For Bookings and Info contact:
info@woodchoppers.com

The Woodchoppers Workshop Convention is a series of entertaining and interactive workshops, tutorials, and performances that illustrate the principles of musical improvisation.

This is a hands-on experience, and participants will be expected to engage in musical exercises with musicians from the Woodchoppers Association (WCA), and with each other. The WCA will present an improvised performance, and members of the WCA will demonstrate each topic and conduct workshops and tutorials.

A full Convention takes place over the course of a single day, divided into morning and afternoon sessions. In the morning sessions participants are divided into smaller groups. These groups then proceed through a series of modules demonstrating different elements of improvisation. The modules are designed to familiarize participants with philosophical, theoretical and practical improvisation techniques using a variety of hands-on exercises.

In the afternoon sessions participants assemble into a single orchestra, including the members of the WCA, for a rehearsal and a grand finale performance. At the performance the musicians will get the opportunity to apply all the techniques studied in the morning sessions. A conductor will be chosen from among the participants to help lead the final concert.

The goal of the Convention is to broaden the musical perspective of the participants in an enjoyable, challenging, and positive musical environment.

Morning Sessions

Duration: Approximately 2 hours

The morning sessions are a series of smaller workshops that incorporate many different approaches to improvisation. There will be a brief introduction to each module followed by hands-on exercises illustrating the session topics. Questions are welcome at any time, and there will a short discussion at the end of each module.

Participants are divided into three groups.

There are three different sessions, each lasting approximately forty-five minutes.

Groups A, B, and C move through the three different sessions over the course of the morning.

Session One:

Topics:

• Module 1: Is there such a thing as a bad note?
• Module 2: Less is More
• Module 3: Big Ears- Learning to listen.

Session Two:

Topics:

• Module 4: Sounds You didn’t think Your Instrument Could Make
• Module 5: Patting Your Head and Rubbing Your Stomach — Polyrhythms/Independence
• Module 6: Conducting

Session Three:

Topics:

• Module 7: Music and Dance
• Module 8: Getting Ready to Play — Warm-ups and Focus
• Module 9: Vocalizations
• Other Modules:
  • Deafening Silence and Too Loud to Hear - Dynamic range
  • Setting the Stage — Wallpaper and Blenders
  • Freestyle Soloing
  • Rhythm and Melody
  • Moving Parts and Textures (Harmony and Counterpoint)
  • Droning and Moaning
  • Playing with distractions…

Afternoon Sessions:

Duration: approximately 2 hours.

The afternoon sessions are a series of workshop/rehearsals designed to prepare the participants for the Grande Finale Concert. After a series of warm-up exercises designed to bring the participants together as a single group, musicians will be introduced to the concept of Tonal Blocks, Conducting Cues, Deconstructive Composition, and Sight-Reading Without a Score, all of which are woven into the context of the Finale.

Rehearsals:

The participants will assemble outdoors (weather permitting), or in the concert hall (if available).

Musicians will introduce themselves, their instruments, and a brief description of their interest in improvisation

Warm-up exercises:

Stretches, vocalizations, sitting silent for five minutes, electric shock chain, passing a phrase around imitating the voice of the previous person, copying the sound of the next person, remembering a phrase

Point/counterpoint — different people repeat different phrase at a different count in the cycle (ie. One, three, seven, four on a total count of 15)

After the warm-up exercises the participants will re-assemble in the concert hall, where they will be organized into an orchestra for a rehearsal.

- Tonal Blocks will be created from various groups of instruments, and these tonal blocks will be rehearsed and given a visual cue.

- Conducting Cues will be explained and rehearsed.

- Compositions will be created and associated with a visual score.

A conductor /conductors will selected from the participants and they will create and rehearse their score.

Break……………

Grand Finale:

Woodchoppers Conventionaires

Duration: approximately forty-five minutes.

The Woodchoppers Conventionaires will perform a concert with four movements, each lasting about ten minutes.

The first movement will be a demonstration by the WCA.

The second movement will be performed by the assembled orchestra and conducted by a member of the WCA.

The final two movements will be conducted by each of the two selected participants.

Technical requirements:

General:

There are no restrictions on the number of participants, or what instrument they play.

Participants need not play an instrument.

Choir members and singers are welcome.

The WCA would like to have a list of participants and their instruments (ie. voice/saxophone/drums/spoken word/turntable/oboe/guitar/cello/etc etc)

Morning Sessions:

A rehearsal room for each session. These rooms need only be large enough to accommodate the number of participants.

Afternoon Sessions and Concert:

One large room, preferably the hall in which the concert will be performed.

WCA Workshop Prospectus

• There are no restrictions as to who can participate in a workshop.
• The are no limit to the numbers in a workshop, provided suitable space is available.
• All instruments and voices are welcome.
• Participants need not even own or play an instrument.
• All topics will be illustrated by demonstrations from the WCA
• Topics will be divided up between WCA members who will take the lead in discussion.
• The workshops can be adapted to fit most schedules. The WCA prefers to work in an interactive situation with participants, however, for those situations were limited time is available, only selected topics will be demonstrated.
• Always encourage students to take their instruments home and start playing with fellow musicians.
• Remind students that musical theory is just the history of what has been done. It is not to be taken as a set of absolute rules.
• Get students to ask questions.
• Provide students with handouts similar to this with details which explain topics.
• Some musicians appear to have a natural ability to be musically expressive, while others find that they have to work at it. Everyone can learn.
• These exercises demonstrate how establishing an emotional and physical relationship with the music, and minimizing strict adherence to form, standard notation or accuracy, can help the artist communicate their musical ideas.
• With this knowledge students can easily discover that honest and uninhibited intention is the means by which playful and inventive music is created.
• If a performance is heartfelt, technical execution becomes secondary.