March 9, 2010 -
A few weeks ago I returned with my band from a fantastic US tour that included multi-day stops in Houston and Kalamazoo, a concert and residency at the University of Minnesota, Moorhead and three sets at one of our favorite clubs, the Green Mill in Chicago.

We began in Houston with a 5-day residency organized by Da Camera of Houston, a great organization that presents concerts and does a lot of community outreach in and around town. On our first day we worked with some 8th grade students on a program dedicated to poetry and improvised music. It was a very rewarding experience for me, and I hope for the students as well.

For the few weeks leading up to our visit, Evan Leslie of Da Camera worked with them on writing original poems inspired by music from the Think Free CD. Then we all got together and I asked them to read their work as Jenny, Rudy and I improvised along with them. Finally, the band improvised a new piece and I asked the students to quickly write new poems in reaction to what we were playing.

The project allowed us the chance to work with these wonderfully creative students on some fundamental musical concepts without requiring them to know anything about playing an instrument (although several of them were reportedly excellent musicians). We talked a lot about phrasing and tempo and encouraged them to leave space in their delivery so that we might react to what they were reading. We talked about dynamics and timbre, including the intensity and tone of their voices. We pointed out how we could at times be literal in our accompaniments by following their phrasing exactly and at other times react to the emotional tone of their poems by playing something complimentary but related.