April 21, 2022 • 41 mins
S1 E5: Q&A: Student Reluctant to Improvise
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Steve and Lauren take questions from listeners about encouraging students who are reluctant to improvise, and how to foster creative student collaboration online.
For a transcription of this episode and more: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/e/q-a-student-reluctant-to-improvise
Get updates and exclusive community content by signing up for our email newsletter at:
www.infiniteimprovisation.com/podcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve Treseler (00:07):
Welcome to the Infinite Improvisation Podcast:
Adventures in Music and Creativity.
I'm Steve Treseler, joined by Lauren Best.
And in this final episode of ourpilot season, give you a taste of some
things to come and future seasons.
So far, yeah, pilot episodes havebeen some open discussions, about
(00:28):
who, what and why of the podcast, butwe're going to get into some other,
other experiments and segments,
Lauren Best (00:36):
which I am very excited about.
Steve Treseler (00:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
Lauren Best (00:38):
We have some surprises planned for each other, which we haven't
even totally explained to each other yet
Steve Treseler (00:46):
kind of a reaction or reveal video and just lot
and see, and see how that goes.
That's, that's one of our, one ofour segments, our themes coming up.
Um, and also we've talked aboutsome musical experiments, like you
know a performing or other artisticexperiments, documenting the process.
I mean, one will be in the next season.
(01:06):
We're going to go through documentthe process of collaboratively
writing a theme song for the podcast.
Lauren Best (01:13):
Yeah, because interestingly, we have talked about music a lot, but we
have not actually made any music together.
I think, I think that's true.
We've done zero musical collaboration.
So we are planning on showing what that'slike, which is also a first and not only
the first time collaborating together.
But I think that'd be the first time forme documenting the process on a podcast.
Steve Treseler (01:37):
Exactly.
So all, yeah.
We'll have some other musical live musicalexperiments and not even necessarily
like a demonstrating or tips and tricksor anything like that, but here's like
the process of of doing it and puttingourselves in artistically risky situations
live and, um, that, yeah, well, we'll see.
Yeah.
(01:57):
We'll see how that all works out.
It sounds like it sounds exciting.
Lauren Best (02:01):
And a little nerve-wracking, but that's, I think that's part of
you and I both, I, if you've beenlistening so far, you know that
Steve and I think about formats andstructures and kind of the, the, the
container aspect as well as modeling.
So I'm looking forward to playinga little bit with the format
(02:23):
of, of how collaboration looksand how podcasting looks for us.
Steve Treseler (02:28):
Yeah.
And since it's a podcast, we're goingto have guests, you know, so I'll have
some interviews and discussions withpeople who are doing, yeah, artists and
educators who are doing awesome things,
Lauren Best (02:43):
which is exciting.
It's great to be able toinvite people to the party.
Absolutely.
Steve Treseler (02:48):
And also we, uh, we want to do some Q and A some ask
us anything and inviting listenersand you to, yes, submit, submit
your, submit your questions for us.
So you can find us online orgo to infiniteimprovisation.com
and submit a question for us.
And we would love to hear from you.
(03:08):
So we've got a couple ofquestions from listeners, or
should we say future listeners?
Because we're putting, we're goingto post that we're going to publish
this whole pilot season at once.
So we have enthusiastic futurelisteners who haven't heard the show
yet, but sent us questions anyway
Lauren Best (03:22):
We've, been telling them about what the
process has been like so far.
And, uh, luckily they were wondering.
Steve Treseler (03:28):
Yeah, so I got a great one from our friend, Melissa.
She's a, Melissa Slocum, she is a, pianoteacher in the Atlanta area and a host
of the Sounds of Encouragement Podcastfor, so any music teachers, you will
definitely want to want to check that out.
So she has a question for us abouther practice and Lauren hasn't heard
(03:48):
this yet, so I'm surprising Laurenwith this, with this question.
Melissa Slocum (03:54):
A little bit of backstory is I have two boys who are transfer
students who started in Faber and, um,they're six and eight years old and
they had a very traditional teachingsetup with their former teacher.
I suspect, although no, no one hassaid it, that basically improvisation
was sort of, not forbidden, butreally frowned upon as not making
(04:18):
music by their former teacher.
And, um, the mom also, I know at hometries to not have them do anything
around the piano unless it's music.
Um, cause she doesn't want them banging,
I don't think, on the piano at home.
And maybe the most basic question and howthat should be framed for a show is, um,
(04:39):
you know, when the usual approaches toimprovisation do not seem to be working
and there is still just reticence aboutdoing improvisation at all, should a
teacher who's, you know, well-equippedwill experienced back off and not push.
Or should a teacher, um, trysomething maybe out of the ordinary.
(05:04):
And if the answer is the latter, whatare some of the out and out of the
ordinary approaches that, uh, onemight try when you, when you feel like
you've done all the other approaches,um, and tried some of the other more
common, uh, techniques for beginningimprovisation, whether it's rhythm
and sound or exploration or animals ordrawing pictures or copycat or whatever.
Steve Treseler (05:33):
Okay.
Cool.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Thanks Melissa.
Yeah, a lot, a lot there.
I mean, this is certainly you'reworking with kids of that age.
That is certainly that'scertainly your wheelhouse.
I mean, what jumps out at me?
Like what is, what are theusual approaches or not?
That's a big, big thing tounpack, but what, what are your
first thoughts on, on that?
And you work with a lot of kids in thatage, age range, I believe she said,
(05:55):
may have not said this, I'd say six andeight or somewhere in that age range.
Lauren Best (06:00):
And I had a similar question or thought in response,
uh, and I've used Faber myself.
So there's also some improvisationand creativity suggested
within the method book.
So I wonder if I wondered if, ifwhat she described as the, the usual
approaches, were using some of those.
(06:20):
And I say that because like they'rewritten down, so it's easy for a parent
to see and understand and sort of suggest.
Steve Treseler (06:27):
And she had, she had also told me that they did things like
doing some call and response here.
I play this, you copy it.
And now you change one note aboutit, and then they would freeze.
And just not as soon as they weremaking a creative decision was just
not, they were very resistant to that.
So some, and she said, I'd mentionedthings like drawing pictures or,
um, let's, uh, you know, play anemotion, let's express an emotion.
(06:49):
She was, she was giving me a few ofthe ideas that she had, that she had
tried and they were just not having it.
Lauren Best (06:57):
I w I always suggest with kids repeating and seeing what happens
again, because sometimes repeatingthe same activity can have a different
result because they're used to it thistime they have a feeling of safety and
they, they know what to anticipate.
So where you get nothing at first,sometimes I find trying again, and
(07:21):
sometimes again, after that, can, I mean,sometimes we want change approaches of
course, but sometimes waiting a littlelonger and having repeated exposure.
I find can help.
One because different days aredifferent, you know, and a child might
be hungry or have wet socks or havenot slept well or whatever on one day.
(07:46):
And so they're going to have, like,their attention is less their, their,
you know, emotional state is different.
They're not, you know, they'redistracted by their socks.
They're not as ready totake risks and might just be
different on a different day.
Uh, That being said, sometimeswe, sometimes we do want to
just change the approach, uh,right away when she was talking.
(08:09):
I mean, I like to work with parentsand talk about how we can like set
things up a little differently andchange, change the approach, maybe
so that there isn't pressure around,uh, around practicing, for example.
And so that there's a little more,uh, like understanding around, say
(08:30):
you can spend time at the piano doingthings that that is more exploratory.
And there will be some banging, butworking with like, what's like, uh,
within the range of, it's not going todamage the instrument, it's, you know,
maybe it's there are limits on it.
So it's not when mom's trying totalk to you, but that the banging,
as long as it's not using like ahammer or scissors might be okay.
(08:53):
And trying to like work up thefamily culture, uh, and tolerance
around that because kids do explorein ways that are way too much kids
will put their feet on the piano.
And like, you do need to kind of decidewhether you're going too, whether you are
going to say no or, or encourage that.
Um, so I think working with, with thefamily environment too, I'll pause.
(09:15):
What do you, what doyou think so far based
on what I've said?
Steve Treseler (09:17):
Uh, I, I loved your answer.
Yeah.
And, um, What jumped out is a lot of,yeah, most, a lot of those ideas you
have, and those certainly can work.
It's often how it's, how it's presentedand what jumped out if you're teaching
the brothers, like, I don't know if you'vetried teaching them together, but I find
some of this stuff works so, so greatwhen you have a group and they're playing
(09:37):
off each other, instead of just an adult,trying to draw something out of the kid.
Like my daughter started this program whenshe was four, it was called the Creative
Music Adventures, almost like our tagline.
It was, it was a group piano lessonwith four-year-olds and her buddies
were in it and they were, uh, so the,the group thing, but also, not saying,
now we're going to create, or we'regoing to compose something, making this
game element kind of work throughout,even as you're doing skill development,
(10:01):
like they had this game called Island
um, you can find some that have MusicalMonsters and there's some training things
for it, but there's not going to be likea secret method that will, that will work.
It's setting up the right environment.
So for instance, theyhave a game called Island.
So every time they would play arepetition correctly, they would
tell the teacher what animal to drawon the whiteboard on this island.
You know, now we want aFlamingo and they'd draw it.
Then they would play again.
(10:21):
Now we're going to draw anotheranimal and this was through the reps
and skill development, but then itcould switch to now we are going to.
play a song about the Flamingoor something like that.
So the kind of playfulness and thegame and the creativity, some can be
embedded throughout the whole lesson.
I mean, I even remember, andMelissa had brought up animals.
I mean, her very first lesson at thepiano was there just down to the bass
(10:41):
range, here's where the bears live andthey're all just kind of banging and
the bear, the bear range, then goingup to, you know, Bass clef ranch.
Here's where the dogs live in the piano.
And then the cats up here and thetreble, the little Tweety birds.
And so right away, we're playinglike bears and birds and, you know,
there's elements of, I mean, that'simprovising animals and making a
little games and activities, andthat's not everyone's teaching
(11:03):
style to necessarily, make it that.
You know, turning into cartoon animals,but you know, you're doing it and you're
doing in a group and it's embeddedthroughout the whole experience.
And it will feel less weird thansuddenly we've been reading music.
And now suddenly you play your ownnote and like, whoa, wait a second.
This is different,
Lauren Best (11:19):
and sometimes we can build off that.
So we kind of sneak it in.
Um, cause I find sometimes this stillhappens to me.Right, where I'm like,.
Just try this and then it's likecrickets, you know, and I think I've
proposed something fun, accessible, easy.
Like, I didn't think it wasthat big of an ask and what I'm
met with it's like, oh, okay.
I need to, I need to adjust that.
(11:41):
And sometimes following threads thatwouldn't normally be what I would do.
Like some of those more symbolic ideasand then modeling, um, some of what
making stuff up means, because sometimeswhen you say, come up with something,
the student is imagining something farlonger, far more complex, far more,
denser, like more, uh, uh, more noteshappening, you know, they're just,
(12:06):
they're thinking they need to do a lot.
And we're thinking, oh, youjust play something very slow
and simple, and I'd love that.
You know, or you just playone note, please I'd love it.
You know?
And I often use the example fromearly childhood classes that I hear.
I can't tell you how many timesI've heard people say to me, my
(12:26):
child never sings when we're here.
And sometimes that means.
They just seem quiet.
Sometimes it means like they sitthere doing nothing, looking around.
Sometimes it means they don'tsing, but they're kind of into it.
Sometimes it means they cried at thebeginning of the first three classes.
And like, they weren't sureif they were going to stay,
but I hear variations of this.
My child doesn't sing while we're here.
(12:48):
But then when we get in the stroller,they're singing the songs all the way
home or, but then they were seeingthe songs when they woke up the other
day and it's actually really gettingin there and I've seen kids who up
appear to, be like not participating.
Like they're very much just observingwhich I'm cool with, but sometimes
grownups want to get everyone involved.
(13:09):
And then one day out of nowhere,they've absorbed what they
feel they want to absorb.
And they are right therefully participating.
And sometimes that can be a slowtransition, sometimes if we just stay
patient with it, it's a quick transition.
Um, so when you're talking aboutthe bears, I imagine things like,
if I was following that thread, I mightdo something like, ah, I might start
(13:30):
playing like bear footsteps, right.
And started do some beat keeping with lowsounds of bear footsteps on black keys.
Um, then maybe I can give the studentthe job and maybe even though they
won't make things up, maybe they canplay some footsteps and just feel that.
And then if I start playing some reallyslow or textural or, I mean, there's lots
of options for what I play with that.
(13:53):
But then they're seeingwhat I would do with that.
So then whether it's that timeor another time, maybe in the
future, we'd be able to switch.
And maybe if I'm playing the barefootsteps, maybe they can imagine clapping
along to that to try to, you know, can youmake noise to try to scare the bear away?
Just make a bunch of noise.
Maybe they can imagine, would belike to add birds to the bear sounds.
(14:14):
Maybe I play, you know,those bear footsteps.
And I say, just pick one black, keyat a time to play along with the bear.
Just to go along with it, justplay one at a time, hold it for
as long as you want and switch.
Maybe that would be too much forthose students, but all those
things I just described could belike scaled down to be easier.
(14:35):
It doesn't have to go that whole processall at once, but kind of if it's not
working, how can we make it even easier?
And then slowly build on that.
Yeah.
And
Steve Treseler (14:45):
if these, these kids are just very comfortable to reading
it off the page, you can start there.
Some kids are the opposite, orif you write something down about
it, it's induces more anxiety.
So it could be even, okay, here'sthe song you're working on now?
How would a mouse play this song?
Or maybe how would a bear play this?
So they're still reading it, butinterpreting it differently and kind
of using more notation as a gateway.
As soon as you give them anopen choice, if that's what's
(15:06):
causing them to shut down.
So we're kind of have totailor the experience for them.
Yeah, for, for who it is, but I, I'ma big fan of sneaking it in and not
making it suddenly it's creative time.
And now you're going to do somethingdifferent from, from what you're used to.
Um, but yeah, I I've been doing a lot ofthese workshops and one-on-one, I like
to think of myself as being, you know,making the experience more disarming and
(15:27):
inviting, but boy just last week I wasteaching an online lesson with someone
doing some of the call and response.
Now we're just gonna change the last note.
Some of my, you know, my tricks andthis, this girl who's, uh, uh, well,
uh, You know, she's a skilled playerand performing and doing all this, but
just one of these things, as soon asshe knew that, oh, now it's improv, she
just, I mean, completely froze, deer inthe headlights and started crying and
(15:48):
broke down during the lesson and thenlike, okay, we see, you know, okay.
We start, you know, and then yeah, wepaused and we went on to something else.
Then she wrote me this letter, you know,apologizing for crying during the lesson,
that she froze up in jazz band the daybefore, too, or something like just it's
hard, you know, so we're gonna, we'llgo through it, but you know, as much as
I'm doing this, I feel like I can getpeople to feel comfortable doing it.
You know, one of my last lessonswas a kid crying, doing it.
(16:09):
So it's, you know, and she's veryconfident, a lot of the other it's
like, yeah, there's a lot of, a lotof big feelings involved with this.
So there's not even what I think is mygo-to trick that always works, like.
Didn't work this time.
Or if she'd a group of friendsdoing it, then they do it together
and it may have been okay.
It's a,
Lauren Best (16:28):
yeah.
And sometimes it's about establishing someof the, serve and return, or like that the
idea of two voices, instead of focusingon the like the creative aspect of it in
terms of let's generate something, right.
It just being like, play with onehand play with the other hand.
And maybe that's two notes that they'vedetermined in advance, but they're
(16:52):
having a feeling of back and forth.
Right.
And then it's like, okay, if onehand plays a, a secret code, could
the other hand echo that, that'ssomething my son loved to do.
Like I tried to teach him stuff atthe piano and at the time it was.
You know, it wasn't going super well,but he loved the activity where we
(17:13):
would knock a secret code on thewall, not on the piano, you know?
Cause here I am like you, like, I'vetaught so many kids, like he's gonna
love exploring the piano, you know?
And he wanted to just knock onrhythms, back and forth on the wall
just to echo each other or two,and sometimes kids prefer to be a
leader, prefer to be the follower.
Sometimes we're not even echoing anymore.
We're just going backand forth with stuff.
(17:35):
And then, you know, that was ableto eventually transfer with, to
the piano, but the, uh, makingthings more open-ended, as you're
saying, can, can be challenging.
We don't always know what, uh, what,what people are arriving with that day.
Right.
And, and it's really like, music isreally stimulating to our brains and that
(17:55):
can feel like confusion at some times.
And that can feel overwhelming at times.
And so, um, you know, it's like you,and I know what it's like to forget a
part and to go blank on something andto have to figure out what happens, but
kids who haven't had that experiencefeel shocked and dismayed, and you
know, maybe some other feelings whenthey suddenly blank because they
(18:18):
haven't had that experience yet.
So,
Steve Treseler (18:21):
yeah, absolutely.
And, and maybe these students wouldfeel, they'd feel more control if they
could prepare something a little bit too.
As like what Lauren you were talkingabout last time, the musical Madlibs,
like you might give them some musicwith a couple of notes missing and
then they have to like fill in theirown notes, but they can work on at
home and then bring it back and play.
Here's what I, here's what I prepared.
Something like that might work or mydaughter's piano teacher had like a design
(18:41):
your own instruments and see how it works.
So she would hit his beam over hereby the girl scout cookies, she hit her
flip-flop against that like support beamin the house and it shook the whole house
and made the coolest sound, you know?
And then we were at the park andshe's like finding, oh, this is
an instrument, it's just differentwith, with different kids.
So I hope that's helpful then,but I'm sure a lot of the material
you were working with couldwork, could work, just fine.
(19:03):
That's just how it's so much,like in our previous episode we're
talking about is not necessarilythe material or the content,
it's just the, the atmosphere, theculture, how it's, how it's introduced
Lauren Best (19:15):
and build on what does work.
Um, and, and as I was saying,sometimes you can take what does
work, even if that is there's asong they're feeling good about.
Two notes out of that song, youknow, their best moment in that
song can become the ostinato.
And then maybe you model some very,very simple, um, improv with that
(19:37):
so that they see possibilities.
Even if they aren't quite ready togo there yet themselves, that they,
that they see what that could be.
Yeah.
And, and just slowing things down,like sometimes just waiting longer for
responses or, or like I said, repeatingit, but, um, sometimes literally just
(19:58):
waiting, just like silently, like,you know, ask you a question and just
silently waiting for the response orgiving them some time to try things.
I find sometimes I worry thatsomething's not successful when you're
used to working with groups too.
You don't want like a dead air.
You don't want to lose the kids, but atthe same time, I find kids sometimes need
(20:19):
just a little extra time to process thingsbecause their brains are, are, are not
moving quite in the same way as ours andtheir experience isn't quite the same.
So sometimes I find it's holding thatspace for them, even if it doesn't
feel successful or effective to usbecause we're not seeing the instant
(20:40):
result, but giving a little extraspace to figure that out I find.
Steve Treseler (20:45):
Yeah, but it's, I mean, it's awesome.
You're doing this and makingthis a cornerstone of your
studio to make this happen.
And, but whether or not, you know, stickwith it or abandon it, it's kind of,
well, it's, uh, you know, as we figure outhow to embed it into the whole, into the
whole process, it's not an all or none.
Lauren Best (21:04):
And also six and eight is, is pretty young.
And, um, Melissa, I know you'revery experienced, I'll speak
directly to the question asker.
I know for myself though, I need to remindmyself that of some of the incredible
changes I've seen in students whoapproach challenges in certain ways when
(21:24):
they're six or when they're seven andby the time they're eight or ten, it's
a whole different ball game, you know?
And so, um, sometimes I'm sure IMo most, uh, teachers and coaches
have had these kinds of experiences,but I think sometimes it's bringing
our minds back to how much thingscan change for a kid over time.
And that sometimes as you were saying,if meeting them where they're at.
(21:49):
It's not going to be this lesson ornext lesson necessarily that we turn the
corner so to speak, but next year it'sgoing to be a whole different scenario.
Steve Treseler (21:59):
But yeah, that's like really like what you said about bringing
that, bringing the parents on boardfor the journey and having that, having
that conversation and the boundaries,how much knocking on the lid is okay.
You know, putting, preparing thepiano in certain ways are okay, but
not damaging the instrument and yeah.
Figuring out how to.
Yeah, it'd be a family process to,
Lauren Best (22:21):
and maybe there'll be a whole episode, the bounds of free play.
Steve Treseler (22:26):
Exactly.
Lauren Best (22:28):
Well, I'm so glad we got that question.
What a wonderful thing to talk about.
Steve Treseler (22:32):
Thank you.
And yes, we welcome.
Welcome your questions, text questions, orthe, um, we love hearing your voice too.
So those audio, audio questions.
Awesome.
Okay.
And we have another question fromyour fellow Canadian James Hurley,
who is now running a piano studiowith his wife in Bavaria, Germany,
which sounds pretty awesome.
(22:54):
But he has a questionabout teaching and sharing.
He says, do you get your studentsbouncing their own improvisation
recordings off each other?
Lauren Best (23:03):
Do you want to start with the answer for this?
Steve Treseler (23:05):
Yeah.
So in my case, I like having studentsbounce ideas off each other all the time,
especially in what I'm doing in personworkshops, a lot of call and response back
and forth, some musical conversations,or, in other contexts, having one student
start some kind of improvised idea andhaving a whole section of people, copy
(23:25):
it and turn it into one texture, allkinds of ways that they can bounce it
off in person, but doing recordings.
I had luck with that.
I think it was something we talked aboutbefore, when I was teaching a college
improvisation class online, where we useda cloud-based digital audio workstation,
and someone started with a track.
You know, it was like aone or two minute track.
(23:47):
And then the next personat some point logged in and
added, added something to it.
So various people would add differentlayers or grooves and somewhat add
more sound effects or textual things.
And they were a group projectand that, that turned out
that turned out really cool.
But even for my private studio for- I'vehad a fizzled out attempt of doing some,
had some ambitious group compositionproject that didn't quite take off.
(24:09):
And some of my students, we canwork on getting them to be more
skilled at recording themselves.
And it's definitely some opportunitythere, but for some of my private
lessons, I haven't, I haven't donethat very much with recordings.
Lauren Best (24:23):
Although you mentioned doing a virtual recital, right?
Steve Treseler (24:26):
Yeah.
Uh, and that was for that recital,took the advice of our friend, Steven
Hughes, who's been teaching online foryears and years to do it, have students
pre-record their, pre-record their pieces.
So some got into video and audio editing.
But in that it was just likeone, one video and I edit,
I stuck them all together.
So there was less interaction betweenthem in that, in that recital.
Lauren Best (24:51):
Like in terms of the bouncing off of each other, but some of what
they were sharing was improvised though?
Steve Treseler (24:56):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
And there was, I've done.
Yeah.
I did a virtual recital where everyonewrote something, wrote something original.
So then everyone waslistening to each other.
So some were writing, things justhad to like standard jazz tunes and
other were text setting poems andothers were producing something.
And, uh, some electro-acoustic thingsand some students were playing over
(25:17):
drones or doing solo improvisation.
So in that way, we put theprogram together where they
were, was a continuous program.
So I hadn't really thought aboutit like that, but those weren't
yeah, interactive projects.
Lauren Best (25:27):
I guess less conversational.
Yeah.
Steve Treseler (25:30):
Yeah.
But I certainly, some of them certainlygot, were inspired by, oh, it was so
cool what that student did for this.
And that was one of the fewsilver linings of the pandemics,
actually getting those set up.
I'm going to keep the, uh, youknow, You know, I've mixed feelings
about teaching the lessons online.
Some things work really well, but thatformat for the recital was really great.
Cause then their family could tune in fromaround the world and they could share it.
(25:51):
And we could do even a little moreproduction element than just a
different, and some, some kids reallythrive doing that where they weren't
necessarily on stage with the lightsand got, they got to try it a few times.
So some, some students reallyenjoyed the recording process.
So, um, yeah, still moreopportunities, but, uh, yeah, I know.
Yeah, there would be.
(26:12):
Yeah, it's going to give, giveme some more ideas, but yeah.
How about you?
I know you've a lot of your,a lot of your students, you've
got a lot of preschoolers.
So how does this, uh,
Lauren Best (26:20):
yeah, we'll have some preschoolers and some school
age, some school aged kids.
Um, I found the, he, he, he specifiedrecordings as I found that interesting
because my answer was going to be, andthat's why I want you to answer first
is because I do a group online pianolessons, where in each, in each session
(26:42):
we have, I like to ensure that we'redoing creative and collaborative things
every time, as well as individually, uh,individually like focused things where
the students are working on their ownkind of journey, a little more privately.
But part of the format of thelessons is that they're bouncing
off those ideas or it's sometimesit's not so much in the moment.
(27:06):
Like I would refer to it as bouncingideas off of each other or bouncing
recordings off of each other.
But as you were kind of describing,they're hearing each other improvise often
and really little bits, and sometimesthat's because they're doing an activity
together where they're, you know, they're,they're going back and forth and they're
having that kind of musical conversation.
Sometimes they're sharing somethingthat they improvised while we were
(27:28):
doing a different kind of activity andthey came up with more on their own.
And then they want to sharethat, uh, with the group.
So I haven't done thatwith recordings as much.
Yeah.
Steve Treseler (27:39):
It's interesting too, cause I read the question and then
thought about it throughout the dayand I forgot recordings was in there.
So I was thinking about allthe ways we're doing it live.
Or maybe he means bouncingoff in a different way though.
So they're like, do theyshare their recordings?
I improvise something into likeplaying it for other students.
It could have meant it that way.
Yeah.
Lauren Best (27:57):
Like I, or, you know, what do you think of this kind of thing, you
know, and, um, I, what I have found,I mean, I could do it with recordings.
I've just found that that oftenfor a bunch of reasons, it ends
up being live in the lesson.
But I do find that the feedbackfrom other students is often.
I just love some of those momentswhere one student gives another
(28:19):
student just really heartfelt feedback.
And they're like, wow.
I thought that was really awesome.
And that was just a really cool song.
And like for a student to saythat to another student is a
different kind of impact thanif I state, than if I say that.
When we mentioned recordings, one of thethings I thought of is that I like my
(28:39):
students to be doing this in all kindsof tiny ways before we're thinking of
like larger, longer recordings, like,so that they're, they're giving each
other feedback on small moments there,they're just giving feedback about
their experience and something thatwas, uh, that was an ensemble activity.
Like they're getting used to noticing andgiving feedback for themselves and for
other people and a lot of micro moments.
(29:01):
Um, as opposed to necessarily likehere's this like chunk of improv I did.
Can I have some feedback?
Uh, because for younger studentsthat's a lot, like that's a lot
of musical information for themto, for them to process as opposed
to really, really short snippets.
Um, And often live, butthey could be recorded.
(29:22):
I encourage students to recordthemselves for themselves to give
themselves that kind of feedback.
Um, and in those short snippets, likereally getting into the different
aspects of what we notice or what itreminds us of what it brings up for us.
Um, actually I did a, uh, an activitywhere the students started describing.
Like as if the music was creating asoundtrack and they were going into
(29:45):
these really vivid visualizations basedon what the music reminded them of.
And, uh, some really there can besome really cool outcomes when you,
when you give them the chance tojust kind of explore the aesthetic.
Wow.
Had that remind me of a, yeah.
An activity I've done.
That's like graphic score, telephonewhere you have like a group.
(30:06):
I did this actually live with a groupof young professional improvisers, I
guess, where you had someone with, youknow, draw, yeah, a bunch of symbols
or pictures of something for us touse as a score and interpret that.
So we performed it and someoneelse who hadn't seen the score was
listening to it and then drew a newpicture based on what we were playing.
And then we would perform that andsomeone else would drive and we
had this like gallery of all theseand you could, yeah, it was cool.
(30:30):
That was a wild experiment.
That was fun.
So, oh, go ahead.
Oh, I was gonna say sometimes I kind of,uh, uh, another graphic score variation
sometimes, uh, when we're working with.
Some kind of graphic score.
So I sometimes I call the mapsfor the kids and we actually
get really into like visualizinglandscapes and nature soundscapes.
(30:51):
Or sometimes it is more of like the, thegraphic score for like sometimes we play
with what that means and what we're goingto explore with it in the first place.
But, uh, sometimes it's that we're allexploring things muted and the kids are
coming up with really different ideas andexploring different concepts themselves,
and in terms of contrasting voices, uh,and then we're comparing that afterwards,
(31:14):
just the, they go away and then compare.
Uh,
Steve Treseler (31:17):
That's awesome.
And one thing you said about thestudents giving each other feedback,
one thing I do, like whether it's inperson or even in the zoom waiting
room where I have, even when thestudents are overlapping, someone's
coming to set up for their lesson,then you have someone else play, oh,
here's something this kid's working on.
They play it for each other.
And, yeah, it's cute.
Sometimes I have like an older students,like working on some like transcribing
like something from a video gamesoundtrack and they're playing it
(31:39):
and playing it for this little kid.
It's like, oh man, that is so amazing.
And they do it.
Yeah.
And in doing that online lettingsomeone into the meeting early and
just even getting that little feedback,bouncing ideas off of that way.
But as you said, it can be more meaningfulcoming from a peer rather than...
Lauren Best (31:57):
well, that's part of the reason that I, like I have the groups
is to give them more opportunities toget feedback from their peers, not just
from me, but also more opportunitiesto feel that sharing feeling and that
performance feeling and that, youknow, that risk taking of sharing.
Um, and also in a multilevel group.
Right.
Kids to be, you know, to that whoseskill might be aspirational or whose
(32:21):
ideas might be aspirational or whojust might be approaching things
differently to see other people'slearning journeys and see how like, to,
to feel that they can relate to that.
And to also see that otherpeople might have have struggles.
And sometimes I'll say to.
A student, like, particularly in olderstudents say, Hey, before you share
that, why don't you describe a bitabout what's going on for you in the
(32:44):
learning process or like, you know,you could, do you mind mentioning to
the other students that you're onlyplaying half the song because that's
the chunk you're looking at right now?
Like just asking them to name specifics.
To kind of show those, theyounger students or the other
students, part of their process.
And I also make it very optional to share.
I don't, um, I don't coerce orbully of course, but sometimes
(33:09):
that can be like, okay.
You know, try to try to lean on kidsto get them to play and share because I
find they want to eventually, sometimesthey don't want it that day, but that
getting that feedback, I want themto really choose that and want that
and consent to that and not feel,um, pushed into, into the sharing
(33:30):
absolutely.
But the more
Steve Treseler (33:31):
they get comfortable with sharing and even informal performances,
it can really help just being morecomfortable performing in general.
Cause I have some students that onlywill sometimes play by themselves if
it's like an adjudication or an audition.
And then the performance thingbecomes a really high stakes things.
So as much as there can be that informalsharing, even if I do have a kid who
getting ready for an audition or asolo contests are our favorite thing,
(33:53):
but they're like getting ready forthat and they're to be pushed into it.
I will even bring out my kidand have her bring like when she
was little, she'd bring the petand like a stuffy or something.
And here's your audience.
And suddenly you've beengoing from nothing to.
One little kid.
It was like, Ooh.
And suddenly they kinda you know, it wasa way to actually practice for the, and
it wasn't, it was actually a bigger jumpgoing from nothing to a five-year-old and
(34:14):
a stuffed animal versus going from the oneperson to an adjudicator the next week.
But just making that comfort as muchas people can casually, you know, share
with their families or their communitiesand, and all that we're getting, this is
more than James bargained for probably.
One other idea I had to do with mystudents that I never, it's just,
it's just bringing back this ideathat fizzled out in, I nearly forgot
(34:36):
about, but having some kind ofcollaborative composition project.
We might have each student on theirown time, record some piece of it.
And there could be some limitation,whether it's a pitch limitation or
something about mood or to, and then haveall of these as like samples or loops.
And then one of the more sophisticatedkids take all of these samples that
were recorded and then shape them intoher, know a couple of students shape
(34:57):
it into a, like using those soundsand samples and stick the whole thing
together, which should be pretty fun.
I should do that.
Lauren Best (35:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was, I was thinking about, um, about,uh, music version of like the one second
video things written, you know, like Ithink there's an app or something one
second every day and it's a whole bunchof one second videos put together and I
was thinking, what if I had each of thestudents, you know, only have a, a short
(35:26):
little bit, uh, and string that together.
Which is something we already kind of doin lessons but prerecorded, it would be
a bit different and maybe not one second,maybe five seconds, but, um, just a riff
on what you were saying, like the ideaof samples or loops or layering, but also
the idea of like stringing together, um,I think you've called it ribbon before.
(35:47):
Sometimes I imagine itlike a string of beads.
Steve Treseler (35:50):
Absolutely.
So raise too, as we were talkingbefore, improvisation being here in the
moment in this room, but then what'sthe asynchronous way of making some
of these connections and interactions,but using technology warping the space
time continuum a bit, and some of thoseprojects can be more effective when
we're using technology, as opposed togiving everyone on a conference call.
And although I was, that was somethingI was experimenting with during the
(36:11):
pandemic doing, and having everyonewith headphones and doing live
improvisations and just building thelatency as a creative limitation.
Yeah.
Lauren Best (36:20):
Yes, exactly.
Steve Treseler (36:22):
That's another topic.
Lauren Best (36:23):
And another quick thing about recording specifically that I
think about, and, and asynchronousways of working is just, just questions
of like accessibility and equity.
And that, that can be sometimes workingwith asynchronously, or having recordings
can increase access accessibility.
(36:43):
Uh, for students who like can't make, youknow, a particular, uh, like, you know,
workshop time, but they can still work onthe recording aspect and participate in
a group project or something, or studentswho have internet connection issues.
I live in a rural area.
There are areas that, uh, veryclose to me that have limitations
to their internet access.
(37:04):
So, um, sometimes in terms of likeinternet speeds and quality, it
can be awesome to record things anddo things asyncronously for that
reason, uh, other reasons too, right?
Like, like I said, just from oneday to the next, sometimes having
the student being able to get in thezone in their own way, in their own
space, unobserved deal with their wetsocks, make sure they're not hungry.
(37:28):
Make sure they're maybe not as tiredthat day, but I mean, you know, like
approach it in a, at a time and placethat is very supportive to them.
Uh, and that's great.
The flip side of it and why I oftendon't like demand recordings is that
homework like that, uh, for, uh,particularly like young students, uh,
(37:50):
is really often dependent on like adultsupport in their life and the schedule
they have even for older students.
Right.
So.
That can, it can be great forstudents to have a chance to
take that away and work on it.
But sometimes it's a lot of pressure tobe like, if we're on the, on the parents
to be like, you need to make a recordingfor your kid, which sometimes just
even making the house quiet enough forthat could be a really stressful thing.
(38:13):
Getting the tech set up can, you know,be really freaky for some people.
And so.
I love the ways it can work.
I also often don't like kind of demand it.
I create options and I suggest it tostudents, but I don't say, okay, everyone
has to go record because I'm very awarethat for some families, that could be a
huge ask, even though it seems accessibleand for other families might be easy.
(38:39):
It might be something that's, that'sawesome to explore, but I try to, I try
to be really mindful of, of that sortof thing, because I want, I want the
time that students are with me and arethen, and that they're making music,
uh, to work for them and to be positive.
And that even if they can't do likeextended recording projects, the rest
(39:01):
of the time, I don't want them to beshut out of experiences because of that.
Steve Treseler (39:04):
That's true.
Yeah.
Some of those types of thingsrecording and collaborating it's yeah.
For students up that are a littlemore independent and tech savvy, then
it can work really well as a tool.
But yeah, same, same idea for myvirtual recitals, you know, just do
a couple of those a year, cause yeah,for some, for some families, it is.
Yeah, it is a more involved process.
Lauren Best (39:23):
Yeah.
And I've been consideringdoing a virtual recital myself.
I've done in-person recitals andrecording during the lesson is also
like, uh, can be part of that so thatit's not necessarily something that
the family has to take on separately.
Steve Treseler (39:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'd done that on the onlinelesson and then, uh, my kid
did a virtual recital on flute.
And it was, it was a virtualrecital, but she was doing
in-person and outdoor lessons.
But the, uh, her, her flute teacherset up a bunch of decorations, like
it was outside in her front yardand actually filmed that herself
and put it together in a playlist.
(39:59):
So they came up and played, but theteacher took care of all the production.
And then it made for a, more ofa uniform experience too, but
Lauren Best (40:07):
yeah, and I think like the whole, again, it could be a whole
episode on virtual recitals, thenvirtual, just virtual forms of sharing.
And I think there area lot of interesting.
Promising formats, which are outsideof the question that was asked,
but there's there, whether it's puttogether all in one piece, right.
Or I've heard of teachers breakingit up so that it's kind of watch
(40:28):
party of individual videos.
Um, I've been interested in both inusing, I've seen that virtual spaces like
Gathertown used for sharing and, um, yeah.
Steve Treseler (40:39):
Sam Reti, I don't know how you pronounce his last name, but founder
of Muzie he's doing his first onlineclass totally in VR and testing that out.
So that could be quite a recital,recital on the moon or something,
but you can do that VR recital.
So they'll be good.
Well, yeah.
Thanks James and Melissa forthose questions and yeah, we'd
love to hear from, from where youfolks, you can submit them through
(41:02):
infiniteimprovisation.com or, um, yeah.
Find us, find us online and okay.
Well, I mean, that's wrappingup our pilot season of our yeah.
First five episodes tosee okay, how's this?
Yeah.
It's yeah.
Check in.
How, did we did our five episodes?
How's it feelin'?
Lauren Best (41:20):
Feeling good.
I'm happy to be along and to, to, youknow, to be along with you on this
adventure to be on this adventure.
I'm happy that folks are listening tothis adventure and asking questions
and I'm excited for what's to come.
Steve Treseler (41:35):
Yeah.
Likewise.
And we didn't run outof things to talk about.
So
Lauren Best (41:41):
A promising start.
Steve Treseler (41:42):
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you.
See you next time.
Welcome to the Infinite Improvisation Podcast:
Adventures in Music and Creativity.
I'm Steve Treseler, joined by Lauren Best.
And in this final episode of ourpilot season, give you a taste of some
things to come and future seasons.
So far, yeah, pilot episodes havebeen some open discussions, about
(00:28):
who, what and why of the podcast, butwe're going to get into some other,
other experiments and segments,
Lauren Best (00:36):
which I am very excited about.
Steve Treseler (00:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
Lauren Best (00:38):
We have some surprises planned for each other, which we haven't
even totally explained to each other yet
Steve Treseler (00:46):
kind of a reaction or reveal video and just lot
and see, and see how that goes.
That's, that's one of our, one ofour segments, our themes coming up.
Um, and also we've talked aboutsome musical experiments, like you
know a performing or other artisticexperiments, documenting the process.
I mean, one will be in the next season.
(01:06):
We're going to go through documentthe process of collaboratively
writing a theme song for the podcast.
Lauren Best (01:13):
Yeah, because interestingly, we have talked about music a lot, but we
have not actually made any music together.
I think, I think that's true.
We've done zero musical collaboration.
So we are planning on showing what that'slike, which is also a first and not only
the first time collaborating together.
But I think that'd be the first time forme documenting the process on a podcast.
Steve Treseler (01:37):
Exactly.
So all, yeah.
We'll have some other musical live musicalexperiments and not even necessarily
like a demonstrating or tips and tricksor anything like that, but here's like
the process of of doing it and puttingourselves in artistically risky situations
live and, um, that, yeah, well, we'll see.
Yeah.
(01:57):
We'll see how that all works out.
It sounds like it sounds exciting.
Lauren Best (02:01):
And a little nerve-wracking, but that's, I think that's part of
you and I both, I, if you've beenlistening so far, you know that
Steve and I think about formats andstructures and kind of the, the, the
container aspect as well as modeling.
So I'm looking forward to playinga little bit with the format
(02:23):
of, of how collaboration looksand how podcasting looks for us.
Steve Treseler (02:28):
Yeah.
And since it's a podcast, we're goingto have guests, you know, so I'll have
some interviews and discussions withpeople who are doing, yeah, artists and
educators who are doing awesome things,
Lauren Best (02:43):
which is exciting.
It's great to be able toinvite people to the party.
Absolutely.
Steve Treseler (02:48):
And also we, uh, we want to do some Q and A some ask
us anything and inviting listenersand you to, yes, submit, submit
your, submit your questions for us.
So you can find us online orgo to infiniteimprovisation.com
and submit a question for us.
And we would love to hear from you.
(03:08):
So we've got a couple ofquestions from listeners, or
should we say future listeners?
Because we're putting, we're goingto post that we're going to publish
this whole pilot season at once.
So we have enthusiastic futurelisteners who haven't heard the show
yet, but sent us questions anyway
Lauren Best (03:22):
We've, been telling them about what the
process has been like so far.
And, uh, luckily they were wondering.
Steve Treseler (03:28):
Yeah, so I got a great one from our friend, Melissa.
She's a, Melissa Slocum, she is a, pianoteacher in the Atlanta area and a host
of the Sounds of Encouragement Podcastfor, so any music teachers, you will
definitely want to want to check that out.
So she has a question for us abouther practice and Lauren hasn't heard
(03:48):
this yet, so I'm surprising Laurenwith this, with this question.
Melissa Slocum (03:54):
A little bit of backstory is I have two boys who are transfer
students who started in Faber and, um,they're six and eight years old and
they had a very traditional teachingsetup with their former teacher.
I suspect, although no, no one hassaid it, that basically improvisation
was sort of, not forbidden, butreally frowned upon as not making
(04:18):
music by their former teacher.
And, um, the mom also, I know at hometries to not have them do anything
around the piano unless it's music.
Um, cause she doesn't want them banging,
I don't think, on the piano at home.
And maybe the most basic question and howthat should be framed for a show is, um,
(04:39):
you know, when the usual approaches toimprovisation do not seem to be working
and there is still just reticence aboutdoing improvisation at all, should a
teacher who's, you know, well-equippedwill experienced back off and not push.
Or should a teacher, um, trysomething maybe out of the ordinary.
(05:04):
And if the answer is the latter, whatare some of the out and out of the
ordinary approaches that, uh, onemight try when you, when you feel like
you've done all the other approaches,um, and tried some of the other more
common, uh, techniques for beginningimprovisation, whether it's rhythm
and sound or exploration or animals ordrawing pictures or copycat or whatever.
Steve Treseler (05:33):
Okay.
Cool.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Thanks Melissa.
Yeah, a lot, a lot there.
I mean, this is certainly you'reworking with kids of that age.
That is certainly that'scertainly your wheelhouse.
I mean, what jumps out at me?
Like what is, what are theusual approaches or not?
That's a big, big thing tounpack, but what, what are your
first thoughts on, on that?
And you work with a lot of kids in thatage, age range, I believe she said,
(05:55):
may have not said this, I'd say six andeight or somewhere in that age range.
Lauren Best (06:00):
And I had a similar question or thought in response,
uh, and I've used Faber myself.
So there's also some improvisationand creativity suggested
within the method book.
So I wonder if I wondered if, ifwhat she described as the, the usual
approaches, were using some of those.
(06:20):
And I say that because like they'rewritten down, so it's easy for a parent
to see and understand and sort of suggest.
Steve Treseler (06:27):
And she had, she had also told me that they did things like
doing some call and response here.
I play this, you copy it.
And now you change one note aboutit, and then they would freeze.
And just not as soon as they weremaking a creative decision was just
not, they were very resistant to that.
So some, and she said, I'd mentionedthings like drawing pictures or,
um, let's, uh, you know, play anemotion, let's express an emotion.
(06:49):
She was, she was giving me a few ofthe ideas that she had, that she had
tried and they were just not having it.
Lauren Best (06:57):
I w I always suggest with kids repeating and seeing what happens
again, because sometimes repeatingthe same activity can have a different
result because they're used to it thistime they have a feeling of safety and
they, they know what to anticipate.
So where you get nothing at first,sometimes I find trying again, and
(07:21):
sometimes again, after that, can, I mean,sometimes we want change approaches of
course, but sometimes waiting a littlelonger and having repeated exposure.
I find can help.
One because different days aredifferent, you know, and a child might
be hungry or have wet socks or havenot slept well or whatever on one day.
(07:46):
And so they're going to have, like,their attention is less their, their,
you know, emotional state is different.
They're not, you know, they'redistracted by their socks.
They're not as ready totake risks and might just be
different on a different day.
Uh, That being said, sometimeswe, sometimes we do want to
just change the approach, uh,right away when she was talking.
(08:09):
I mean, I like to work with parentsand talk about how we can like set
things up a little differently andchange, change the approach, maybe
so that there isn't pressure around,uh, around practicing, for example.
And so that there's a little more,uh, like understanding around, say
(08:30):
you can spend time at the piano doingthings that that is more exploratory.
And there will be some banging, butworking with like, what's like, uh,
within the range of, it's not going todamage the instrument, it's, you know,
maybe it's there are limits on it.
So it's not when mom's trying totalk to you, but that the banging,
as long as it's not using like ahammer or scissors might be okay.
(08:53):
And trying to like work up thefamily culture, uh, and tolerance
around that because kids do explorein ways that are way too much kids
will put their feet on the piano.
And like, you do need to kind of decidewhether you're going too, whether you are
going to say no or, or encourage that.
Um, so I think working with, with thefamily environment too, I'll pause.
(09:15):
What do you, what doyou think so far based
on what I've said?
Steve Treseler (09:17):
Uh, I, I loved your answer.
Yeah.
And, um, What jumped out is a lot of,yeah, most, a lot of those ideas you
have, and those certainly can work.
It's often how it's, how it's presentedand what jumped out if you're teaching
the brothers, like, I don't know if you'vetried teaching them together, but I find
some of this stuff works so, so greatwhen you have a group and they're playing
(09:37):
off each other, instead of just an adult,trying to draw something out of the kid.
Like my daughter started this program whenshe was four, it was called the Creative
Music Adventures, almost like our tagline.
It was, it was a group piano lessonwith four-year-olds and her buddies
were in it and they were, uh, so the,the group thing, but also, not saying,
now we're going to create, or we'regoing to compose something, making this
game element kind of work throughout,even as you're doing skill development,
(10:01):
like they had this game called Island
um, you can find some that have MusicalMonsters and there's some training things
for it, but there's not going to be likea secret method that will, that will work.
It's setting up the right environment.
So for instance, theyhave a game called Island.
So every time they would play arepetition correctly, they would
tell the teacher what animal to drawon the whiteboard on this island.
You know, now we want aFlamingo and they'd draw it.
Then they would play again.
(10:21):
Now we're going to draw anotheranimal and this was through the reps
and skill development, but then itcould switch to now we are going to.
play a song about the Flamingoor something like that.
So the kind of playfulness and thegame and the creativity, some can be
embedded throughout the whole lesson.
I mean, I even remember, andMelissa had brought up animals.
I mean, her very first lesson at thepiano was there just down to the bass
(10:41):
range, here's where the bears live andthey're all just kind of banging and
the bear, the bear range, then goingup to, you know, Bass clef ranch.
Here's where the dogs live in the piano.
And then the cats up here and thetreble, the little Tweety birds.
And so right away, we're playinglike bears and birds and, you know,
there's elements of, I mean, that'simprovising animals and making a
little games and activities, andthat's not everyone's teaching
(11:03):
style to necessarily, make it that.
You know, turning into cartoon animals,but you know, you're doing it and you're
doing in a group and it's embeddedthroughout the whole experience.
And it will feel less weird thansuddenly we've been reading music.
And now suddenly you play your ownnote and like, whoa, wait a second.
This is different,
Lauren Best (11:19):
and sometimes we can build off that.
So we kind of sneak it in.
Um, cause I find sometimes this stillhappens to me.Right, where I'm like,.
Just try this and then it's likecrickets, you know, and I think I've
proposed something fun, accessible, easy.
Like, I didn't think it wasthat big of an ask and what I'm
met with it's like, oh, okay.
I need to, I need to adjust that.
(11:41):
And sometimes following threads thatwouldn't normally be what I would do.
Like some of those more symbolic ideasand then modeling, um, some of what
making stuff up means, because sometimeswhen you say, come up with something,
the student is imagining something farlonger, far more complex, far more,
denser, like more, uh, uh, more noteshappening, you know, they're just,
(12:06):
they're thinking they need to do a lot.
And we're thinking, oh, youjust play something very slow
and simple, and I'd love that.
You know, or you just playone note, please I'd love it.
You know?
And I often use the example fromearly childhood classes that I hear.
I can't tell you how many timesI've heard people say to me, my
(12:26):
child never sings when we're here.
And sometimes that means.
They just seem quiet.
Sometimes it means like they sitthere doing nothing, looking around.
Sometimes it means they don'tsing, but they're kind of into it.
Sometimes it means they cried at thebeginning of the first three classes.
And like, they weren't sureif they were going to stay,
but I hear variations of this.
My child doesn't sing while we're here.
(12:48):
But then when we get in the stroller,they're singing the songs all the way
home or, but then they were seeingthe songs when they woke up the other
day and it's actually really gettingin there and I've seen kids who up
appear to, be like not participating.
Like they're very much just observingwhich I'm cool with, but sometimes
grownups want to get everyone involved.
(13:09):
And then one day out of nowhere,they've absorbed what they
feel they want to absorb.
And they are right therefully participating.
And sometimes that can be a slowtransition, sometimes if we just stay
patient with it, it's a quick transition.
Um, so when you're talking aboutthe bears, I imagine things like,
if I was following that thread, I mightdo something like, ah, I might start
(13:30):
playing like bear footsteps, right.
And started do some beat keeping with lowsounds of bear footsteps on black keys.
Um, then maybe I can give the studentthe job and maybe even though they
won't make things up, maybe they canplay some footsteps and just feel that.
And then if I start playing some reallyslow or textural or, I mean, there's lots
of options for what I play with that.
(13:53):
But then they're seeingwhat I would do with that.
So then whether it's that timeor another time, maybe in the
future, we'd be able to switch.
And maybe if I'm playing the barefootsteps, maybe they can imagine clapping
along to that to try to, you know, can youmake noise to try to scare the bear away?
Just make a bunch of noise.
Maybe they can imagine, would belike to add birds to the bear sounds.
(14:14):
Maybe I play, you know,those bear footsteps.
And I say, just pick one black, keyat a time to play along with the bear.
Just to go along with it, justplay one at a time, hold it for
as long as you want and switch.
Maybe that would be too much forthose students, but all those
things I just described could belike scaled down to be easier.
(14:35):
It doesn't have to go that whole processall at once, but kind of if it's not
working, how can we make it even easier?
And then slowly build on that.
Yeah.
And
Steve Treseler (14:45):
if these, these kids are just very comfortable to reading
it off the page, you can start there.
Some kids are the opposite, orif you write something down about
it, it's induces more anxiety.
So it could be even, okay, here'sthe song you're working on now?
How would a mouse play this song?
Or maybe how would a bear play this?
So they're still reading it, butinterpreting it differently and kind
of using more notation as a gateway.
As soon as you give them anopen choice, if that's what's
(15:06):
causing them to shut down.
So we're kind of have totailor the experience for them.
Yeah, for, for who it is, but I, I'ma big fan of sneaking it in and not
making it suddenly it's creative time.
And now you're going to do somethingdifferent from, from what you're used to.
Um, but yeah, I I've been doing a lot ofthese workshops and one-on-one, I like
to think of myself as being, you know,making the experience more disarming and
(15:27):
inviting, but boy just last week I wasteaching an online lesson with someone
doing some of the call and response.
Now we're just gonna change the last note.
Some of my, you know, my tricks andthis, this girl who's, uh, uh, well,
uh, You know, she's a skilled playerand performing and doing all this, but
just one of these things, as soon asshe knew that, oh, now it's improv, she
just, I mean, completely froze, deer inthe headlights and started crying and
(15:48):
broke down during the lesson and thenlike, okay, we see, you know, okay.
We start, you know, and then yeah, wepaused and we went on to something else.
Then she wrote me this letter, you know,apologizing for crying during the lesson,
that she froze up in jazz band the daybefore, too, or something like just it's
hard, you know, so we're gonna, we'llgo through it, but you know, as much as
I'm doing this, I feel like I can getpeople to feel comfortable doing it.
You know, one of my last lessonswas a kid crying, doing it.
(16:09):
So it's, you know, and she's veryconfident, a lot of the other it's
like, yeah, there's a lot of, a lotof big feelings involved with this.
So there's not even what I think is mygo-to trick that always works, like.
Didn't work this time.
Or if she'd a group of friendsdoing it, then they do it together
and it may have been okay.
It's a,
Lauren Best (16:28):
yeah.
And sometimes it's about establishing someof the, serve and return, or like that the
idea of two voices, instead of focusingon the like the creative aspect of it in
terms of let's generate something, right.
It just being like, play with onehand play with the other hand.
And maybe that's two notes that they'vedetermined in advance, but they're
(16:52):
having a feeling of back and forth.
Right.
And then it's like, okay, if onehand plays a, a secret code, could
the other hand echo that, that'ssomething my son loved to do.
Like I tried to teach him stuff atthe piano and at the time it was.
You know, it wasn't going super well,but he loved the activity where we
(17:13):
would knock a secret code on thewall, not on the piano, you know?
Cause here I am like you, like, I'vetaught so many kids, like he's gonna
love exploring the piano, you know?
And he wanted to just knock onrhythms, back and forth on the wall
just to echo each other or two,and sometimes kids prefer to be a
leader, prefer to be the follower.
Sometimes we're not even echoing anymore.
We're just going backand forth with stuff.
(17:35):
And then, you know, that was ableto eventually transfer with, to
the piano, but the, uh, makingthings more open-ended, as you're
saying, can, can be challenging.
We don't always know what, uh, what,what people are arriving with that day.
Right.
And, and it's really like, music isreally stimulating to our brains and that
(17:55):
can feel like confusion at some times.
And that can feel overwhelming at times.
And so, um, you know, it's like you,and I know what it's like to forget a
part and to go blank on something andto have to figure out what happens, but
kids who haven't had that experiencefeel shocked and dismayed, and you
know, maybe some other feelings whenthey suddenly blank because they
(18:18):
haven't had that experience yet.
So,
Steve Treseler (18:21):
yeah, absolutely.
And, and maybe these students wouldfeel, they'd feel more control if they
could prepare something a little bit too.
As like what Lauren you were talkingabout last time, the musical Madlibs,
like you might give them some musicwith a couple of notes missing and
then they have to like fill in theirown notes, but they can work on at
home and then bring it back and play.
Here's what I, here's what I prepared.
Something like that might work or mydaughter's piano teacher had like a design
(18:41):
your own instruments and see how it works.
So she would hit his beam over hereby the girl scout cookies, she hit her
flip-flop against that like support beamin the house and it shook the whole house
and made the coolest sound, you know?
And then we were at the park andshe's like finding, oh, this is
an instrument, it's just differentwith, with different kids.
So I hope that's helpful then,but I'm sure a lot of the material
you were working with couldwork, could work, just fine.
(19:03):
That's just how it's so much,like in our previous episode we're
talking about is not necessarilythe material or the content,
it's just the, the atmosphere, theculture, how it's, how it's introduced
Lauren Best (19:15):
and build on what does work.
Um, and, and as I was saying,sometimes you can take what does
work, even if that is there's asong they're feeling good about.
Two notes out of that song, youknow, their best moment in that
song can become the ostinato.
And then maybe you model some very,very simple, um, improv with that
(19:37):
so that they see possibilities.
Even if they aren't quite ready togo there yet themselves, that they,
that they see what that could be.
Yeah.
And, and just slowing things down,like sometimes just waiting longer for
responses or, or like I said, repeatingit, but, um, sometimes literally just
(19:58):
waiting, just like silently, like,you know, ask you a question and just
silently waiting for the response orgiving them some time to try things.
I find sometimes I worry thatsomething's not successful when you're
used to working with groups too.
You don't want like a dead air.
You don't want to lose the kids, but atthe same time, I find kids sometimes need
(20:19):
just a little extra time to process thingsbecause their brains are, are, are not
moving quite in the same way as ours andtheir experience isn't quite the same.
So sometimes I find it's holding thatspace for them, even if it doesn't
feel successful or effective to usbecause we're not seeing the instant
(20:40):
result, but giving a little extraspace to figure that out I find.
Steve Treseler (20:45):
Yeah, but it's, I mean, it's awesome.
You're doing this and makingthis a cornerstone of your
studio to make this happen.
And, but whether or not, you know, stickwith it or abandon it, it's kind of,
well, it's, uh, you know, as we figure outhow to embed it into the whole, into the
whole process, it's not an all or none.
Lauren Best (21:04):
And also six and eight is, is pretty young.
And, um, Melissa, I know you'revery experienced, I'll speak
directly to the question asker.
I know for myself though, I need to remindmyself that of some of the incredible
changes I've seen in students whoapproach challenges in certain ways when
(21:24):
they're six or when they're seven andby the time they're eight or ten, it's
a whole different ball game, you know?
And so, um, sometimes I'm sure IMo most, uh, teachers and coaches
have had these kinds of experiences,but I think sometimes it's bringing
our minds back to how much thingscan change for a kid over time.
And that sometimes as you were saying,if meeting them where they're at.
(21:49):
It's not going to be this lesson ornext lesson necessarily that we turn the
corner so to speak, but next year it'sgoing to be a whole different scenario.
Steve Treseler (21:59):
But yeah, that's like really like what you said about bringing
that, bringing the parents on boardfor the journey and having that, having
that conversation and the boundaries,how much knocking on the lid is okay.
You know, putting, preparing thepiano in certain ways are okay, but
not damaging the instrument and yeah.
Figuring out how to.
Yeah, it'd be a family process to,
Lauren Best (22:21):
and maybe there'll be a whole episode, the bounds of free play.
Steve Treseler (22:26):
Exactly.
Lauren Best (22:28):
Well, I'm so glad we got that question.
What a wonderful thing to talk about.
Steve Treseler (22:32):
Thank you.
And yes, we welcome.
Welcome your questions, text questions, orthe, um, we love hearing your voice too.
So those audio, audio questions.
Awesome.
Okay.
And we have another question fromyour fellow Canadian James Hurley,
who is now running a piano studiowith his wife in Bavaria, Germany,
which sounds pretty awesome.
(22:54):
But he has a questionabout teaching and sharing.
He says, do you get your studentsbouncing their own improvisation
recordings off each other?
Lauren Best (23:03):
Do you want to start with the answer for this?
Steve Treseler (23:05):
Yeah.
So in my case, I like having studentsbounce ideas off each other all the time,
especially in what I'm doing in personworkshops, a lot of call and response back
and forth, some musical conversations,or, in other contexts, having one student
start some kind of improvised idea andhaving a whole section of people, copy
(23:25):
it and turn it into one texture, allkinds of ways that they can bounce it
off in person, but doing recordings.
I had luck with that.
I think it was something we talked aboutbefore, when I was teaching a college
improvisation class online, where we useda cloud-based digital audio workstation,
and someone started with a track.
You know, it was like aone or two minute track.
(23:47):
And then the next personat some point logged in and
added, added something to it.
So various people would add differentlayers or grooves and somewhat add
more sound effects or textual things.
And they were a group projectand that, that turned out
that turned out really cool.
But even for my private studio for- I'vehad a fizzled out attempt of doing some,
had some ambitious group compositionproject that didn't quite take off.
(24:09):
And some of my students, we canwork on getting them to be more
skilled at recording themselves.
And it's definitely some opportunitythere, but for some of my private
lessons, I haven't, I haven't donethat very much with recordings.
Lauren Best (24:23):
Although you mentioned doing a virtual recital, right?
Steve Treseler (24:26):
Yeah.
Uh, and that was for that recital,took the advice of our friend, Steven
Hughes, who's been teaching online foryears and years to do it, have students
pre-record their, pre-record their pieces.
So some got into video and audio editing.
But in that it was just likeone, one video and I edit,
I stuck them all together.
So there was less interaction betweenthem in that, in that recital.
Lauren Best (24:51):
Like in terms of the bouncing off of each other, but some of what
they were sharing was improvised though?
Steve Treseler (24:56):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
And there was, I've done.
Yeah.
I did a virtual recital where everyonewrote something, wrote something original.
So then everyone waslistening to each other.
So some were writing, things justhad to like standard jazz tunes and
other were text setting poems andothers were producing something.
And, uh, some electro-acoustic thingsand some students were playing over
(25:17):
drones or doing solo improvisation.
So in that way, we put theprogram together where they
were, was a continuous program.
So I hadn't really thought aboutit like that, but those weren't
yeah, interactive projects.
Lauren Best (25:27):
I guess less conversational.
Yeah.
Steve Treseler (25:30):
Yeah.
But I certainly, some of them certainlygot, were inspired by, oh, it was so
cool what that student did for this.
And that was one of the fewsilver linings of the pandemics,
actually getting those set up.
I'm going to keep the, uh, youknow, You know, I've mixed feelings
about teaching the lessons online.
Some things work really well, but thatformat for the recital was really great.
Cause then their family could tune in fromaround the world and they could share it.
(25:51):
And we could do even a little moreproduction element than just a
different, and some, some kids reallythrive doing that where they weren't
necessarily on stage with the lightsand got, they got to try it a few times.
So some, some students reallyenjoyed the recording process.
So, um, yeah, still moreopportunities, but, uh, yeah, I know.
Yeah, there would be.
(26:12):
Yeah, it's going to give, giveme some more ideas, but yeah.
How about you?
I know you've a lot of your,a lot of your students, you've
got a lot of preschoolers.
So how does this, uh,
Lauren Best (26:20):
yeah, we'll have some preschoolers and some school
age, some school aged kids.
Um, I found the, he, he, he specifiedrecordings as I found that interesting
because my answer was going to be, andthat's why I want you to answer first
is because I do a group online pianolessons, where in each, in each session
(26:42):
we have, I like to ensure that we'redoing creative and collaborative things
every time, as well as individually, uh,individually like focused things where
the students are working on their ownkind of journey, a little more privately.
But part of the format of thelessons is that they're bouncing
off those ideas or it's sometimesit's not so much in the moment.
(27:06):
Like I would refer to it as bouncingideas off of each other or bouncing
recordings off of each other.
But as you were kind of describing,they're hearing each other improvise often
and really little bits, and sometimesthat's because they're doing an activity
together where they're, you know, they're,they're going back and forth and they're
having that kind of musical conversation.
Sometimes they're sharing somethingthat they improvised while we were
(27:28):
doing a different kind of activity andthey came up with more on their own.
And then they want to sharethat, uh, with the group.
So I haven't done thatwith recordings as much.
Yeah.
Steve Treseler (27:39):
It's interesting too, cause I read the question and then
thought about it throughout the dayand I forgot recordings was in there.
So I was thinking about allthe ways we're doing it live.
Or maybe he means bouncingoff in a different way though.
So they're like, do theyshare their recordings?
I improvise something into likeplaying it for other students.
It could have meant it that way.
Yeah.
Lauren Best (27:57):
Like I, or, you know, what do you think of this kind of thing, you
know, and, um, I, what I have found,I mean, I could do it with recordings.
I've just found that that oftenfor a bunch of reasons, it ends
up being live in the lesson.
But I do find that the feedbackfrom other students is often.
I just love some of those momentswhere one student gives another
(28:19):
student just really heartfelt feedback.
And they're like, wow.
I thought that was really awesome.
And that was just a really cool song.
And like for a student to saythat to another student is a
different kind of impact thanif I state, than if I say that.
When we mentioned recordings, one of thethings I thought of is that I like my
(28:39):
students to be doing this in all kindsof tiny ways before we're thinking of
like larger, longer recordings, like,so that they're, they're giving each
other feedback on small moments there,they're just giving feedback about
their experience and something thatwas, uh, that was an ensemble activity.
Like they're getting used to noticing andgiving feedback for themselves and for
other people and a lot of micro moments.
(29:01):
Um, as opposed to necessarily likehere's this like chunk of improv I did.
Can I have some feedback?
Uh, because for younger studentsthat's a lot, like that's a lot
of musical information for themto, for them to process as opposed
to really, really short snippets.
Um, And often live, butthey could be recorded.
(29:22):
I encourage students to recordthemselves for themselves to give
themselves that kind of feedback.
Um, and in those short snippets, likereally getting into the different
aspects of what we notice or what itreminds us of what it brings up for us.
Um, actually I did a, uh, an activitywhere the students started describing.
Like as if the music was creating asoundtrack and they were going into
(29:45):
these really vivid visualizations basedon what the music reminded them of.
And, uh, some really there can besome really cool outcomes when you,
when you give them the chance tojust kind of explore the aesthetic.
Wow.
Had that remind me of a, yeah.
An activity I've done.
That's like graphic score, telephonewhere you have like a group.
(30:06):
I did this actually live with a groupof young professional improvisers, I
guess, where you had someone with, youknow, draw, yeah, a bunch of symbols
or pictures of something for us touse as a score and interpret that.
So we performed it and someoneelse who hadn't seen the score was
listening to it and then drew a newpicture based on what we were playing.
And then we would perform that andsomeone else would drive and we
had this like gallery of all theseand you could, yeah, it was cool.
(30:30):
That was a wild experiment.
That was fun.
So, oh, go ahead.
Oh, I was gonna say sometimes I kind of,uh, uh, another graphic score variation
sometimes, uh, when we're working with.
Some kind of graphic score.
So I sometimes I call the mapsfor the kids and we actually
get really into like visualizinglandscapes and nature soundscapes.
(30:51):
Or sometimes it is more of like the, thegraphic score for like sometimes we play
with what that means and what we're goingto explore with it in the first place.
But, uh, sometimes it's that we're allexploring things muted and the kids are
coming up with really different ideas andexploring different concepts themselves,
and in terms of contrasting voices, uh,and then we're comparing that afterwards,
(31:14):
just the, they go away and then compare.
Uh,
Steve Treseler (31:17):
That's awesome.
And one thing you said about thestudents giving each other feedback,
one thing I do, like whether it's inperson or even in the zoom waiting
room where I have, even when thestudents are overlapping, someone's
coming to set up for their lesson,then you have someone else play, oh,
here's something this kid's working on.
They play it for each other.
And, yeah, it's cute.
Sometimes I have like an older students,like working on some like transcribing
like something from a video gamesoundtrack and they're playing it
(31:39):
and playing it for this little kid.
It's like, oh man, that is so amazing.
And they do it.
Yeah.
And in doing that online lettingsomeone into the meeting early and
just even getting that little feedback,bouncing ideas off of that way.
But as you said, it can be more meaningfulcoming from a peer rather than...
Lauren Best (31:57):
well, that's part of the reason that I, like I have the groups
is to give them more opportunities toget feedback from their peers, not just
from me, but also more opportunitiesto feel that sharing feeling and that
performance feeling and that, youknow, that risk taking of sharing.
Um, and also in a multilevel group.
Right.
Kids to be, you know, to that whoseskill might be aspirational or whose
(32:21):
ideas might be aspirational or whojust might be approaching things
differently to see other people'slearning journeys and see how like, to,
to feel that they can relate to that.
And to also see that otherpeople might have have struggles.
And sometimes I'll say to.
A student, like, particularly in olderstudents say, Hey, before you share
that, why don't you describe a bitabout what's going on for you in the
(32:44):
learning process or like, you know,you could, do you mind mentioning to
the other students that you're onlyplaying half the song because that's
the chunk you're looking at right now?
Like just asking them to name specifics.
To kind of show those, theyounger students or the other
students, part of their process.
And I also make it very optional to share.
I don't, um, I don't coerce orbully of course, but sometimes
(33:09):
that can be like, okay.
You know, try to try to lean on kidsto get them to play and share because I
find they want to eventually, sometimesthey don't want it that day, but that
getting that feedback, I want themto really choose that and want that
and consent to that and not feel,um, pushed into, into the sharing
(33:30):
absolutely.
But the more
Steve Treseler (33:31):
they get comfortable with sharing and even informal performances,
it can really help just being morecomfortable performing in general.
Cause I have some students that onlywill sometimes play by themselves if
it's like an adjudication or an audition.
And then the performance thingbecomes a really high stakes things.
So as much as there can be that informalsharing, even if I do have a kid who
getting ready for an audition or asolo contests are our favorite thing,
(33:53):
but they're like getting ready forthat and they're to be pushed into it.
I will even bring out my kidand have her bring like when she
was little, she'd bring the petand like a stuffy or something.
And here's your audience.
And suddenly you've beengoing from nothing to.
One little kid.
It was like, Ooh.
And suddenly they kinda you know, it wasa way to actually practice for the, and
it wasn't, it was actually a bigger jumpgoing from nothing to a five-year-old and
(34:14):
a stuffed animal versus going from the oneperson to an adjudicator the next week.
But just making that comfort as muchas people can casually, you know, share
with their families or their communitiesand, and all that we're getting, this is
more than James bargained for probably.
One other idea I had to do with mystudents that I never, it's just,
it's just bringing back this ideathat fizzled out in, I nearly forgot
(34:36):
about, but having some kind ofcollaborative composition project.
We might have each student on theirown time, record some piece of it.
And there could be some limitation,whether it's a pitch limitation or
something about mood or to, and then haveall of these as like samples or loops.
And then one of the more sophisticatedkids take all of these samples that
were recorded and then shape them intoher, know a couple of students shape
(34:57):
it into a, like using those soundsand samples and stick the whole thing
together, which should be pretty fun.
I should do that.
Lauren Best (35:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was, I was thinking about, um, about,uh, music version of like the one second
video things written, you know, like Ithink there's an app or something one
second every day and it's a whole bunchof one second videos put together and I
was thinking, what if I had each of thestudents, you know, only have a, a short
(35:26):
little bit, uh, and string that together.
Which is something we already kind of doin lessons but prerecorded, it would be
a bit different and maybe not one second,maybe five seconds, but, um, just a riff
on what you were saying, like the ideaof samples or loops or layering, but also
the idea of like stringing together, um,I think you've called it ribbon before.
(35:47):
Sometimes I imagine itlike a string of beads.
Steve Treseler (35:50):
Absolutely.
So raise too, as we were talkingbefore, improvisation being here in the
moment in this room, but then what'sthe asynchronous way of making some
of these connections and interactions,but using technology warping the space
time continuum a bit, and some of thoseprojects can be more effective when
we're using technology, as opposed togiving everyone on a conference call.
And although I was, that was somethingI was experimenting with during the
(36:11):
pandemic doing, and having everyonewith headphones and doing live
improvisations and just building thelatency as a creative limitation.
Yeah.
Lauren Best (36:20):
Yes, exactly.
Steve Treseler (36:22):
That's another topic.
Lauren Best (36:23):
And another quick thing about recording specifically that I
think about, and, and asynchronousways of working is just, just questions
of like accessibility and equity.
And that, that can be sometimes workingwith asynchronously, or having recordings
can increase access accessibility.
(36:43):
Uh, for students who like can't make, youknow, a particular, uh, like, you know,
workshop time, but they can still work onthe recording aspect and participate in
a group project or something, or studentswho have internet connection issues.
I live in a rural area.
There are areas that, uh, veryclose to me that have limitations
to their internet access.
(37:04):
So, um, sometimes in terms of likeinternet speeds and quality, it
can be awesome to record things anddo things asyncronously for that
reason, uh, other reasons too, right?
Like, like I said, just from oneday to the next, sometimes having
the student being able to get in thezone in their own way, in their own
space, unobserved deal with their wetsocks, make sure they're not hungry.
(37:28):
Make sure they're maybe not as tiredthat day, but I mean, you know, like
approach it in a, at a time and placethat is very supportive to them.
Uh, and that's great.
The flip side of it and why I oftendon't like demand recordings is that
homework like that, uh, for, uh,particularly like young students, uh,
(37:50):
is really often dependent on like adultsupport in their life and the schedule
they have even for older students.
Right.
So.
That can, it can be great forstudents to have a chance to
take that away and work on it.
But sometimes it's a lot of pressure tobe like, if we're on the, on the parents
to be like, you need to make a recordingfor your kid, which sometimes just
even making the house quiet enough forthat could be a really stressful thing.
(38:13):
Getting the tech set up can, you know,be really freaky for some people.
And so.
I love the ways it can work.
I also often don't like kind of demand it.
I create options and I suggest it tostudents, but I don't say, okay, everyone
has to go record because I'm very awarethat for some families, that could be a
huge ask, even though it seems accessibleand for other families might be easy.
(38:39):
It might be something that's, that'sawesome to explore, but I try to, I try
to be really mindful of, of that sortof thing, because I want, I want the
time that students are with me and arethen, and that they're making music,
uh, to work for them and to be positive.
And that even if they can't do likeextended recording projects, the rest
(39:01):
of the time, I don't want them to beshut out of experiences because of that.
Steve Treseler (39:04):
That's true.
Yeah.
Some of those types of thingsrecording and collaborating it's yeah.
For students up that are a littlemore independent and tech savvy, then
it can work really well as a tool.
But yeah, same, same idea for myvirtual recitals, you know, just do
a couple of those a year, cause yeah,for some, for some families, it is.
Yeah, it is a more involved process.
Lauren Best (39:23):
Yeah.
And I've been consideringdoing a virtual recital myself.
I've done in-person recitals andrecording during the lesson is also
like, uh, can be part of that so thatit's not necessarily something that
the family has to take on separately.
Steve Treseler (39:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'd done that on the onlinelesson and then, uh, my kid
did a virtual recital on flute.
And it was, it was a virtualrecital, but she was doing
in-person and outdoor lessons.
But the, uh, her, her flute teacherset up a bunch of decorations, like
it was outside in her front yardand actually filmed that herself
and put it together in a playlist.
(39:59):
So they came up and played, but theteacher took care of all the production.
And then it made for a, more ofa uniform experience too, but
Lauren Best (40:07):
yeah, and I think like the whole, again, it could be a whole
episode on virtual recitals, thenvirtual, just virtual forms of sharing.
And I think there area lot of interesting.
Promising formats, which are outsideof the question that was asked,
but there's there, whether it's puttogether all in one piece, right.
Or I've heard of teachers breakingit up so that it's kind of watch
(40:28):
party of individual videos.
Um, I've been interested in both inusing, I've seen that virtual spaces like
Gathertown used for sharing and, um, yeah.
Steve Treseler (40:39):
Sam Reti, I don't know how you pronounce his last name, but founder
of Muzie he's doing his first onlineclass totally in VR and testing that out.
So that could be quite a recital,recital on the moon or something,
but you can do that VR recital.
So they'll be good.
Well, yeah.
Thanks James and Melissa forthose questions and yeah, we'd
love to hear from, from where youfolks, you can submit them through
(41:02):
infiniteimprovisation.com or, um, yeah.
Find us, find us online and okay.
Well, I mean, that's wrappingup our pilot season of our yeah.
First five episodes tosee okay, how's this?
Yeah.
It's yeah.
Check in.
How, did we did our five episodes?
How's it feelin'?
Lauren Best (41:20):
Feeling good.
I'm happy to be along and to, to, youknow, to be along with you on this
adventure to be on this adventure.
I'm happy that folks are listening tothis adventure and asking questions
and I'm excited for what's to come.
Steve Treseler (41:35):
Yeah.
Likewise.
And we didn't run outof things to talk about.
So
Lauren Best (41:41):
A promising start.
Steve Treseler (41:42):
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you.
See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.