Note to a Collaborating Teacher

From the Tiny Songs Concert Tiny Set "Songs About Bric-a-Brac"

the little man carved out of wood

stands by the window cross-eyed offering his blessing with an ironic little smile

(listen)

tad neuhaus, ukulele

joanna dane, vocals

Preparing for Homecoming

Art School Teacher: Composition Lesson First

When I give them each a pile of coins, 

some of the students immediately start arranging, 

others sit waiting for directions.  

I wish I could be more patient and just sit quietly, 

waiting to see what they will do.  

But I quickly grow uncomfortable 

with their discomfort of my discomfort 

and say, yes! arrange them.  

It is Twyla Tharp's suggestion in her book 

The Creative Habit on which the class is based.  

I chime the bell and we stand 

and walk, witnessing all the arrangements.  

I put a pile of stones by each paper 

and chime the bell again 

and we all sit in new places, repeating, 

with rubber bands, then pushpins.  

It is quiet, everyone focused on arranging.  

Afterward, some report arranging with a story in mind.  

Others used the objects to paint a picture or to make patterns.  

The girl in the red flapper hat 

who confessed to being a perfectionist 

says it made her feel like a kid again.  

Here we are all equals.  

All arrangements are non-perfect.

All arrangements are interesting.  

Could that be why kids are so thrilled playing in the sand?

Is there a human instinct more basic than the desire to arrange?  

What more is any art, than arrangement?

Memories of an Eclipse

that night we rode our bikes to the fox and laid out a blanket 

on crisp cotton tree leaves as the clouds parted to reveal the full moon

that morning, my husband squatted next to me on the porch 

where I was trying to play banjo and began to vigorously scrape the floor boards

so we scraped together, revealing these same old things about ourselves

and I found myself wondering again, how much scraping is too much, how much not enough?

the neighbors all came out to see the blood moon and among the crickets

and the wind chimes and the train we heard voices remarking on the sky

Tiny Songs Concert! 10/17/15

After a year of improvising over 100 tiny songs

And after another year of learning to play 28 of them:

(listen)

tad neuhaus, ukelele

joanna dane, vocals, flute

Hope to see you there!

A Very Funny Story with a Very Sad Ending

I once wrote a very funny story.

Many people died laughing.

Music from Johanastan: I Should!

Listen to the latest pop hit from Johanastan:

I should I should I should I should

I should I should I should!

I should I should I should I should

I should I should I should!

I should I should I should I should

I should I should I should!

I should I should I should I should

I should! 

I should!

I should!

I should I should I should

I should I should! 

I should I should I should

I should I should I should!

I should!

I should!

I should!

I should!

I should I should I should

I should I should I should!

I should! 

I should I should I should I should

I should I should I should!

I should I should I should I should

I should I should!

A Flock of Thoughts about Music

Left Ear Retraction

Right Hand V. Left Hand: Hello

right hand

*

he said it's best not to do anything else

while listening

but what if

by drawing

or dancing

or singing

or washing

or painting

or dreaming

or scraping

we become more connected

to the music

what then?

*

left hand

Playing It Cool At The Stone

On Tad’s second ever trip to New York City (the first being earlier this year), he and Ellen planned to go to the Stone to hear Gyan Riley and Julian Lage play selections from "John Zorn's Bagatelles."

I thought there was no way they would get in, the show prominently featured in the latest New Yorker. 

They arrived an hour early and were the first ones in line so took front row seats.  A guy who they’d struck up conversation with invited them to meet John Zorn, owner of the Stone and legendary composer.  Tad said he looked a lot younger than he knew him to be, dressed in t-shirt and army pants.  “They came all the way from Wisconsin.”  Zorn was friendly, but did not pursue conversation. 

“I don’t think it meant as much to him as it did to me,” Tad assessed. 

The show was "mind-blowing" and Tad jumped to a standing ovation.  “Looked like Marc Ribot was getting up, so I went for it.”

Zorn was taken aback.  It was the Stone’s first ever standing ovation.  Zorn asked them to play an encore.  They had nothing else prepared, so they played one of the bagatelles again.

Traditional Music of Johanastan

Along the Pacific of Johanastan exists a musical tradition based on tuning to one's environment and mood rather than to a prescribed scale.

During the warm months, it is customary for Pacific peoples to play outdoors, integrating their music into the sounds of the neighborhood.

Listen to some traditional music from the Pacific region:

The Best Story

The best story I know,

I'm not allowed to tell,

so you will never know,

the best story never told.

Thoughts about Music: While Walking with Le Flaneur

Le Flaneur and I walk through the arboretum and talk about music.

I tell her how I learned music from a place of fear, fear of playing the wrong note, fear of being out of tune, fear of having the wrong opinion, fear of looking like a fool.  Music was a serious business, requiring years of practice to learn to do it right.  There was good music and there was bad music and it was important to know the difference.

I am trying to explain why I play music the way I do.

Le Flaneur presses: Isn't there a way that isn't so antagonistic?

Was I being antagonistic?

We stop to watch the wild turkeys foraging in the leaves.

We walk again and I start back in with the years of being scared to play in front of other people, the way it felt so rigid even when it was supposed to be fluid, the regret that I wasn't learning a less girlie instrument.

Le Flaneur asks:  Can't you express it without sounding like you are flipping everyone off?

Was I flipping everyone off?

I try one more time to explain what I've been trying to explain to myself for years: That what I'm most interested in practicing is coming to music from a place of joy rather than fear.

Le Flaneur has fears about music too, though she's never revealed to me what they are.

Last Week of Summer Work: Tiny Songs Chapbook

For a long time I didn't know it was there.

For a long time I mourned that it would never be.

For a long time I didn't recognize what it was.

For a long time I imagined it without knowing how to make it.

And then I made it.

Though it is different from how I imagined it,

Here is how it turned out.

Conundrum #87,6332K