“Jazz musicians have dance in them, and jazz dancers have music in them, or jazz doesn’t happen.” – Sidney Bechet A groove makes listeners want to move, but in order to create this effect the musicians themselves must be moved, and they describe this as a bodily experience rather than something that comes from head […] Read more…
Groove is widely used among musicians to talk about the personal, social, artistic, and even spiritual qualities of music: the way people feel the music in their bodies, the way musicians play in unison, the way music transcends notes and comes to life, and the way music brings people into modified states of being. Although […] Read more…
The word groove is widely entrenched in our culture. Although we may not be able to come up with a precise definition, we tend to intuitively sense what it is. When things are going well, almost as if happening on their own, we say we’re “in a groove.” When we hear a song that makes […] Read more…
In this series, I have proposed that we think of musicality as a gathering of the senses, and that we gather our senses creatively, emotionally, somatically, relationally, and improvisationally around the relationship between movement and music. These elements are not complicated. They are incredibly simple, and yet they allow for great complexity when applied consistently with time […] Read more…
We usually think of improvisation as creating something without advanced planning, like a kind of free association. But when it comes to musicality, I have come to see improvisation in much more holistic and nuanced light. Now I think of improvisation as a process that gives life to our dancing. Architect-philosopher Christopher Alexander’s work is what […] Read more…