ABOUT MY STYLE OF IMPROVISATION
IN THE EARLY 1980’s, after immersing myself in classical music for more than a decade, earning my music degrees and beginning my professional career, I found myself wanting to “break out of the mold.” My life circumstances had changed a lot - I had new friends, new contacts, and new experiences going on. My search for personal growth led to the practice of yoga, meditation, and tai chi chuan. I became interested in music from other cultures, and also the “new age” genre. I had friends who, though not very knowledgeable about music, were happily improvising it. I wanted to add that dimension to my playing, but I had no idea how, when or where it would happen.
I IMPROVISED FOR THE FIRST TIME AT ESALEN, a school on the coast of Big Sur, California, in a week-long tai chi class. Early one morning, as my class faced the ocean and went through the form together, I played a note that came from way inside of me, and then I played the next one I heard inside, and so on. The improvisation was a powerful experience for me, and for those who moved to it as well. On my return to Houston, I began the practice of improvising music at the end of my weekly tai chi class, following the continuous movement of the participants as they went through the form. Responding musically to a visual stimulus was very different from reading music! It opened my mind to a very direct kind of creativity. I did, however, want to know more about what I was doing intuitively, and how to develop it. I explored musical scales from other cultures and the “church modes” from early classical music. When I found one I resonated with, I would practice improvising on it, and write down resulting patterns that I liked. I found a set of wind chimes tuned to a pentatonic scale. I would ring the chimes and use the resulting patterns as a source of material for improvisation. I also practiced improvising using an Indian drone instrument called the “sruti” box. Playing against the constant pitch of this instrument caused me to feel very strongly the directional tendencies of each note in the scale - The notes I played on the flute seemed to want to move one way or another without my thinking about it. My style of improvisation remained slow and sensitive, the phrases aligning with each long breath, the tone coming from my heart.
THIS WAS A VERY EXCITING AND CREATIVE TIME FOR ME. Doors opened. A variety of performance opportunities came. Musically I relied on these resources: my classical background, the material that emerged from my development efforts, and lots of listening experience. I was influenced by the recordings of Paul Horn, Kay Gardner, Native American flutist Carlos Nakai, Classical Indian flutist G.S. Sachdev, and various Japanese shakuhachi players. And, most importantly, I relied on my intuition, which I really learned to trust. I accompanied a documentary film (From Stone: Jacob Lipkin - An American Sculptor, produced by Phil Katzman), a documentary video (At the Threshold, profiling the life and work of Carolyn Grant Fay), several dance performances with dancer/choreographer Nancy Galeota-Wozny, and some guided meditation tapes. I have improvised music for weddings, funerals, church services, art openings, and labyrinth walking. In 2004 I released a CD of improvisations on flute and alto flute, entitled MYSTERIUM, Solo Flute Music for Inner Journeys. Future plans in this genre include another CD, and possibly more documentary films.
© 2008 Teresa Grawunder FluteImpressions.com
© 2008 Teresa Grawunder FluteImpressions.com
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