Fraser MacPherson Jazz Workshop - Dec. 7

December 7, 1-3pm, a free workshop by legendary jazz drummer Louis Hayes at Cory Weeds’ Cellar Jazz Club (3611 W. Broadway).

* All workshops are free of charge and open to the public. Students wishing to perform in the workshop must complete and submit all required material listed below by November 1, 2013.

Application for Louis Hayes Workshop

The workshop will be held 1:00-3:00pm, Saturday, December 7, 2013, at the Cellar Jazz Club, 3611 W. Broadway, Vancouver.

Individual drummers or bass players are invited to apply. Small groups of 2-5 players, containing bass and drums, are welcome to apply. Applicants must be BC residents aged 25 and under as of Dec. 31, 2013.

The workshop will be in a masterclass format and each person or group is expected to come to the workshop with instruments, rehearsed and prepared to play music for Mr. Hayes. A bass amp, piano, and drum kit will be available on stage. Drummers should bring their own cymbals.

Please send the following information in an email to jburrows@capilanou.ca with “Louis Hayes Application” in the subject line. Application deadline is November 1, 2013.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Metro Vancouver presents "Survivor 101" workshops

Following on the success and feedback of the inaugural “Survivor 101” workshop in November 2012, the Regional Cultural Development Advisory Committee, through Metro Vancouver, has partnered with 4 municipalities throughout Metro to present SURVIVOR 101 THE NEXT GENERATION. This series will focus on funding, audience development, marketing and board development - key areas that participants expressed an interest in learning more about.

If you are a staff member, board member, volunteer, performer, artist, start-up visionary, or tenaciously holding on to a community arts organization in the terminal stages of decline, these workshops are for you!

Check the website for more details.

October 29 - Getting your funding ducks in a row
November 21 - audience development
February 2014 - Marketing 101
March 6, 2014 - Board development

Musicians may be most creative 'when not actually playing instrument'

New research into how and when the muse strikes finds that even fairly mundane activities can feed in to new insights

For a musician, it's an elusive question: where to find your muse? How to unlock your creative voice? Well, putting down the instrument and just tapping the furniture or singing badly in the shower might help.

New research suggests that musicians may be at their most creative when they are not playing their instrument or singing. By studying musicians and asking them when inspiration struck them, researchers found that breakthrough moments often happened when players were humming to themselves or tapping out rhythms on the table or imagining dance moves inspired by the music.

"What we are finding is that even fairly mundane activities can feed in to the discovery of new insight, new knowledge and new means of expressing ideas in all sorts of ways," said John Rink, professor of musical performance studies at Cambridge University. "The potential is infinite."

Rink led a team of researchers who carried out field work at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music, using interviews, questionnaires, focus groups and filming one-to-one lessons.

They talked to students about when they felt particularly creative or when something new emerged about their understanding of a piece – described by the team as creative episodes.

One horn player was filmed undertaking private practice. Watching it back he identified 34 creative episodes, 23 of which took place when he was not using his instrument – it was when he was humming, tapping on a table, gesturing, whistling and conducting himself. "All of this helps to embed the music in one's mind," said Rink.

He said creativity was important even if you were following a score.

Read the article here.

Is Music the Key to Success?

CONDOLEEZZA RICE trained to be a concert pianist. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was a professional clarinet and saxophone player. The hedge fund billionaire Bruce Kovner is a pianist who took classes at Juilliard.

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Anna Parini

¶Multiple studies link music study to academic achievement. But what is it about serious music training that seems to correlate with outsize success in other fields?

¶The connection isn’t a coincidence. I know because I asked. I put the question to top-flight professionals in industries from tech to finance to media, all of whom had serious (if often little-known) past lives as musicians. Almost all made a connection between their music training and their professional achievements.

To read more go to the New York Times Article until Oct.19