Serious Play: Creative musical improvisation (Mihoko Suzuki)
Sun, Feb 26, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm CLASS / WORKSHOP, KIDS
Do you play an instrument (at any level) and want to learn how to improvise with others, or to expand your approach to improvising?
In this two-hour workshop for teens and adults with a working knowledge of any instrument, pianist and composer Mihoko Suzuki will lead a playful exploration of the world of improvised music—not in terms of rock, jazz, or blues styles, but approaching it based on a notion of music as Organized Sound. In exercises, experiments, and collaborative composition we will communicate with each other through deep listening and respond with the basic elements of sound: pitch, timbre, loudness, and duration. Bring your instruments and a desire to create and have fun, and together we can explore what it means to harmonize with one another, how we turn noise into sound, and then sound into music! (Several keyboards will be available for pianists, as well as an assortment of other instruments). Cost: $10-$15 suggested donation (sliding scale)
Please register, below, so we can prepare for the right number of musicians!
Composer Mihoko Suzuki has created a diverse range of multidisciplinary works including music-theater, dance, film, and performance installation; “And the Hummingbird Says…”—a song cycle based on the life and philosophy of Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai; Ballet “Sideshows by the Seashore”—has won the Columbia Artists-National Choreography Competition; “Desert Widow”—a performance art video which has won an Accolade Award for Experimental Film and has been presented at San Francisco Dance Film Festival; “Ode to Number 14”—Piano 4 Hands, featured in the 30th anniversary of NYFA Artist Fellowship Program. Recipient of NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, Shelley Pinz Professional Development Award, Panta Rhea Foundation Arts for Change Activity Award, LMCC: Creative Engagement and New Music USA Project Grants. A native of Japan, Mihoko studied piano at Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, and composition at Manhattan School of Music, where she received her Bachelor of Music degree.
Composer Mihoko Suzuki has created a diverse range of multidisciplinary works including music-theater, dance, film, and performance installation; “And the Hummingbird Says…”—a song cycle based on the life and philosophy of Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai; Ballet “Sideshows by the Seashore”—has won the Columbia Artists-National Choreography Competition; “Desert Widow”—a performance art video which has won an Accolade Award for Experimental Film and has been presented at San Francisco Dance Film Festival; “Ode to Number 14”—Piano 4 Hands, featured in the 30th anniversary of NYFA Artist Fellowship Program. Recipient of NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, Shelley Pinz Professional Development Award, Panta Rhea Foundation Arts for Change Activity Award, LMCC: Creative Engagement and New Music USA Project Grants. A native of Japan, Mihoko studied piano at Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, and composition at Manhattan School of Music, where she received her Bachelor of Music degree.