recording session in the dance studio: a "pickup" ensemble of students & faculty improvising under my direction	the choreography for which the recorded student ensemble's music served as accompaniment	African dance students' performance: the WVU African Ensemble drumming as I recorded live (mics behind cloth)

Fall Semester 2002: A Sampler of my work as Resident Musician
in the Denison University Dance Department

Denison is a small school, yet the Dance Department, in the 14 weeks of Fall Semester '02, offered so very much:
~ various levels of technique classes in ballet, contemporary, and world dance;
~ theory classes such as Composition and Improvisation;
~ four separate concert productions featuring students dancing the works of faculty and guest artists;
~ and one student-directed senior choreography project performed, plus another senior project in rehearsal.

Class Accompaniment and "Showing"

I played for ballet, contemporary, and improvisation, daily classes and guest artists. At the end of the semesters, there is a "Showing" of the classes, in which students assemble to watch one another perform in a very fun casual end-of-semester atmosphere. I accompanied the "Showings," switching back and forth from piano to percussion as the various classes each perform. In Fall semester, 2002, African dance students performed to the sounds of a CD I had recorded Live of the drumming of the visiting WVU African Ensemble during our November African Dance Concert, since ensemble drumming is the true accompaniment for African (and I've only got two hands)! Excerpts of my solo, live, improvisational playing for the Fall 2002 Showing can be seen and heard in the following brief QuickTime videos:

click to watch (with piano) EXCERPT OF BALLET II/ III click to watch (with drums and shaker) EXCERPTS OF CONTEMPORARY II/ III and to hear an mp3 excerpt of MY LIVE RECORDING of the WVU African Ensemble, used for the African students' Showing, click HERE TO HEAR "DIBON"

Live Performance with Choreography

Senior Jessamyn Schmidt crafted a Choreography Project based on explorations of how and why we remember. The sound score was complex, involving a bit of Meredith Monk's "Biography" music first, followed by memories spoken aloud by the dancers as they danced, with my own recorded loop of children's voices sounding from the speakers, and meanwhile, delicately woven through it all, myself playing Live in the room, subtle piano and vocal echoes of the previously-heard sounds. It was a very touching and satisfying performance.

International Guild of Musicians in Dance Conference at Ohio State

In October, I led a rhythm and choreography workshop at the 2002 IGMID Conference. The handout from that workshop, which has been archived by IGMID, can be viewed on the Resources page of their site.

Original Music for Faculty Choreography

Though I have COMPOSED FOR CHOREOGRAPHY many a time, Sandy Mathern-Smith's Fall 2002 choreography presented an interesting challenge. Her concept was to create a large piece in which the focus shifts from one dancer to the next as each takes an "accompanied solo." She wanted music which reflected the individual character of each of the six solos. At the point where I was invited to create the music, most of the choreography had already been set, and Sandy had me listen to a CD of a little minimalist piece by Jack Body, based on a repeating marimba theme, as an example of what she had in mind, musically. Luckily, the Dance Department owns two lovely small rosewood marimbas, which I could use as the opening sound.

There was a sense that both "ensemble sound" and "a Live feel" were important, but because of the Music Department's own performance shedule, there was no way to conjure an ensemble of student musicians for Live performance for our December concert. I set out to design something that could be recorded ahead of time, but still have that "feel" of live improvisation. I gathered a pick-up group of eight musicians - seven students, one adult - who were willing to give my idea a try. I sketched out "structured improv games" for the musicians, based on the dancers' own written preferences for instrumentation, along with two or three dancer-selected adjectives. No music was ever actually notated, though we made some choices as to key and rhythm patterns.

In just two 2-hour sessions, on two Sundays in November, we established the working relationship of this new musical ensemble, and I recorded (Live to DAT, right in the dance studio) a succession of possible takes for each section of the dance. I myself had seen the dance, but the musicians had not. "Mixing" wasn't an issue, since we have only DAT (not ADAT) and cannot overdub or remix after the Live take, but "assembly" was my challenge, as some last-minute changes appeared in the choreography. In the end, it was rather wonderful to see how it all fit together.

You can hear brief mp3 excerpts from the sections pictured below:
(And the players are: JARED THOMPSON saxophone; MEGHAN COIL, violin and percussion;
EMILY CULP, cello and percussion, MICHAEL SISSON, bass; COREY BABB, voice and percussion;
EMILY GONZALES, piano and percussion; AARON FULEKI, percussion, STEVE MOKRIS, percussion)

	click to hear mp3 excerpt of the brief little opening moment, which segued into DANCER FRANKLIN GRACE'S SECTION Frank's requested instruments were sax and violin His adjectives were "calm, articulate"
	click to hear mp3 excerpt of DANCER KORI MARTODAM'S SECTION Kori's requested instruments were voice and sax Her adjectives were "curiously busy"
	click to hear mp3 excerpt of DANCER CASSANDRA SMITH'S SECTION Cassandra's requested instruments were strings Her adjectives: "caring, lyrical, quietly enthusiastic"
The two recording sessions took place November 10th and 17th, with Kori and myself up in the booth and the musicians in the Dance Studio below.		Adjusting levels up in the booth... the musicians down below

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