music played by students that have collaborated entirely online, facing the challenges of distance while taking advantage of bleeding edge technology to do it. As Chris Chafe said last season at our concert: “All the people doing this work are astronauts, exploring undiscovered territory”. So up, up and away we go! This concert will be held at Dalhousie University’s MacAloney Room at the Dal Arts Centre on January 14^th. The time is not yet confirmed, due to those time zone implications, so I’ll keep you posted on that. I can’t wait to hear what the students can come up with!

The second special project is even more up in the air (on several levels, as you will soon see). suddenlyLISTEN is commissioning Nova Scotian composer Sandy Moore to create an all new flash-mob piece to be performed in a large public space this spring! Sandy will have a grand palette of musicians at his disposal include the Halifax Boys Honour Choir, the Dalhousie New Music ensemble and a mish mash of Halifax’s finest musicians, surprising and delighting you when you least expect it! This piece is the major celebration of suddenlyLISTEN’s 10^th anniversary, and will be taking place in April 2011. The location is still being negotiated, but it will be big, trust me! I’ll keep you posted.

Now back to new ideas! This is meeting week, to hash some details and brainstorm with people. Fun, fun, fun. Fate will hopefully be pleased!

...because the music has to be played....

2010-10-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

There’s nothing like lying on your back for a couple of days to start you thinking….My fever has abated a bit, and my cough doesn’t let me practice or sleep, or help Tim at the suddenlyLISTEN Workshop tonight, my epic novel is finished (reading, not writing) so I sort of lounge and begin to write.

I just visited the myspace site of Ellwood Epps. Ellwood, is on his way to the east to play some concerts, in Fredericton NB and Halifax, presented largely by Joel Leblanc from Fredericton, but under the banner of Circuit (a national group dedicated to creating a touring network for Canadian creative musicians). Ellwood is one of the founding members of Circuit and presents zillions of concerts a year in his loft space L’Envers in Montreal.

Today I wandered to Ellwood’s Myspace site. There I found some weird and appealing music, and really learned a lot about this guy Ellwood. I recognized something in his lovely essay (disguised as a bio) that I see in all my friends that play creative music. They do it not out of ambition, or the money, or a search for celebrity. They do it “….because the music needs to be played…”. Ken Aldcroft, (who I’ve written about in this blog), first said that to me when I asked why he was driving from Toronto to Nova Scotia in a rented car, to play 2 shows and do a workshop or two, with no funding and minimal fees. I thought it was nuts, and he completely turned my head around!

Because the music needs to be played – there can’t be a better reason.

Ellwood Epps most wonderfully says the same thing, when writes: To do this music is for me not unlike deciding to become a monk or nun. It's something you do because you need to do it. The desire comes from deep down, and its undeniable nature can mean many sacrifices during this lifetime. There are long days being behind on the rent, mending old clothes, and opening arts council rejection letters (5 years without a grant for my work, WTF?!). And then a few times a week I get in front of some people with my horn and the music is just there, no problem, it’s there, absolutely welcoming, a complete and unlimited universe. During this time there is no asking why.

That’s what we all feel, that’s the beauty of this music it’s just there, no problem. And we all need to play it for the same reason.

Now I don’t pretend to speak for anybody but myself sLogging away here, but I play it for that reason exactly. It’s just there, no problem. So much of the music that I’m fortunate enough to make for my living, is a problem! (Classical music represents some real problems: History, style, technical requirements, great past performances, audience expectations, performer expectations, pressure - both self and externally imposed, culture, and many more! And that is part of the fun and challenge of it for sure.) But improvised music is a bit different: “it’s there, no problem, it’s there, absolutely welcoming, a complete and unlimited universe.” All of the problems are stripped away and we are left with only listening and sound. Listening and sound, and collaboration and cooperation and experience and many more fine points, but mostly listening and sound!

An unlimited universe.

And it needs to be played. It’s not very popular; most people listen to it suspiciously, (out of the corner of their ears). But it needs to be played.

Why?

Mostly it’s just amazing what can happen when great musicians get together to share listening and sound! It’s humanity at work I believe. Exploratory music is the work of a few hardworking artists like Ken Aldcroft, Ellwood Epps, and others, playing at any cost. They deserve our respect for that alone, but mostly we should listen because the art is real and honest. Let’s face it, there’s no other reason to invest so much!

Please come and hear what we create:

Ellwood Epps and Halifax Improvisers

Wednesday, October 20 at 8pm

1313 Hollis Street, Halifax

$10 and $5

Thinking Ahead, and Approaching Old with New

2010-09-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

I guess it’s obvious to me when a group really clicks, and when I am left wanting more. It’s funny, but in classical music performance, it’s not uncommon that even within group, one performer can feel like a concert was great, and another can have the opposite impression! I wonder if this discrepancy is obvious to the audience? I think this has more to do with the quality of listening required for written music (versus improvised music) than anything. One of the things that makes me an improviser is the love I have for listening, and what can happen in a performance when all are listening on an equal, and deep level. And one of the challenges for a classical musician, or any music interpreter is to remember to approach the listening on the same level as an improviser! Unfortunately you just don’t have to. We can fall back on the notes we must play, and get lost in the reproduction of the score. - Hence the different impressions on success and failure.

Part of the excitement for me curating this 10^th suddenlyLISTEN season was the idea of bringing back some of my favourite concerts from our history. Of course I have to pick and choose which collaborations to repeat. And there have been a few!

In the end it wasn’t that hard: The trio I made with Lee Pui Ming and Erin Donovan was a no brainer. I remember finishing the concert we played at the Music Room in Halifax in 2004, and thinking “that was my favourite concert ever”.

Nice. And when you play lot of concerts every year, it’s especially nice.

What was it that made it so? The shared aesthetics, the instrumentation, the personalities, Pui Ming’s shear power as a pianist, the calm confidence in the performance, the laughs? All that and a million other things I guess.

But I knew. And the audience knew. My favourite email I ever received was from a person who attended that concert and she wrote: “Last Saturday's concert the most exciting musical event in my life. It will stay with me forever. One of those memories I keep in my Chest of Treasures. I did not know what to expect exactly. It was brilliant, it was riveting, it was full of emotion, humor, color, haunting sounds.

Thankyouthankyouthankyou”

I kept that one!

So, how do we approach this new collaboration?

One of the personal rules I have for improvisation is: “never try to repeat a piece to recapture something, it will NEVER work out the same way, and you’ll sorely disappointed! Move on!”

Not to mention that 6 years is a long time. Things can really change in a musician. I know that I am now, quite a different player than I was then.

So we have to start anew: Don’t think about the past, embrace the present - the moment. This is November 2010, not October 2004!

It will make the listening even more important. It will require us to be MORE flexible and MORE open to possibility, and perhaps we will have to be more aware of certain possibilities that no longer exist!

And of course I love the not knowing.

What I do know is that Pui Ming wants to rehearse. I am a rehearser too, but you might be surprised at how many improvisers think rehearsal is not important, or even damaging to the spontaneity of a performance. So we will rehearse, perhaps plan pieces? Maybe create written material to play?

Ah, suddenlyLISTEN, who knows what you might hear? We love the confidence in the musicianship, and celebrate the unknown!

New video on SPIN

2010-09-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

I put a up a little video where I talk about Martin Tetreault and SPIN.

Click here to link to our YouTube channel

8pm, Friday, September 10

1313 Hollis Street

$20 and $10 at the door

Tetreault, Adams and Gray play trios

The 10th Anniversary Season!

2010-08-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

I’m very happy to announce suddenlyLISTEN Music’s Tenth Anniversary concert season! It’s been quite an adventure building and listening to our collaborations over the years, and I’m really proud that suddenlyLISTEN has managed to present some really fantastic concerts of a huge variety of improvised music. This season will celebrate those past concerts by bringing back some our favorite collaborations as well as presenting guests that I’ve always wanted to introduce to Halifax audiences. All the while we’ll be showcasing some of Halifax’s brilliant improvisers.

suddenlyLISTEN kicks off its celebrations on Friday, September 10^th at 1313 Hollis, with SPIN, a concertfeaturing Montreal turntablist Martin Tétreault, Halifax percussionist extraordinaire D’Arcy Gray and me, Norman Adams, suddenlyLISTEN’s Artistic Director.

Martin is one of those people I’ve always wanted to invite to play in Halifax. He’s one of the core members of the Montreal scene, and is a DJ like you’ve never heard before! To Martin the turntable is an electronic music instrument. He creates noise and sonic textures by scratching different surfaces, and amplifying parts of the turntable itself, yet I’ve heard him spin records to create melody and harmonic support to melodic instruments. I think that combining Martin with the colourful playing of D’Arcy and my melodic cello playing will create a collective sound that will be amazing to experience!

The second Main Series concert , in out everywhere and beyond, on November 4^th will feature one of my favourite musicians, pianist Lee Pui Ming. The concert will be a recreation of a collaboration we presented in 2005 with Pui Ming, myself, and percussionist Erin Donovan. Pui Ming is an artist with a truly individual voice, she plays with clear, very musical ideas, yet peppers things with moments of sonic anarchy! Erin is one of the original five from suddenlyLISTEN’s first concerts in 2000 – 2002. Her music is usually made on small instruments and sound makers - magically played and achingly beautiful - it’s like bringing thesounds of nature indoors!

Our third concert Having Wandered This Far on February 3^rd 2011 will bring the Crofts/Adams/Pearse Trio to our mainstage along with internationally acclaimed percussionist Gerry Hemingway. Hemingway has played with all the American and European stars of improvised music including Anthony Braxton (for several years), George Lewis, Georg Graewe and the Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger, as well as sL “alumni” Marilyn Crispell and Miya Masaoka. The C/A/P Trio: Tim Crofts, myself and Lukas Pearse have toured eastern Canada and released the cd ‘Sonomatopia’, but have never been presented on the suddenlyLISTEN Main Series, so this is a belated debut! We are really excited about sharing the stage with such a major artist and thrilled we will record this concert for a new CD release.

The Main Series concludes May 19^th and 20^th with Oceans Deep, presenting EHRES featuring Pauline Oliveros. This group brings myself, my brother electronic musician John DS Adams, (another of the original five members of suddenlyLISTEN) and the wonderful American wordsmith Ione together with accordionist Pauline Oliveros, one of the most important musical innovators and thinkers of our time. This collaboration was born in 2005 on the suddenlyLISTEN series, and we have played together in New York, Ontario and Banff since. I’m very happy and honoured to bring them all back to Halifax. Our concerts are an immersive experience, with sounds and words traveling around the performance space, through multiple speakers, and a complex processing network. The music that results is truly transcendent. you will remember this event for a long time!

We will continue our bi- weekly Monday Improvisation Workshops at 1313 Hollis, beginning on September 20^th. The Workshop, now in its sixth year, has become a meeting place for a community of musicians to gather to listen, make free music and learn from others.

We are also producing two special projects this season: In celebration of our anniversary, suddenlyLISTEN is commissioning Halifax composer Sandy Moore to create a piece that will be performed at a downtown Halifax shopping mall in the winter of 2011. Be prepared for a musical adventure, with a large cast of musicians of all ages! Some details of this project will be released as they develop, and some details will left a surprise!

suddenlyLISTEN will venture into cyberspace again with another telematic project. This year we will facilitate the collaborative creation of a piece to be performed online. This music will be created and performed by music students from universities in Halifax, California and Taiwan!

Please join suddenlyLISTEN as we embark for the 10^th time on our musical adventures, creating events that open your ears and minds to the power of music and collaboration.

Creative work in Germany/Switzerland

2010-07-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

Now I will re-empt this story of athleticism and heroism in the mountains of France to talk about art again……

I have collaborated with Sebastian Lexer on several occasions, in concerts in London, Toronto and Halifax (Ghost in the Machine in 2007) and I have harnessed his mastery of Max/MSP to help me to create my cello processing system, that I use in concerts. My trips to London were always supported by The Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, but I was turned down on my most recent attempts, so I used this trip to hop onto the end of a tour Sebastian was doing through parts of Switzerland and get to spend a few days with him.

Sebastian is (proudly) from the Schwartzwald in southern Germany, so our trip was also sponsored by his Mum, Helga who graciously provided us with food and shelter for 4 days in Felkau.

Our time together began in Basel though, where I saw Sebastian’s final of 4 concerts in a trio with Nicolas Rihs (bassoon) & Michael Vorfeld (percussion). The concert was good. I especially enjoyed the nice interactions between Michael and Sebastian, and their shared and individual sound palettes. The bassoonist was filled out the trio’s sound with almost constant drones, which I enjoyed less, but hearing a group that has had a chance to play 4 concerts together in four days is a treat!

After the concert we had lunch at a long table in the workers hall that hosted the concerts, lots of German was spoken (I speak only the German in classical music scores, and don’t usually understand it!) so I smiled a lot. After a nice walk around the old part of Basel, a dinner, lots of beer and a huge thunderstorm,

the computers came out and we started work! We were housed for the first night in the atelier of Christian Schiller (an amazing space with office/bedroom, larger room with a grand piano that hosts concerts, and a kitchen. Big envy……).

I had many questions: How to best utilize the Wii controller I’ve been working with? Should I bring another Wii in to the system? How can I make things a little more predictable? And where can I find new processors to get past the swooping ring modulator sound, of which I’ve been growing tired. The morning saw me getting up ridiculously early with my head full of Max and programming my assignment from the night before! I forget what it was exactly, but the idea was that scaling the wii numbers and directing them to only one small section of the processor was the way to go.

Then we played, both as a duo and me solo. I didn’t expect to play solo, which challenging for a collaborative person such as me, but felt pretty good about the results. Suddenly it all turned into a lesson! I was encouraged to make more spaces in the music and to let the electronic sounds become part of the whole, not just processing of a cello sound, or a loop to play over. Sebastian encouraged me to rethink my relationship with the computer, to play it, not let it play me!

The beautiful thing about Sebastian is that his aesthetic is so strong and his programming skill so complete, that the realization of this goal is not that hard! For my part, I have to wrap my head around it, then understand what is possible in the software (hint: ANYTHING…) then figure out how to integrate the acoustic and electronic, do the programming, then finally practice and internalize it all!

In the Black Forest we developed a new control system that allows me to direct any of my controllers (volume pedal, wii controller as well as various qualities of the cello sound) to any part of the processor that can be controlled (in the case of a ring modulator: volume, and frequency of the main tone).

As well we walked and talked. Each day we went hiking in the mountains. Sebastian knows all the trails of the region, and he led me up hill and over dale, through gorgeous terrain. Along the way we brainstormed, told family stories and talked about music and life. Then we went home, I practiced, programmed Max, and even ate rabbit, prepared for us by Helga! It was pretty idealic.

So my goal for the rest of the summer is clear: look at each parameter of the processor I have in my system, and experiment with which controller or controllers are best to most effectively manipulate the outputs. And mostly make music with it, be as conscious of the electronics as I am of the sound my cello produces.

It’s a tall order. But I will add it to the list of things that must be considered each day.

So all this took place more than a month ago now. And I’ve had so many other experiences to write about, since then! I’d better end this and start the next segment.

Norm cycles in France!

2010-07-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

I would like to pre-empt this monologue about art to report on my experiences as a cyclist, in what might be heaven for a road cyclist! I know this is a bit out of date now, but it's been a busy time (for summer) and I'm finally now getting to put these writings up for you to read.

So I was in Europe from June 1 to 12,for a little retreat/professional/family time. The first part of which has been spent in Divonne Les Baines, France for a visit with my sister Alayne and her family. The second portion will be spent in Basel and The Black Forest of Germany with Sebastian Lexer working on developing my computer/cello system that we have been collaborating on over the past 6 years or so. (but that is another blog post...)

So I am a cyclist, I’ve been riding and racing mountain and road bikes since 1993. Two years ago I took some time to come to Divonne Les Baines, France to ride, both in the Jura (right out my sister’s back door) and the Alps. I got a chance to ride some of the great climbs of cycling lore Alpe D’Huez, The Galibier and The Croix de Fer, as well as some nice rides in the Jura region.

This time my trip is not solely dedicated to the bike, so my cello came along for the ride. So I rented a Giant Defy from Cyclomundo in Geneve. They were very accommodating and the price was right for a real road bike.

We picked it up on our way home from the airport, and I hopped on it as soon as I got to Divonne!

My first ride June 1, was out through Vesancy, my favourite little town, up the Col de la Faucille, past La Vatay, through La Cure in the Jura, and down the mountian on the twistiest road ever at Saint Cergues! The weather was a little cloudy, and cold up in the mountains, I felt a little cold and lonely up there, and my feet were pretty frozen by the time I got back down.

The climb wasn’t too bad, I noticed that it ramps up as you get to the top, but I surprised myself a bit at how I felt at the top! The ride was 61km in 2hr 50min. A nice prologue to the week.

The next day June 2, I decided to do something a little longer and flatter, in the morning headed to Lausanne, along Lac Lemain. The weather was sort of threatening, not particularly warm, with a pretty stiff headwind. I rolled along, looking for bike paths and bike routes, hitting a few dead ends and roads that turned into trails. Eventually I reached Lausanne, where I thought I’d be and I was at 62 kilometers, so any plans for continuing

to Montreaux ended. But I sort of had a hope to ride through some of the wine country that we see up in the hills, from the motorway and train. So I had a sandwich and a coke and sort of hung a right upon exiting Lausanne and started riding into unfamiliar territory. I was navigating by a Google map I’d printed off, so it was a bit sketchy with the smaller places, and roads not appearing, but I had a fair idea where I was, so just kept riding along, stopping pretty frequently to consult the map. The terrain was gentle, with farmland and long gradual hills. It was gorgeous, and after several changes of plan I ended up on a Swiss bike route, a very quiet narrow road heading in basically the right direction. Eventually I ended up just where I wanted to be rolling through vineyards, looking down on the lake and across at the misty Alps. Soon I started along downhill toward home. By the time I got back to Divonne I had been out for 6 hours and 128km. My longest ride of the year so far, and a long day thanks to all the navigating.

Needless to say interrupted sleep caused by jetlag was not a problem.

June 3 Tim arrived home. Tim is my brother in law and a monster athlete. He and I had loose plans to ride a bit together, so the day he got back from Washington, we went for a little rip on mountain bikes on his regular route. I borrowed my sister’s tiny Kona. After my previous big days I felt pretty wasted, but followed as well as I could, Tim hammered up the steep climbs past Vesancy, and onto the front face of the Jura on Les Routes Forestiere, dirt roads for logging etc, that are everywhere in Europe. The ride was only 21kms but I felt every single one! There were fast downhills but several steep climbs. I was hoping to recover a bit….Tim and Alayne do not believe in recovery!

The final ride in the Jura was one of my favourite ever. Tim and I road out to the twisty climb up to St Cergue and beyond, It was slightly uphill to the climb, but very gradual so I had a little warmup before, which is nice, and rare here. The climb was pretty long about 55 minutes, but it gradually got less steep so it was good for the ego! At the very top we crossed back into France and headed toward Lajoux, on the route of Stage 7 of the Tour this summer. This was a gorgeous part of the ride with long gradual ups and downs through little towns, past locals-only ski areas. We topped out past Lajoux and had a really fun descent (rare for me as I’m a bit of chicken descending, but this one was just steep and twisty and car-less enough, I guess!) into Mijoux, one of my favourite local towns, we saluted the lady who hosed me off and gave me coffee after a crash 2 years before, and paused in the village. It is a small and not too gentrified rural ski and farm town, just right for me. Then we climbed back up to Faucille. This was a tougher climb (It got steeper as it rose) but I was starting to feel okay again, so the 20 minutes or so weren’t too bad. Then we dropped down the Col to Gex, Vesancy and home. This ride was under 4 hours and about 80kms. The two and a half climbs made it a nice progression from the previous rides though.

Our final ride was on my fifth day (note: 5 days - 5 rides, pretty unusual for me!). Tim and I drove past Geneve and into the Alps, we wanted to hit one big climb from the tour! So we decided on the Columbiere, it’s been featured in many ours, and rates category 1 usually. It was about 17 kms and we started climbing as soon as we got out of the car at Cluses. This climb also got steeper as we went on. The first 60% or so was wooded and not too steep. At Le Reposoir at about 1500m, the switchbacks started and we came out of the trees. Then it got steep, 10 to 12%, and exposed, and HOT! There was no wind, and I was baking, praying that the damn hill would end. It was definitely the most difficult climb this trip. I had to dig pretty deep to not stop and sit in the ditch.

There was no open restaurant at the top, which was a drag but the ride back down to the village was really quick, and we found some water. So at that point I thought we should take another route down, thinking this ride would be too short, so we to a right to traverse over to the next town, well this involved another 25 minutes of climbing, which was not expected at all! Then began the final descent to the valley, which was really steep with lots of writing on the road, we were amazed the Pro Tour guys climbing this before hitting the Columbiere! It was really steep, with sheer cliffs so high and steep it felt like you were in a plane looking down at the town in the valley! Wow. This was a humbling ride, not long but tough and close enough to the Tour to feel amazed at the athleticism of those pro riders to whom this ride (plus another 150kms or so), is a day at work.

And what a pleasure and honour to ride these roads, were cyclists are plentiful, and people are respectful and the challenges are frequent!

Art is Amazing!

2010-06-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

I thought I’d write a little on some really great artistic experiences I’ve had last week. I’ve been so inspired to see and hear art that changes my view, opens my mind and makes me ask questions, and gape in amazement!

The first was during a short trip to New York City. I love art galleries. It’s not like a concert, if I am not struck by the work, I can move on; if I love it, I can stay as long as I like! My favourite museum in NYC is the Museum of Modern Art, and we visited with the intension of seeing the 20^th anniversary retrospective of Marina Abramovic’s work. I had read and heard a bit about Abramovic, and was expecting to be witness to some uncomfortable sights, but I never thought I would be prompted to ask so many questions, and really have my perception of art turned on it’s ear quite so much as I did.

Marina Abramovic is a Yugoslavian/American performance artist who is enjoying a highly publicized retrospective exhibit at MoMA. We’d already read about it in the Globe and Mail, seen the webcam images of her performing her ‘sitting across the table piece’ and I at least, was ready to see some naked people and probably some crazy art!

Well I saw the naked people and saw her at the table (in her 714^th hour of performance). And I saw other images and videos of performances and live performances of works by models.

What struck me most, and what I admired most, was her tenacity and her commitment to her concepts. Conceptual art is tough, because we aren’t always given the details, or even a clue of the idea behind the piece! It seems that Abramovic’s work is about pushing limits: focusing on a singular act or image or idea and engaging in it until she passes out, or reaches her predetermined destination. I won’t detail all I saw, but I will say that I loved the woman suspended high up a wall, arms outstretched, spreading her energy to all assembled; and I love the idea of Abramovic committing to sit at that table for all the hours of her exhibit, without a break, without moving, and allowing the public to share in, and contribute to the piece by sitting opposite her; I liked the concept of the naked people standing in the doorway offering the challenge to us, to walk between them, forcing us to come face to face with our feelings about personal space, and taboos about nudity. That feeling sort of triggered in me a personal understanding of the exhibit. I realized that I was expected to react in some way, revulsion, sadness, laughter (only once!) curiosity, and many other possible ways. I found myself stepping out of myself and observing my reactions. “How did that make me feel?”

After visiting this exhibit, my visit to the other works in the gallery changed. I found myself either more disinterested in work that didn’t like or way more fascinated by the work that I loved. My favourite Jackson Pollack, became a three dimensional world, a map, a whole new world that I’d never before seen, all packaged in utter passion, and a brand new technique that both changed the art world of the day, and represented Pollack’s tortured life and desperate need to spread his demons on canvas.

I believe this is what art is all about! And that’s why I got so excited.

Art is about human beings observing the work of other humans and reacting to it. “How did this make me feel?” It’s not important if the reaction is “correct”, all we need is that feeling – sadness, happiness, inspiration, or revulsion. It’s what makes us different from whales or bears, we can share this creative spirit which will make people be more human!

The second great experience was at the Obey Convention in Halifax. This is a three-day festival presented by Divorce Records of Halifax, and it usually features a lot of noise and hardcore music. Each year, D’Arcy Spiddle, who is the brains behind the convention, puts up a concert of more avant guard new work. This year suddenlyLISTEN was honoured to co-present a concert that featured Tim Crofts, Zachary Fairbrother, as well as Pierre Bastien, a French instrument builder and composer/performer.

Bastien built machines to make some of the music, and played pocket trumpet periodically throughout the set. There were a variety of machines: all with little motors or fans to move parts to flap, or strike one another so as to make sound. These sounds were amplified and mixed creating a room filling sound. The result was a sort of innocent music: tinkles and swats, looping and repeating, being mixed in and out of the performance. Bastien would then play almost naive little melodies over the top, sometimes with a mute, sometimes with a clarinet mouthpiece or other implement inserted to make a new sound on his pocket trumpet.

Then, almost the best part: he had little video cameras focused very tightly on his machines. The video was projected on the wall behind him, in a huge format, making the tiny machines appear huge, matching the full sounds coming from the loudspeakers. What I saw created was a vision of an industrial world of gears and belts and metal. As he mixed the sounds, he mixed video, showing us intimate views of the machines making the sound. We had to figure out what we were looking at and how it related to the layers of sound we were hearing.

It was virtuosic, and completely original! And so exciting to witness.

And many witnessed it. D’Arcy S. taps into a different crowd; I saw only a handful of suddenlyLISTEN audience members, even though this was a concert that would have appealed to them. But there were perhaps 100 youngish listeners, mostly students, definitely alternative (REAL alternative) music fans. It was very exciting to learn that there are more people curious about this music and willing to come out to hear something new. I want to meet them all!

So, I said to Lukas Pearse this week that seeing new art was really exciting, and it’s true. I was lucky enough to be able to see two unique artists in a week, and they both reminded me how grand it is to be a generous, fearless, curious, expressive human.

The big season wrap up!

2010-05-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

After a few days of decompression from a very intense March, April and May. I'm back. The moment SNS finished up I swung into production mode with Gwen Noah and her 20th anniversary retrospective show "Here". It was more concentrated work, but very satisfying to play a wide range of music, overcome technical hurdles and get three opportunities to play music for dancers. Working with Gwen is always a amazing and getting to add Lisa Phinney and Susanne Chui to the mix, made for even more fun.

So now after a few excellent bike rides, capped with a roll past Peggys Cove today, I'm feeling the need to encapsulate.

It was quite a great season, on

e of my favourites so far. So much happened that this is a good excuse for me to plumb the memory banks and remember all we accomplished!

The season began with Nilan Perera, the first artist to tour through Circuit, a group of presenters, helping others to tour, that Nilan has originated. Nilan is a guitartist from Toronto, and has been playing creative music for ages. My distinct memory is a piece that he played where he prepared the guitar in such a way the it sounded like a tabla. Quite wonderful.

Next up was Sensitive, with Miya Masaoka, Adam Linson and myself. This was exciting for me because of my interest in the koto, and to get to play

with both Miya and Adam. The work we did was very focussed and structured. We really rehearsed and the music we played reflected that. The concert at The Bus Stop was fun and well attended.

Okay now I'm having to refer to my calendar to remember....

Oh yeah, Geordie Haley, D'Arcy Gray and I went to Sackville NB to play a concert celebrating the Canadian Music Centre's 20th Anniversary in the A

tlantic region. This a fun show because I got to play with 2 really great musicians. Even though we didn't rehearse, the combined musicality of the trio resulted in the kind of musical miracle that draws me to improvised music! We just made the music. Or maybe it made itself.....

Next was Wireless, our first telematic concert with 3 cellists here and Chris Chafe in California. This show was a real technical challenge, trying to get everything working as planned. We did manage moments before showtime to get everything up and running. No sound check or chance to rehearse together! The three locals did however, and we develop some nice pieces to perform together. Our rehearsal process was nice as we spread them out over several weeks and could really reflect on things and develop the music much more as a result. I'm not sure if this all was represented in the concert, but having Chris with us, calling us all "astronauts" for trying this form of collaboration, was nice! And I learn

ed a lot about the profundity of telematic collaboration, and will be working to continue this next season.

Okay, next was the Canadian New Music Network Forum in Halifax which was another great experience. During this weekend I got to meet presenters and musicians from all over Canada, listen to them speak about their ideas, sling beers with them and generally put faces to names. Tim Crofts, Lukas Pearse and I played a really satisfying set on one of the concerts, and we agreed that it was a stacked audience! It's not often we have so many knowledgeable listeners in one room.

Then Timeless Pulses. The room is always filled with the presence of Jerry Granelli and this was no exemption! He is a force of nature. Tim, Geordie and I just had to show up to be guaranteed great music making! (Well, actually we could have NOT showed up and Jerry could have handled it....) The audience was good, the art work (rather erotic in nature ) that surrounded in us The Saint Mary's University Art Gallery was stimulating, and the music was great.

Open Source 2 featured Eric Normand a young bassist from the improvised music hotbed of Rimouski, Quebec. Eric was also a Circuit artist, and he played solo (very loud and noisy) and with Arthur Bull, Tim , Lukas and myself (very sensitively and musically). This was a neat concert because the group was very good, the chance to meet and play with Eric was nice, and the music was very interesting, very effectively inhabiting the "acoustic/processed hybrid" sound world, that I have been interested in for so long.

Then came Chants d'Oiseaux, not that long ago! (I remember this one) Jean Derome. Ah Jean, what an artist! Every sound was in the right place, expressing something wonderful, or funny, or sad. Daniel Heikalo played so many instruments, with such a mastery and sense of exploration. My favourite memory was loop I had running was picked up by Jean and then again by me, but in real time, it became a lovely closer to a piece. The listening was sharp and the concert was wonderful. I felt so good about this one.

Finally, exhausted, I listened to the final show of the season, Open Source 3 which showcased the musicians of the Improv Workshop. And I really recommend sitting back and listening to these people. The breadth of music, and the variety of sounds coming from this full cross section of society was nothing short of amazing! It was so great to just listen (and make the groups up).

Which brings me to the Workshop. In it's 5th year. Amazing, and the source of our success too -Just sticking with it. This year the Workshop experienced a sort of renaissance, with some new young people discovering us, dipping their ears into this free improvised music for the first time. And Arthur Bull moved to town. Arthur is a serious player, having performed and collaborated all over the world for a long time. His presence and experience really took the focus of the workshop up a notch or two. And he had a great time too, discovering our little scene and becoming part of it. As well we opened the facilitation of the sessions to others beside Tim and me. Geordie, Lukas, Ken Aldcroft, and Nilan all lead session, all offering different points of view. I learned a lot and I think the sharing of information help all of us a lot! I could certainly hear it in the music making.

So there it is. I have to thank so many people for this full season of work. Tim for the workshops, Barbara for the brainstorming and grant reading , Bruce Klinger for the numbers help, the board for offering advice and support, even though I didn't always take it. Sue for taking up the slack and being an enabler. The Canada Council and the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage for letting this little miracle continue. And teh workshop goers and concert goers throughout the season. C'mon back! Give me you email addresses so I can pester you! There will be much more in our Tenth Year 2010/2011!

Now I will go to New York with Sue and friends, (this weekend!) then I will go to France to visit, ride and work with Sebastian Lexer again! During that time I will be making some postings to let you know how my rides are going, and work with Seb too! Keep your eyes on this blog.

Mid-summer I'll start letting you know details about next years shows! Very exciting!

a brief look at Chants d'Oiseaux

2010-04-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures at today's first rehearsal for Tuesday's concert.You actually may hear Jean playing a wild boar call! Amazing. Daniel had to make a map of how to fit all his instruments into his Toyota Corolla. The variety of sounds is bigger than even I guessed!

To the left is Jean Derome looking mischievous with some of his instruments. Remember there is alto sax and flute and bass flute that you can't see! To the right is rather blurry representation of half of Daniel's percussion set up. It's important to remember he's a guitarist as well. He had 4 of those with him.

Rich music with almost infinite possibilities is on the way!

See you Tuesday

Chants d'Oiseaux

2010-04-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

A new short video by Norman Adams. Talking about the next suddenlyLISTEN concert April 20th, in Halifax.

Click here to link to video

Be sure to find the chants.m4v link on the right

New Experiences

2010-03-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

First, remember those dates: April 7 for Eric Normand, and April 20 for Chants d'Oiseaux with Derome, Heikalo and Adams! Info is below or in any number of different online places. Now onward>>>>

So this was an interesting week, where I made some fun new musical discoveries, maybe even profound new discoveries, actually.

So it all started with Ken Aldcroft coming to town last week. Ken is a guitarist from Toronto who has been at the centre of the creative music scene, and a principal in the Association of Improvising Musicians of Toronto for many years. Ken came to Halifax on tour in the fall of 2008 and at the time he really inspired me with his dedication to our art form. He was out here at the time, playing concerts, and leading workshops wherever he could. With no support from anybody except the tiny fees he was pulling in. Now commercial musicians starve a lot living off the door, but improvisers, well you can’t even begin to think about a living on what we can pull in with out outside support! (thank you to the Canada Council and Nova Scotia Department of Tourism Culture and Heritage).

But Ken said “the music must be played” and not just his music, but the music of all of us! Those words stuck with me for sure.

Ken came back - a few shows, a few workshops and maybe a bit more money? Possibly. We welcomed him, for his artistry and as much for his dedication to music.

But all of this is an aside to my discoveries! Ken was just instrumental in both of them……

So the first was a concert, Jeff Torbert invited me to play on an Upstream concert with him and Ken. I was happy to take part, because I love Ken and I love Jeff. Jeff Torbert is somebody who I get to play with very rarely. He runs in a slightly more jazzy or indie jazzy (is there such a thing?) vein, so our paths cross only periodically. But when they do, I always have a blast. Playing free with people from different idioms always draws out different sounds and different tonalities that I can’t regularly find in my day to day playing. Jeff pushes me to find tonality, and melody. It’s like pop improv somehow, in the best possible way! So yay Jeff.

Ken emailed us three charts from his new CD with the Convergence Ensemble “Our Hospitality”. I figured we’d play the head, and do solos and come back to the head as the jazz guys usually do. Not to be. We rehearsed the different written sections, and then Ken instructed us to put them in the music someplace! He gave us some simple cues so we could make some entrances together, and the rest was up to our judgment! (I’m not sure if this is common. I surprise myself how little I know about this music even though I’ve been playing it for so long….) We could be free and rely on our listening and musicality, as I love to do so much, but we had anchors that created a new focus to the improvisations and a structure that doesn’t often exist in free improvisation. It was a bit of a revelation for me, and offers a new possibility for my music making! Thanks to Ken and Jeff.

Then the suddenlyLISTEN workshop rolled around the next Monday, and Ken returned from the road to lead. He pulled out a score of “Cobra” and asked me what I thought. Now Cobra is a composition, a musical game piece of John Zorn, the great American composer and saxophonist. The piece is kind of Zorn’s greatest hit, it’s led by him throughout the world every year. I heard “Cobra” in Banff years ago and remembered the hilarity, apparent anarchy and multiple musical styles. To be clear, it is not “Cobra” unless Mr. Zorn is leading, and so it should be. So to be fair and reflect the fact that we used only a portion of Mr. Zorn’s directions our versin was closer to “Garter Snake” I think!

Well, playing our version was a hoot. The players are forced to be on their toes at all times, making suggestions with hand signals and following orders from the prompter, playing musically the whole time. The prompter communicates with the musicians through flash cards and his/her own set of hand signals. It is a real brain twister, remembering the rather complex codes. We definitely blew a few workshop participants minds! My head certainly ached a bit at the end! I don’t think the results we came up with were great music. But I know that with practice and more familiarity it would be a really fun listening experience, with radical shifts in directions, changes of texture, wild gesticulations and even bandanas I hear! Most of all it was an honour and an important personal experience to give the piece a shot. The workshop is a wonderful venue for new experiences - each week is different. And playing this game was a kind of fitting climax to the changes Tim Crofts and I have been making at the Workshop, trying to add just a little structure to our freedoms to keep us all more on our toes and a little less comfy.

So, I throw out big thanks to Ken Aldcroft who inspires us with his playing, his music, his leadership and his dedication to this thoroughly unprofitable art form! Thank-you Ken, come back soon.

The sL Newsletter!

2010-03-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

I mailed out this Newsletter to my giant email list today, and thought I'd post it here as well. There are lots of cool things to see and hear this spring!

March 29th, Ken Aldcroft, a guitarist from Toronto, currently on a tour of Eastern Canada, will be leading the suddenlyLISTEN Improv Workshop. In the Autumn of 2008, Ken opened the 08/09 season with an Open Source show and a workshop. Both events were really great, but the workshop he led really resonated with our regular attendees. Ken uses many of the improvisation exercises developed by John Stevens in his workshops. John Stevens was a British pioneer of Free Improvisation, and one of the founders of the seminal Spontaneous Music Ensemble. These exercises focussed the music in a way, helping musicians to listen and shake off old patterns. Please check this workshop out if you are at all interested in free music.

7:30 pm, March 29

1313 Hollis Street

April 7th suddenlyLISTEN will be presenting Open Source 2 featuring Eric Normand, a bassist from Rimouski, also out touring across Canada, this time under the auspices of Circuit. Eric is the directeur artistique of Tour De Bras, an organization producing and presenting new music in Rimouski Quebec (http://www.tourdebras.com). Eric will be playing a solo set, and then collaborating with local musicians for a second set. It's always great to hear people from other parts of Canada works with our great local players! It should be fun.

Eric is the second artist touring under the umbrella of Circuit, a national group dedicated to creating a touring network for Canadian creative musicians. suddenlyLISTEN is a member of Circuit along with presenters and artist run spaces from Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Fredericton, Rimouski and Halifax.

8pm, Wednesday, April 7th

1313 Hollis Street

$10

Finally our 09/10 Main Series will conclude, with Chants d'Oiseaux a concert featuring the great Jean Derome, from Montreal, Daniel Heikalo from Nova Scotia, and me, Norman Adams. The title is inspired by Jean's famous collection of bird calls, which he plays with the same virtuosity as he plays his saxophone. Daniel too, plays not only the guitar, but a vast collection of found objects and noise makers, from old car springs to pots and pans! I'm not quite as willing to schlep so many instruments about, being a cellist, so I'll be content with computer aided processing for my regular old cello, with perhaps a sprinkle of ukulele!

I am very excited about this show, it brings two legends to Halifax; Daniel, who quietly makes fantastic virtuoso guitar music in the Annapolis Valley, occasionally popping out with an amazing CD or a concert tour, or a sound score or an exhibition of photographs; and Jean who was there (with Daniel, actually) in Montreal when musique actuel was "invented" and continues to lead the way in our country and around the world. He is in constant demand as a player and composer (he's been commissioned to compose a piece to help celebrate Upstream Music Association's 20th Anniversary this Spring!) all over the world and has recorded dozens of CDs. It's an honour to have both of these musicians in one room making music! Don't miss this one.

8pm, Tuesday, April 20th

The Bus Stop Theatre

$20 and $10

Inspiration or Infatuation?

2010-03-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

So I've been spending the last few weeks with my head in the computer, writing grant proposals for the 2010/2011 suddenlyLISTEN season. It's got me thinking about inspiration.

With the help of my #1 grant reader, I got this great idea for a music event. (I'm going to be cagily vague about the details here...but the details actually aren't important!).

It was the most amazing feeling to get the seed of the idea and watch it grow, and over the next few days, flower in surprising colours. All I could think of was the idea, it grew in my head with vivid detail.

I started to work on it, write about it, send off emails, tell others, imagine funding possibilities, gather partners, imagine the audience's reactions.

Still it grew!

It was like falling in love.

Well I realized that fact Later.

Later: when the people said "it can't be done", when the original plans changed, when the passionate proposals had to be edited to 750 words, when the proposals were re-edited, when the budgets were made, and re made, when it was spun three different ways for three different programs, when I finally (today) said "I'm tired of this thing!"

That's when I realized it WAS like love.

And I realized it's past love......... it's a relationship! I have to WORK at it, I have to compromise....

But you know, I like relationships, I've got a few really good ones.

So I'm taking a little break, giving it a little space.

Practicing the cello again, like I need to be doing. Heck I've got a few days before March 15, when I send my love off in the mail.

I believe it was Hallmark (or the poster over the bed of my first University roommate)(we grew quickly to loath one another) who said: "If you love something, set it free. If it returns, it is yours. If it doesn't, it never was..." (I just googled that...sad really)

So I will say my farewells, send her off, and cross my fingers.

And I can look back at those early days of flush and quiver, of hairs standing up on the back of my neck, and see who, if anyone, comes back.

Maybe the waiting is the hardest...nah, the work is definitely harder!

We arty dreamers and planners rarely wait by the phone though.

Heck we're too busy thinking of other ideas, seeing if one of them is the NEXT inspiration!

suddenlyLISTEN Compilation CD

2010-02-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

I've had these CDs in boxes on my studio floor for 10 days, and has only now occurred to me to mention them here! Strange, I guess I'm not much into sales.

But that is not the point here! About two years ago I was desperate, as I still am to get some sort of CD out there for you all to hear. I applied to The Nova Scotia Department of Tourism Culture and Heritage, who graciously awarded sL a small sum to assemble a promotional CD, chronicling the past 8 years of suddenlyLISTEN concerts.

It took for ever to get it done, but here it is, great mixing by Rod Sneddon and gorgeous design by Daniel Heikalo, and my favourite pieces from the concerts that we recorded, between 2000 and 2008. I hope you enjoy it, and best of all, it's free! save your money to come to a concert, or read on.....

How can you lay your hands on this beautiful thing? I'm not sure, I think we need a contest, and the first person to come up with an appropriate contest, gets the first (well not really the first, but pretty close to the first. My parents have one, Howard has one, Tim has one) of these CDs!

Once and for all definitive proof that anybody is reading this stuff I write.

The CD sounds great and it brings back memories for me, and really shows the development of the organization, the kinds of shows we have presented and, the quality of music we have always managed to make together. I'm pretty proud of it. You should get one.

If you don't feel like a contest. Keep in mind that sL is in the midst of our donation campaign and every person that gives us a (tax deductible) donation gets one of these beauties!

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering , and many have, the beautiful listener is Daniel's partner Tamara!

The suddenlyLISTEN Improv Workshop Feb 15

2010-02-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Okay this isn't OUR workshop but these women look like they feel the same sense of fulfillment we feel on MOnday nights!

You know, I think the workshop is experiencing a bit of a renaissance! I'm not sure why, but new people are coming, and adding new energy and new sounds to our group of faithful attendees! Don't get me wrong, there is nothing and nobody like our group of regulars. Some have been attending steadily since 2006! (You know who you are)

These people are amazing, the heart of the scene really, coming to shows, playing the music and thinking about the art form. But, one new person sets us all back on our heels, perks up our ears and changes everything!

Arthur Bull has come the past 2 or three sessions. Arthur is a veteran, and heavily experienced improviser, and having him in the room raises the bar for all of us! But you don't have to have toured internationally to make a difference in this kind of collaborative music. Jim from Monday night, Alex and Sylvain from previous Mondays, haven't the same level of experience (yet) of a professional, but they too made a difference, making the music come to life with a different colour.

The other change Tim and I instituted was to ask some new people to lead the workshops as guests. Two weeks ago Geordie Haley led, and last night Lukas Pearse took the reins. Both of these guys have thought about and practiced improvisation for a long time and both had really interesting insights and new exercises and games fro us to work with. Geordie had us exchanging duos with him. He could steer us in different directions, and the listeners could hear how each new player coloured Geordies sounds and choices. Lukas talk about intention, which I found fascinating. Why are we playing? What are we saying? what are we adding to the mix? All good questions to ask, in the moment.

I'm learning a lot!

I'm not sure if it's coincidence or as a result of their presence (there were six guitar-shaped instruments at Geordie's session!) but these have been our best attended workshop meeting all year, and certainly above average for the last year: Thirteen on the first and ten last night.

Eddie Prevost who's London workshop is the inspiration of the suddenlyLISTEN Improv workshop once told me that he decided he'd stop his, he reached the point where nobody showed up. That was something like 12 or more years ago!

Amazing, year 4 - on we go!

Thanks everybody.

And hey let usknow how the workshop is for you. Leave a comment below and we'll talk about it.

peace

Timeless Pulses

2010-02-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well Timeless Pulses went off really well. The setup in the Gallery was great, we managed to squeeze in a morning soundcheck so Rod Sneddon the sL staff recording engineer could record, and we had a nice largish audience, with some always welcome new faces!

We musicians had a ball. The music was really broad, from totally dense drums and thrashing electric guitar to some quiet beautiful moments. I especially remember a duo with Geordie, I was playing high and he was accompanying with smooth chord changes - Very nice. Jerry G was all that and more, playing time, playing colour, playing the inside of the piano.....he embodies pure joy when he performs. Tim was spectacular, notably in a solo in the second half. His colours and sonic imagination were in full effect. Geo was sensitive as always, holding his guitar god powers in check until the perfect time, while complimenting everything we did really wonderfully. For myself, I had a blast. In every concert I program I have an ulterior motive. This concert was my stab at playing in dense environments, complete with rhythm, speed and volume. I got a good taste of it, found some spaces to play, some textures to add to, and some spots where there was nothing more to be added! It's fascinating to make those decisions on the fly. Thanks for the great show guys.

The audience seemed to really enjoy the show, and we got a very nice review from Stephen Pedersen in the Chronicle Herald too! Thank-you Stephen.

So on to the next, Eric Normand in Open Source 2, our second Circuit concert on April 7th. Eric is a bassist from Rimouski, touring the country to play solo and with a few locals. The show will be at 1313 Hollis. But first, I have to write a few grants!

Geordie Haley speaks about Timeless Pulses, Feb. 8

2010-02-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

Click here for Geordie Haley's video

A few minutes of thoughts

2010-01-28T07:17:00.000-08:00

I listen to music too rarely. It's a function of playing it too often, I guess. Instead, when I run I listen to podcasts. Today's was particularly interesting, and even a little inspiring: Norah Young talking to Seth Godin on making the workplace meaningful, taking initiative and risks to make things better. Good stuff.

And It got me to thinking about how lucky I am to have music and especially suddenlyLISTEN as one of the centres to my life. There is nothing more meaningful and risky than listening and trusting. the core of any music making is listening to the music more than yourself, and trusting the others around you to feed you information and inspiration. The musicians amongst you know what I'm talking about. Music listeners probably have a memory of a concert or a moment in a concert or recording when that was happening, because we all really notice! That's when everything slows down and the musicians can start to really PLAY the music. In scored music it's when we see new subtleties in the score, or we can use the score to express ourselves more than ever.

In improvised music it's when we inhabit each others brains and hands and make music in total harmony (or perfect disharmony!). That is what I'm always trying to achieve in all my music making, but especially in my work as an improviser. To me the risk leads to a profound personal joy, like mining our soul and finding a vein of new gems. Great rewards, (and questionable prose!)

But THAT is worth a million bucks, and we performers are practically giving it away. This is the 'emotional labour' that Seth Godin talks about in his interview. The "work" that we do that makes our jobs and our music meaningful. Check it out at a concert near you!

Or at suddenlyLISTEN's show Timeless Pulses on Monday, Feb 8 in Halifax, Canada.

www.suddenlylisten.com or on this blog below, for more information.

and please check out this podcast, in audio and transcript at http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2010/01/spark-97-january-3-5-2010/

As always let me know if you're reading, and what you think!

Tim Crofts talks about Timeless Pulses

2010-01-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

Pianist Tim Crofts talks about Timeless Pulses, where he'll be collaborating with drummer Jerry Granelli, guitarist Geordie Haley and cellist Norman Adams. February 8 at 8

Workshop January 18th

2010-01-19T15:07:00.001-08:00

We returned for the first 2010 Workshop last night. It was a snowy night that still brought in seven brave souls!

The session was interesting, partially because of the two first timers, Alex and Sylvain, and partially because of our time away, and the freshness of the return to playing.

And it was spirited as always, because of the presence of Howard, David (with a collection of found objects in eggshell blue!) Panos, Dr JC and Chris. Chris played a beautiful trio with Tim and Panos, finding the middle ground between complimenting the textures and playing melody, but not quite..... it was lovely. Panos has the greatest energy as an improviser, part punk, part listener. He has an aggression that I love, but is welcoming and understanding to others too, as he was to Syl last night: creating a comfortable space for him to play in, then gently pushing him out! Tim and Howard had an interesting discussion on envelope based synth sounds, and their place in improv. And David played a brilliant part in a trio on clicky jar lids, activating the whole room when he held them behind his back.

Tim and I are interested in bringing a little more discussion and some new facilitators to shake things up a bit, and I can't wait to hear the results!

Norm talks about Timeless Pulses

2010-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

The first in a series!

Timeless Pulses

2010-01-12T19:18:00.001-08:00

So I'm starting to think about Timeless Pulses. I guess I do that, to be able to tell you what might happen and to start to paint pictures for myself of what the music might sound like.

I;ll start with Jerry Granelli: I can't say enough about him! He's played around the world, yet calls Halifax home. He's taught countless students and inspired zillions of musicians, young and old, amateur and professional through his Creative Music Workshop which runs every summer. Playing with Jerry is like, well, playing. There is joy, there is sharing, and there is always adventure! Jerry brings out the best in his collaborators, encouraging us by supporting musically, and by just yelling "YEAHHH", when things are really cooking!

It is most rewarding, the enthusiasm he exudes brings out the best in all of us!

This week I'll start to post video from me, Tim Crofts and Geordie Haley, so stay tuned.

2010

2010-01-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

Well, another year has ticked over. I write this from Divonne Les Baines, France where I have been blissfully ensconced with famliy for the holidays. It's been great to be away from the grind of Halifax - no cello, no computer, checking email once a day instead of every 5 minutes - a real break.
But as the year ends and 2010 begins, my brain kicks in. Plans are being dreamed up for next season, I started promo on Timeless Pulses, and I'm looking forward to the CNMN next week in Halifax.

2010/2011 with be sL's 10th season, so I'm really hoping to make some big plans to celebrate. No concrete plans are locked in, but please stay tuned. Needless to say I want to include musicians from across Canada, and around the world, some new and some favourites from the past 10 years. It's going to be tough to decide!

Timeless Pulses will be a fun show I think. Granelli, Crofts and Haley are my favourite Halifax creative musicians. Jerry Granelli spreads a big dollop of love and joy over every sound he makes and it is so infectious that it charges the whole concert! Over the last several years I've played a bit with Jerry and each show has been surprising and fun. I love playing and hearing Jerry growl "yeahhhhh" behind me - you just don't get that in the orchestra world......
Geordie is a guitarist that is so tasteful you'd never notice he was amplified, driving a ton of processing with preparations! And I say "notice" because it's never too loud, or overpowering, or dense, all of which is very easy for him to do. I played with Geordie in November on a concert in Sackville NB, and it was such a natural experience, I felt total comfort and trust - both essential in the making of any kind of music.
Tim is a pianist I've played with frequently, and a person I learn something from each time we talk or play. His thoughts and music are so clear and sure, it's always interesting and honest. Total respect.
So this concert is going to be exciting, full of wild joy, and great interaction. Magic will happen, and I'll be listening to the recording pretty carefully!
The CNMN gathering will be very cool, listening to, learning from and meeting so many of the really important people in Canadian new music. And Tim Crofts, Lukas Pearse and I will play a set of trio music on the concert on Friday night January the 8th. I encourage all interested people to check this event out. I'm hoping to strap on my "outgoing guy" shoes and try to meet some of these folks - woohoo! Hobnobbing with the stars!!
So please keep in touch, let me know your ideas, let me know if you are reading and enjoying these posts, I'm going to keep writig them anyways, but it's always nice to know......

Workshop December 7

2009-12-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

We had another interesting workshop last night. In an effort to shake things up, and confront my questions about structured improv, I put out a call to our regulars to bring structures to play.

Howard came in with one of the most successful, "play short notes and play long notes - and don't play all the time". Devin brought a simple conduction piece with only 3 hand gestures for control. (conduction is a totally different rigid prejudice of mine that I'd like to overcome, but that's another posting). I suggested "play 3 different sounds, and only play half the time.

Tim suggested we combine all three. More about that later.

Steven S brought in scores from previous performances. A real history lesson in Halifax experimental music. They were from 1978! And very very long, in duration and physical score length (3 or 4 metres). That was fun. Andrew D, David and Dr. JC were present as well, as was the new guy Bernie who came with his guitar.

The idea Tim came up with was to take scores and actually rehearse them. I like this very much and wish we'd had more time to play with this idea. The big advantage of structures is that we can make discoveries that improve the performance the next time. (sorta like classical music without the pressure and 400 years of history?) I guess it gives us a chance to step outside thinking about the form, and the instructions, and internalize them to free up the listening and really make music.

And I think that's where my problem with structures lies. They can become a crutch which removes the need to listen, act and interact. It can remove some of our responsibility to the music and to the moment.

But it's not always that way. We can practice. I'm personally quite good at that.

Thanks Tim.

2009-12-04T10:57:00.000-08:00

A little Artistic Director's report on our concert last Wednesday evening.

The build up to this concert was longer and more involved than ever before, bringing in our partners from Dal, dealing with local rehearsals, coordinating communications and learning software and testing of our network connection, was huge. I love computers, audio gear, and live sound way more than the average person, but having real expertise around took a huge load off my shoulders. I can safely say I had no idea of the complexity of the technical aspects of this show, and I could, most definitely, NOT have handled it!

So the concert happened because of Karl, Steve and of course Chris.

Well the internet part anyway....The cello, I can usually do that, and Anne and Christoph and I did together! We had a great time in rehearsals, really luxuriating in the sounds we could make together, as well as making good plans about how to pull this all off with minimal rehearsal with Chris. (We had no idea HOW minimal!) We had some really great discussions and made some beautiful sounds.

Of course, we had zero success with a complete link, until about 7:55, (after 3 separate attempts) but cool heads prevailed and we succeeded in an only slightly compromised network connection, because of some problems on Chris' end. (2 channels instead of four, but we got the effect of the speaker spread, thanks to crafty mixing by Steve.)

So we assumed there would be minimal rehearsal, but didn't foresee ZERO rehearsal, which as far as I can tell is the norm for telematic concerts! but our scores carried us through, and some of them worked well.

People clapped, asked questions, and walked away happy I think.

Each concert sL produces and plays is a learning opportunity/experience for me - I guess I plan it that way.

What did I learn this time? lots...

Don't assume there's going to be rehearsal in a telematic concert. Plan for two nights, as Chris is teaching us!

Get professional help. Yes THAT kind, but also the help of experts. technicians that act and react so calmly that failure hardy seems like defeat! Also ask for help from institutions, they can make big issues for a small organization seem pretty easy to sort out.

Scores (meaning the structured improvisations we devised for this show) are a challenge for me. To interpret the score while staying anchored in listening is hard, and something I may want to learn more about. I still revert to a classical music headspace when I see a score. Suddenly, mistakes are possible, which is one of the aspects of music I'm trying to escape from in my improvisatory work. I will try to learn more about the grey areas in "right and wrong" which exist in these sorts of structures, and find success even when there is deviation from the plan. What is easy for me, is playing open with great listeners, and forming structures in the moment. I believe deeply in that process, and feel a great satisfaction from that work.

I learned again the power of listening, and that even with the challenges of collaboration over distances, the stress of "will it work?", the work and coordination of production, all the possible distractions: listening in the moment carries us through. (Thanks for that Pauline Oliveros, you didn't invent it, but you sure refined it!)

I was reminded that I am a cello geek, 4 cellos is still the best sound!

Finally I felt proud of being an astronaut, as Chris calls us: testing new possibilities, collaborating in a new way, shrinking those distances to milliseconds. suddenlyLISTEN will do this again, because it's a fascinating way to collaborate. because I want to make it bigger, with more connections, (and of course more risk!) And, of course, because we proved we can succeed at it.

The Day before

2009-12-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

So I lie here, my back spasm-ing occasionally, and I get to ponder tomorrow's Wireless concert.

The rehearsals with Christoph and Anne have been great, we've got to really think about the shape of the concert and the necessity for advanced planning due to the lack of rehearsal time with Chris Chafe.

So that has created the need for pieces, and pieces we have devised! Lots of pieces. It's a little unusual for a sL concert, (but what IS usual about an sL concert). And we have had to be clear in our scoring, as Chris will not have much time to absorb the details! The adventure is full and fun.

And the technology? Well that's not working yet. But I have been assisted by Karl Volmer, and Steve Naylor who are worrying about this right, so that I don't have to! Thank goodness for that.

From what I know through experience and Chris Chafe's stories, these things tend to come together at the last minute, and Wireless is no exception.

Which is not to take away from the tech. It is still an emerging art form/science, and even though our linkup is relatively simple, there are always challenges. Whether they be glitches in the Mac OS, requiring a switch to Linux, or balancing the audio with the local sounds in the room, we are on the bleeding edge.

But not the music, that's been around for quite a while and THAT's what it's all about in the end.

Anne Davison on Wireless

2009-11-25T04:40:00.000-08:00

Wireless 8pm December 2 at the Dal Arts Centre, Halifax, Canada

suddenlylisten@suddenlylisten.com or 211 0428

November 23 Workshop

2009-11-24T04:36:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Improv workshop last night at 1313. Devin returned which made for some new energy in the group - and bassoon always adds well to Lukas' bass and my cello. Andrew brought his violin again. I'm amazed at Andrew's courage to buy an instrument he has no history with and play it in totally unconventional ways! I didn't realize until halfway through the session, that he holds the bow in the wrong hand. I guess it's not wrong after all.....

Tim is showing increased mastery of his circuit bent Casio and Kaos pad combo. He's really worked to limit his options to best learn the rather unpredictable Casio. It's really working. His music is conscious and responsive in addition to it's grittiness! Nice.

Geordie always amazes me, just every time. He is so musical and so tasteful, and so rockin'! And so conscious: I get the feeling as he sets up a process or a preparation that he knows exactly what it is going to sound like. That is the benefit of practicing this stuff. It's always right sounding.

Howard is always a mischievous creature behind his ever changing gear pile, ready to throw a wrench into the works with his smirk, or tasteful compliment the other music. It was nice to have Sheilagh there as well, her first time. A little movement goes a long way, and she fit in well to our weird sound world.

We've been going a long time - 4 years now, and we are continuing. New members are welcome, with new sounds come new inspirations and new possibilities. Come on down!

A little info on Wireless

2009-11-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

Here is some information on Wireless, suddenlyLISTEN's December 2 concert. Check Facebook or suddenlylisten.com for more details

Actually Following the New Years Resolution...

2009-11-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

Okay this is nuts. I've had enough of Judy pointing her index finger at me, saying "you have to blog!"

So here it is.

This morning before the above challenge was made, I went to teach a little hour of cello stuff to some pretty experienced public school teachers. A little intimidating, but one of the instructions was "do some sort of improv thing". So I did, a simple "3 notes, 4 actually, play half the time, now play" sort of thing. It went over great! Like a revelation to some!

I must remember any time you put simple materials in front of listening people, some sort of music will result, and for first timers, it's like magic!

To me it's like magic, which is why I do it so much.

A New Year a New Blog

2009-09-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well it is almost fall. A time for new year's resolutions in this artist/administrator's mind.

The first idea is getting this blog to be a useful, informative tool. Which is why it I will be working to open it up to others to contribute. Make it a conversation - It's not my idea, it's David Barteaux's, sorry it's taken so long David....

I imagine this to become a forum for comments on the work of sL, what happened at the workshop? How was that last concert? Have you got great ideas for guests or concerts? What is the meaning of this improvised music thing anyway? I like to think of sL as a community, so the community should get a chance to speak.

So please let me know that you'd like to write and I'll figure out how to get you into the system, and please check back here regularly, with more people writing, we ought to get more than 2 posts a year up!

I'm looking forward to a great conversation.

December already

2008-12-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

Yeah it's December already the virtual halfway point of the year. The fall has been so intense that I feel glad it's almost half over! Of course in suddenlyLISTEN Land the second half of the year is more intense with January marking the opening of grant season. I strap on a computer from then until April 1st and write and edit and imagine my brains out. My family does not love this time. But it's satifying for me, especially when the money comes in, and articulating my dreams is always fun. And it is less invasive these days with help from Andrea and SAM who help immeasurably.

Bt ewnough of the future. The past has been great. beyond/beside/behind/before (Is that what it's called? I have to look it up each time - you know what I'm talking about...) was great fun and a real success. It was amazing to play with Allison and D'Arcy and to get to make sound with such a variety of instruments and noisemakers! I had a hoot, and discovered the iPod Touch as an exciting new instrument.
This week is sL meets Kumquat and rehearsals for that have been moving along. This is real deeparture for sL as playing written pieces has rarely been a priority, but working with Simon Docking, Suzanne Lemieux and Sue Sayle who are such great players has been terifuc. A special holler goes out to Zach Fairbrother, one of our Dal Student players who has shown himself to be professional, and capibal of hanging with the pros for this concert. He's going to do great. Workers Union is epic, truly a struggle that never ends! We found ourselves talking about the labour movement this morning! It's a piece that makes a point, not really fun to listen to maybe, but it is saying something important about people working together, having a say, being committed to a cause and

More Time!

2008-10-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

I wish I had more time to write in this blog! I am now in the thick of the season, preparing for beyond/beside/before/behind, running the workshop, and writing grants like a madman!
Tonight seems like a night off, so why not write a bit?
I'm struggling to fund a great project with Pauline Oliveros, my brother John, Ione, and heavy film guy Peter Mettler, in Banff this June. I have several irons in the funding fire there, and high hopes. And I need some new irons too, so will be hitting my media art friends up for info on how to get my foot in that door! So this project is taking my writing time.
Looking back, the Ken Aldcroft Open Source show was great, some new audience and Paul Cram, playing up a storm then leaving for the airport like a rock star. A highlight for me! ken's workshop introduced us to John Steven's exercises, and some cool new pieces. Ken is a truly dedicated soul, making the music, and doing the work to make the music because "it has to be done". I admire his passion for our music, it's inspiring to see somebody that keeps working despite inevitable delays and disappointments. It just has to be done. Go buy his CD's Help to keep this guy going!!
That's it for now. More soon

Summer Fun

2008-08-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well the money is in (thanks to the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism Culture and Heritage, and the Canada Council for the Arts!) and now the season's prep begins. Dates are set, artists booked, Andrea and I have had our late night phone meeting that starts the admin ball rolling and I'm starting to get Mireille going on design! Wow.
The brochure design process is interesting. Composing text, I have to describe each concert in very few words (a concert that will be invented spontaneously, mind you) AND make it appealing sounding! That's hard. I'm a bad salesman.

I hope all this isn't not too much work. Oh well good thing I usually love the work - and the result!
More soon

Memories #3

2008-05-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Music on the Cheap is a Series that has taken me a few years to get a handle on. Originally it was a chance to get people performing more, with a minimum of expense and administration. Then it grew, to a series that accomplished the above, with an added bonus of giving younger improvisers a chance to perform with local pros.

Now it is different again! And I think this is the format that will stick. For the final two concerts of 07/08, I've invited individuals to bring their work to show. They show up and play a set with whatever or whoever they've been working with! No questions asked. All I require is improvisation. Pretty fun.

This has resulted in two fantastic concerts with a huge variety of music, from the vocal performance art of Jake Danson-Faraday's Free Hugs, to Panos Giannoulis' punk attitude fueled work with Zachary Fairbrother, to Steve Slater's old school/new school electronic music. It's been amazing!

So I'm changing the name of the series to reflect the new style of concerts : Open Source is the new Series. Open Source reflects the nature of the concerts, people sharing their work amongst their friends, and sharing it with an audience ready for adventure.
It's the kind of concert I love going to!

Watch for Three Open Source concerts next year, starting in October or November. And come out to see the broad range of improvised music being made in Nova Scotia. It's pretty astounding.

Memories#2

2008-05-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

This season has really cemented in my mind that suddenlyLISTEN is not just about concerts. Finally! It took more than several pints and a stern lecture from my friend Sebastian Lexer in London to help me to realize that building the community of improvisers is where sL can do it's best work. It took me feeling really great at 9pm on some Monday nights. Workshop night.

The core of our community work is the workshop. Tim Crofts and I meet up with anybody, I mean anybody who wants to come and play! It's amazing. We get together on alternating Mondays, usually in a big room at the Quinpool Education Centre in Halifax, (although this year we struggled with Monday snowstorms - and when schools are closed the QEC is closed.) We are very grateful for our space though, because it is large and open and because it is generously donated by the Halifax City Schools Music Department. Also amazing.

And we play, we do some things that Tim learned in Boston when he was studying there, we do some things I've respectfully borrow from Eddie Prevost and his workshop in the UK, and we do some Deep Listening-type exercises taught and inspired by Pauline Oliveros.
And we improvise, we take suggestions, anything is possible.

And people keep coming: some EVERY time, like Howard Harawitz, who is our senior member, sergeant at arms and freedom police guy. Whenever things get to analyzed Howard steps in and sets us straight! He's great, and I think carries the spirit of what we are trying to do along with Tim and me. Then there is Kels Joudrey, high school kid, wildcard and inspiration. He's an inspiration: shooting his mouth off, getting teased back and playing like crazy!

And the music is almost always beautiful. Sure there are duds sometimes, but often, really quite frequently, the music is miraculous: sensitive, energized and expressive. I'm amazed quite a lot.

So we get together, sometimes there are five of us, sometimes there are twelve. Usually there are eight, which is a great number, and a testament to the people, and to the need for this work even in little old Halifax.

It enriches me every time, and I really appreciate that. You should come!

Memories #1.....

2008-04-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the 2007/2008 season is wrapping up. Our last Music on the Cheap concert is May 8 and then it's summer and we move ahead with the routine of setting up next year!
This is always a nice time, looking back on our successes and failures of the previous year. And this one marks a turning point for sL I think.
Mainly it's that I've figured out what the company does! Now this isn't as simple as it seems, believe me. Are we a series, a community movement, a gathering of musical freaks?
I can say that we are all that, and more. And I'm extremely proud of all the interesting things that we do.
Our concerts this year were the finest assemblage of musicians assembled for the series, and the results were amazing. Roots of the Moment with Eddie Prevost and Tim Crofts and myself had a week together that has changed me forever! And our concert recording is being considered by a European label for release! And if they don't release it sL will, because it was a remarkable evening of music making.
Interact was great for a few of reasons: It was a great experience to play with Monique Buzzarte and Andrew Duke, it was part of the Oscillations Festival of Electroacoustic Music which was fun to put together with Steve Naylor and Bob Bauer, AND it was recorded by CBC for broadcast, so listen for that on The Signal this summer!
And finally Organism, was a joy! The combination of Rob Power, Daniel Heikalo and Chris Church (and me) was fantastic. We hit the nail on the head for new sounds, freedom in our music making, surprises and general hilarity! We were laughing as we played, which to me, is an ultimate expression of music. I can't wait to hear the recording of that one.
When I can assemble such excellent musicians and people and play free music with them, and be able to show our work to a bunch of people, I feel like a lucky guy. What an honour it is to be able to work with these people, I feel like I learn and grow a great deal with each concert.
Stay tuned for future postings about suddenlyLISTEN's other fun work of this season!

The sLog

2008-04-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

Running a small arts organization is quite an adventure. Making it possible to make the art I want is a big job, so I thought I'd jump into the 21st century and blog about it.
I hope this chronicle will make people more aware of the work of suddenlyLISTEN, the fun we have, the great concerts we give, and some background on how it all comes about.

So we are now just about finished the 2007/2008 season, plans are being cemented for 08/09, grants are being written, dates are being hammered out, books are being updated, numbers crunched, mostly by me!
Ouch.
Well not really ouch because of the great help that I do get from Andrea Ritchie and Strategic Arts Management. Because of them this season was a breeze compared to some! A huge relief, and a great assistance.

So why not add to the workload and drop a note online once in a while? Stay tuned, thanks for reading.