6/19-6/25 | SILKROAD’S GLOBAL MUSICIAN WORKSHOP @ DePauw University [Greencastle, IN]

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SILKROAD’S GLOBAL MUSICIAN WORKSHOP 2016

June 19th – 25th, 2016 | DePauw University [Greencastle, IN]

The mission of Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop (GMW) is to foster a community of globally minded musicians engaged in learning from one another’s traditions and incorporating them into their own artistic voices. An all-star artist-faculty will teach styles of music from across the world. GMW is directed by Silk Road Ensemble cellist Mike Block.

GMW will be taught by an all-star faculty representing a wide range of backgrounds and cultures, including Seamus Blake (jazz saxophone), Sandeep Das (Indian tabla), Hadi Eldebek (Arabic oud), Gamin (Korean wind instruments), Maeve Gilchrist (Celtic harp/vocals), Bruce Molsky (Old-time Appalachian fiddle), Balla Kouyate (Malian balafon), Edward Perez (Afro-Latin bass), Shane Shanahan (world percussion), Abigail Washburn (Banjo/Vocals mixing American/Chinese styles), and GMW Director Mike Block (multi-style strings). (from Silkroad GMW site)

This year’s Guest Artist is banjo virtuoso, Bela Fleck!

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Pt. Sandeep Das leads a workshop on Tehais in Indian Classical music @ 2015 GMW. (Brian Grimm w/ guqin zither, pictured on the right.)

This year, I am absolutely thrilled to participate on cello and guqin zither in chamber ensembles led by Gamin (Korean wind instruments), Edward Perez (Afro-Latin bass), & Hadi Eldebek (Arabic oud)!  I’ve always loved Korean music from afar, the treatment of space, pitch & rhythm fascinates me.  I haven’t heard much of the wind music, so Gamin’s perspective, knowledge & mastery will be a totally new experience.  Edward, or Beast-Hands as I liked to call him, brought so much dancing joy to our workshop last year.  The Afro-Peruvian layering of rhythm coupled with the concept of when to be ‘inbetween a straight rhythm & a swung rythm’ was ear-boggling.  When Edward plays the bass lines solo, the style-shift is instantly felt.  You can almost hear what the rest of the band would be playing – ’tis mark of a true groove master!  The Arabic music presence at last year’s workshop was the highlight of my year.  So soulful & passionate; ranging from pure excitement to calming microtones.  Having learned Flamenco from my brother AJ Grimm, I could immediately hear and see it’s Arabic music roots.  Arabic rhythm stuctures enthrall me, I can’t wait to learn more from Hadi this year.    It’s going to be another blissful week of cross-cultural learning and friendship making!  ~ Brian Grimm


~ 2015 Faculty Performances ~


~ 2015 Participant Performances ~


 

12/07 | Music Workshop “CONVERSATION = IMPROVISATION” @ Madison Music Foundry

Click here to sign up on the Madison Music Foundry website!

Click here to sign up on the Madison Music Foundry website!

CONVERSATION = IMPROVISATION

Music Improvisation workshop with BC Grimm

Sundays from 12-2pm

Nov 11/23 11/30  Dec *12/07 12/14  @ Madison Music Foundry 

…shifting the approach from the narrow field of ‘note/genre based’ improvisation, to the wide universe of ‘sound/conversation based’ exploration!

>> *Update!  We have lowered the price of this workshop to just $24 for each 2-hr class.  You can still sign up for the whole series ($90) – OR – sign up for a one-time class on December 7th ($24)! 


Who should sign up?

Any age. Any instrument(s). From experienced improvisers to beginners, all are welcome. I’m especially interested in reaching people who are “afraid to fail” in improvisation, so we can break down that barrier.

First and foremost, anyone, at any skill level can participate – together. This workshop will shift the participant’s perspective on what improvisation is. We’ll take it from simply being note/genre focused and transform the player’s approach to being sound/conversation focused. It will greatly broaden who the player can improvise with, how long they can play, and how creative they can be!

SESSION FOCUS
When it comes to improvisation, sometimes people freeze… “what do I play next?”, “I can’t think of any other ‘things’ to play…”, “what if it doesn’t ‘sound good’?”, etc. ad infinitum… This can easily be overcome by shifting the approach from the narrow field of ‘note/genre based’ improvisation, to the wide universe of ‘sound/conversation based’ exploration.

EVERY TIME WE HAVE A CONVERSATION, WE ARE IMPROVISING!
Every single person who uses language is an improviser… So, everyone already possesses the skills required for group-improv.  When you sit down to free-improv with a group of musicians – even if you’ve never played with them before – it should be natural, music is a language.  We’ll work on communication skills in order to have a conversation in sound.

We’ll touch on Avant Garde & Extended Techniques as a dialect of improvisation. We’ll focus on how, much to the surprise of traditional thinking, experimental sounds can be found in nature everywhere. I have heard many of my improvising collaborators play rhythms & textures that I’ve previously experienced in nature &/or surrounding environments. It is coded in our DNA & can’t be escaped, but rather must be acknowledged and embraced. There is naturalism in experimental sound that needs be explored in order to communicate & relay your meaning to the listener.

LISTENING
In each class we’ll take time to listen to examples of different approaches to improvisation that correlate to the session’s focus.

EXPERIMENT
By the very nature of the word/process, you must be open to failure. You must be willing to “play a wrong note” or “try a sound/technique you’ve never played before”. That’s what an experiment is: you have an educated guess about what outcome may happen, but you can’t know for sure until the experiment is performed & data collected. – Try a new sound or technique, listen… did it work? No? Alter the experiment & try again… still No?  Then, it’s probably safe to move on to a new sound-experiment. OR Yes? Great!! Keep exploring it, what else can you create from that experiment, and where will it lead you?”


“BCG… who in the scootin’-fruidy is this guy?!…” 

BC Grimm is active professionally as a teacher, composer, improviser, performer, sound designer, electronic musician, & multi-instrumentalist on cello, bass guitar, & Chinese String strings (古琴 guqin, 古筝 guzheng, 琵琶 pipa, 二胡 erhu, 高胡 gaohu).  A frequent collaborator in Madison’s avant-garde music scene, BCG is also passionate about exploring music traditions from around the world.  After earning a Bachelor of Music Composition with honors from Butler University, he has found a niche composing, performing, and recording scores for dance, theatre, & film.

“ … compositions are both classical and experimental, both disciplined and exploratory.”
– Isthmus, The Daily Page (June 2012, ‘Redolent Spires’ album review)

“Madison-based multi-instrumentalist Brian Grimm specializes in playing the guqin and guzheng, Chinese zithers that sometimes run as large as a small canoe. He’s also a classically trained cellist and, under the name Brain Grimmer, produces adept and twisted instrumental hip-hop. In performances with Julian Lynch’s band and various jazz and improvisational groups around town, Grimm draws on both formal music studies and avant-garde extremes.”
Arts Extract Podcast, Scott Gordon (June 2014, ‘The Ideating Knell’ album review)


8/09 | Lyre Power workshops @ Edgewood College

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Sat, 08/09 | Lyre Power has over 10 workshops available for their August 9th festival at Edgewood College‘s center for visual & theater arts, The Stream.  I (BC Grimm) will teach a new workshop, ‘Conversation = Improvisation’, in parallel with other workshops taught by some very talented friends of GrimmusiK including; Rob Lundberg, Yid Vicious (Geoff Brady of Brennan Connors & Stray Passage), Nick Zielinski (ARP of the Covenant) & more!

The workshops are open to all ages, child to adult!  Choose your 2 favorite sessions & sign up today!  “The cost to participate is $35, which covers the full day (two workshops and performances) from 9:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. on Saturday, August 9. No money is due upon pre-registering online. The registration form we send by mail will include payment information.”

LYRE POWER WORKSHOPS 2014

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Special thanks to Jeff Stanek, Shad Wenzlaff, & Debbie Yee, the coordinators of Lyre Power, for organizing what will prove to be a most excellent day of improvisation & composition workshops!

| LyrePower.com | fb.page | fb.event page |

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