Music for People

[Note: this blog is moving to www.classicalimprov.com, which will have more resources that are easier to find, too; I'll cross post for a while; meanwhile please adjust bookmarks and links.]

Music for People is one of the most extraordinary organizations I've ever encountered; what makes it so extraordinary is that there's a clear sense of mission. However stated, there's a shared sense of purpose among MfPers, supporting each other in self-expression and interpersonal connection through improvised music in a humanistic (i.e., supportive and nonjudgmental) environment.

I started improvising on my own, as a form of emotional release and catharsis (hmm, is that redundant?). I quickly discovered the recordings of the improvising cellist David Darling, co-founder and artistic director of Music for People, and then went to a week-long summer workshop (in 1993, I think) called "Improvising Chamber Music." I was scared to death that while I could improvise on my own, I wouldn't be able to improvise music that made any sense in an ensemble with others.

David is, in my opinion, a true genius at leading workshops that create a space for people to find themselves musically and to musically interract with others. While I'd found my own improvisational voice before I encountered David and MfP, the workshop was a revalation. It changed my life, for I saw how humanistic, self-expressive improvisation can be used for healing, growth, bringing people together, and making music in a deeply satisfying process. What I learned in that workshop, and many subsequent ones (including the MfP facilitator-training program), has had more impact on my teaching than anything else in my life. And I believe that in encouraging students to improvise and introducing them to the Music for People philosophy, summed up in a Bill of Musical Rights, is where I've made the greatest difference in the lives of the students I've worked with.

Music for People workshops, whether led by David and/or the current staff, or by independent certified facilitators (like me) who can be found throughout the U.S. (and other parts of the world) are a great place to start improvising, and expecially to get support, encouragement and inspiration.

The MfP Bill of Musical Rights:

• Human beings need to express themselves daily in a way that invites physical and emotional release.
• Musical self-expression is a joyful and healthy means of communication available to absolutely everyone.
• There are as many different ways to make music as there are people.
• The human voice is the most natural and powerful vehicle for musical self-expression. The differences in our voices add richness and depth to music.
• Sincerely expressed emotion is at the root of meaningful musical expression.
• Your music is more authentically expressed when your body is involved in your musical expression.
• The European tradition of music is only one sound. All other cultures and traditions deserve equal attention.
• Any combination of people and instruments can make music together.
• There are no "unmusical" people, only those with no musical experience.
• Music improvisation is a unique and positive way to build skills for life-expression.
• In improvisation as in life, we must be responsible for the vibrations we send one another.

A great resource for improvisers, whether experienced or just starting, is the MfP handbook, Return to Child. It started out as rather short booklet, principally authored by the other cofounder of MfP, Bonnie Insull. Over the years it has been expaned and updated by the insightful and articulate Jim Oshinsky, whose passion for the work of MfP is matched only by his observational powers and ability to analyze and articulate the multiple levels of communication, group dynamics, and leadership found in MfP.

Music for People, Part I

Ah--it's the last day of classes of the semester. I have only a couple of hours of teaching today, and a little more time to think and write.

Sunday night I returned from a Music for People weekend. Music for People was started about 21 years ago by Bonnie Insull and David Darling. Bonnie (if I understand correctly) was a classical flutist who had attended some workshops with David at the Omega Institute. She was so profoundly affected by David's teaching of a humanistic, personally-affirming, self-expressive approach to making music, especially improvising, that she organized Music for People . The organization has served ever since both to introduce people to this approach and to train others to lead workshops incorporating both the MfP spirit as well as the specific activities that have been developed over the years. Also of fundamental importance has been Jim Oshinsky, a clinical psychologist who has invested a tremendous amount of energy in documenting David's teaching and analyzing the interpersonal dynamics and responsibilities involved in leading workshops, especially workshops conducted in a humanistic approach. Bonnie moved on to other projects about ten years ago, coming back for occcasional visits. The organization she began continues to thrive, with Eric Miller serving as executive director, Mary Knysh as the other primary teacher along with David, and Julie Metcalf running the ongoing programs in which participants work on developing skills through various "homeplay" assignments, support from more experienced mentors, and three or four weekend workshops during the year.

David often uses the term "humanistic" to describe the environment he's worked to create in Music for People. There are many ways in which the MfP approach exemplifies the ideals of humanistic education.

There are, of course, any number of definitions of humanistic education. One common element among those I've read is the fundamental importance of a non-threatening environment in which to learn, with an emphasis on the teacher serving more as a facilitator of a process of self-discovery than as an authority figure who makes pronouncements and judges work.

When teaching, David constantly reminds participants to let go of "negativity." His workshops are structured to make participants feel comfortable, to encourage self-trust, to foster mutual acceptance and support. In his workshops, David is masterful at creating an atmosphere of empowerement, and at avoiding throwing people into what Arthur Hull (another masterful, humanistic facilitator, who is the father of the American facilitated drum circle movement) calls "student crisis mode."

All of which is vital to creating an atmosphere in which adults can engage in a process of creative recovery. The Music for People handbook, originally written by Bonnie Insull and since heavily revised and updated by Jim Oshinsky, is called Return to Child. I was just reading a 1932 article by Émile Jacques-Dalcroze (1865-1950), the founder of the Dalcroze movement, which puts very well the need to “return” to a child’s freedom in making music.

Now, experience has proved to me that that children love improvising on the piano, thus proving that they are able to do it. We are surprised to note that their melodic and rhythmic inventiveness is far more original than that of adolescents. Their entirely fresh mentality has not yet been chained by arbitrary rules. The child is capable of creating, simply because his brain is untrammeled. And this is also why the adult creator reveals the whole of his individuality only when he has succeeded in forgetting rules and his brain has once more become free. [italics original][1]

What all the leaders of Music for People do so well is to create an environment in which one’s brain can “once more become free.” The body is involved—there’s a tai chi-inspired movement to “release!” fear and negativity. “There are no ‘wrong’ notes,” is a constant mantra. What happens when something goes other than the way you wanted? Smile and laugh. When a leader demonstrates something for participants to imitate, there’s a frequent reminder that, “I’m doing what I‘m doing, you’re doing what you’re doing.”

Well, time to go make some music. I’ll write more about Music for People soon.

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[1] E. Jacques-Dalcroze, “Rhythmics and Pianoforte Improvisation,” trans. F. Rothwell, Music and Letters, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Oct. 1932) 371-80, accessed March 29, 2006 through JSTOR, www.jstor.org.