Does making art engender hope? Or does hope cause artists to create?

I’m not accustomed to giving speeches, but yesterday I collaborated with two colleagues, poet Regie Gibson and visual artist Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer, to present a convocation at Fisher College. We speechified; we performed poetry with piano accompaniment; we displayed visual art on easels and projected large on the stage. Our topic was collaboration, how we’ve   Read More...

Summer Improv Ensemble

I’m leading two freestyle improv workshops June 22 & 29, 2010. Here’s some of the exercises we’ll practice: Warmup One sound (from Tom Hall): Going around the group, each player plays a single sound We can do this with a beat or without. Direct your attention as we do this: 1. Pay attention equally to   Read More...

Improv Class End-of-Semester Wrapup

At the end of my first semester teaching improv class, I am smiling about how much fun it was, despite the very small class. We practiced some great ear-training exercises, like follow the leader by repeating a 4-beat snippet of melody, predictably trickier the less diatonic the melody. Another good drill we liked (which you   Read More...