Love sounds, just as they are.

The IfCM Collective performing at the first TMO House Concert in September

Tomorrow is the second TMO house concert! TMO2! TMO2!!! The main reasons that Kim and I have these shows is to hang out with our friends and neighbors and have a fun IfCM music-making experience. We have three wonderfully energetic daughters so the concert scene is a bit different now than when we used to put on shows in “The Bunker” at our Rochester, NY house (and I think that’s a good thing). Intentionally planning an event to be welcoming of energetic kid participation (and also the expected sorrow, tears, and blood) is a reminder of the reality that people of ALL ages have different ways of engaging, listening, and participating in music and community. John Cage (person, composer, performer) is someone I have thought about a lot this week for his willingness to “love sounds, just as they are” and embrace the different outcomes that make up an experience in the real world. Check out documentary clip below where he elaborates:

“I love sounds, just as they are. And I have no need for them to be anything more than what they are. I don’t want them to be psychological, I don’t want a sound to pretend that it’s a bucket, or that it’s a president, or that it’s in love with another sound. [pause to LOL] I just want it to be a sound.”

Cage is possibly best known for turning a 4’33” expectation of awkward “silence” in a concert hall into something that wildly opens up the traditional performance environment. I think his call to “let a sound be a sound” is an incredibly useful motto in response to the expectation that performance of “serious music” like jazz and classical should be perfect, played only in certain places, and reverently attended to in silence. That can be cool too but we’re going for something a bit different with our IfCM programs in general and the TMO House Concert specifically. We hope you’ll join us tomorrow to play, listen, and participate in many different ways! We’ll have a Zoom stream hosted by Matthew Golombisky for folks who can’t join us in person, but please RSVP if you can join at the house! Full info below:

Date: Sunday, December 4th, 2pm-4:30pm

Schedule:
2pm: IfCM Collective performance in the living room/kids workshop in the rehearsal room:

  • Grace Frarey (alto sax), Bailey Ehrgott (guitar), August Bish (bass), Chris Teal (drums/vox) play music by Charles Mingus, Björk, Radiohead, and Teal.

2:35pm: Denton Jazz Workshop performance
3:10pm: Tomorrow Music Orchestra performance workshop of “Reflect Connect” and “Changing Times/Clothes” (view pdfs here)
4pm: Dessert and mingle

This event is made possible by sliding scale donations. All are encouraged to attend regardless of ability to pay. The IfCM wishes to be 100% inclusive of all interested people and our programming is made possible by donations from members of the community. Pay what you can to make it possible for us to provide the event to all, regardless of ability to pay.

The Institute for Creative Music is a Denton-based non-profit focused on presenting and facilitating musical workshops and performances for people of all ages and abilities. Find out more at www.ifcmusic.org and contact Chris Teal at chris@ifcmusic.org with questions.

Chris TealComment