Connections T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F M U S I C F O R P E O P L E: Fall 2016
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CoNNeCTioNS T h e N e w s l e t t e r o f M u s i c f o r P e o p l e: Fall 2016 30th Anniversary, October, 2016 CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF MUSIC MAKING!! IN THIS ISSUE: • Page 2: David Darling - Gratitude • Page 2 : 30 for 30 Fundraising Campaign • Page 3-7: Jan Hittle - MFP Celebrates 30 Years: Interviews with Participants at the 30th Anniversary Celebration • Page 8-10 : David Rudge - Mindfulness Through Music • Page 11: Mary Knysh- Letter from the MLP Chair: The Art of Imrpovisation 2016 • Page 12-14: Jan Hittle - We Turned 30! Highlights from the 30th Anniversary Workshop Weekend • Page 15-16: Jim Oshinsky - Kudos to David Darling • Page 16: Carol Purdy - Book Review: Steal Like and Artist by Austin Kleon • Page 17: Congratulations to our MLP Graduates- Alison Weiner and Alina Plourde • Page 18-19: MUSICAL Advertisements • Page 20: Jane Buttars - Improvised Music Harvest Workshop, 2016 • Page 21: Lynn Saltiel - News from Lynn Saltiel and the MFP Improv Orchestra • Page 22: Mary Knysh - Book Reveiw: The Fear of Singing Breakthrough Program: Learn to Sing Even if You Can’t Carry a Tune, by Nancy Salwen • Page 23: Calendar of Events and Who We Are; Advertise! Page 1 Gratitude From David Darling Dear MFP Community, I wanted to send all of you my love and gratitude. Your support is a blessing. I felt so overjoyed and grateful to celebrate our community at our 30th Anniversary Celebration this past October. Thank You to the staff and the breakout and elective leaders for their tremendous skills in organizing and presenting at our anniversary event. Thank You to the graduating duo of Alison Weiner and Alina Plourde for their “Standing Ovation Performances” – what a treat to witness! Thank You to those of you who contributed to our 30 for 30 fundraising campaign. Thank You and congratulation’s to those of you who have published your music and art. I was so grateful to receive these special cd’s and books given as gift’s to me at the anniversary. One gift I received was Nancy Salwen’s beautiful book which is reviewed on page 22 of this newsletter- check it out! Thank You for celebrating with me! It was rejuvenating to my spirit to spend the weekend making music with you. It was amazing to appreciate together the past evolution of this organization. I’m so proud of it and all the people involved with it over the past THIRTY years! WOW! I’m very excited about this new way of summarizing the Music for People mission with “Mindfulness through Music” and if it can help bring our message to a new public. Please see David Rudge’s article in this newsletter which is so thoughtful on this idea. With Love and Gratitude to you all. David Darling Music for People Celebrates 30 Years! Dear MFP Supporter: Those of us who had the opportunity to attend the recent MFP 30th Anniversary celebration at Stony Point are still riding high from the outpouring of music, love, and connection we experienced. The weekend was truly uplifting and included several inspirational sessions led by David Darling. It was also a chance to mark the beginning of our efforts to implement a new, sustainable course for MFP programming that will lead us into the next 30 years. We have designated an Action Team to work with the board to chart new directions for MFP leading to a model which expands our ability to bring the work of Da- vid Darling into the world. During this time of transition, your support is needed to build a financial bridge to this future vision. You can help by being part of our Give 30 for 30 campaign. We have determined that in order for us to reach our new place of financial sustainability we need to raise $20,000 by the end of 2016. This will help meet our expenses for the upcoming year as well as support the development of new programming. Thanks to the en- thusiastic support of MFP’ers who attended the Stony Point weekend, we have already raised about $7,000 towards our goal. Why $20,000? By our calculations we will need $10,000 to support our basic operations, $5,000 to support our promotional/marketing efforts, and $5,000 to support program development costs. Ambitious? Yes, but this effort is worth it. We all know how much this work means to our world and by giving now as part of this effort you become a founder of the “new MFP.” You can be a part of this historic effort by giving at these levels and receiving the following discounts in recognition of your contribution. • Player: $30-$99 * If everyone on our mailing list donated at the Player level giving “30 for 30” we would reach our goal. • Improviser: $100-$299 * Enjoy 15% off tuition at a Music for People workshop! If two hundred of us donated at the Improviser Level, we would reach our goal. • Mentor: $300-$499 * Enjoy 25% off tuition at a Music for People workshop! • Creator: $500 or more * Enjoy 50% off tuition at a Music for People workshop! Please join your fellow MFP’ers in building a bridge to the next 30 years of mindful, joyous music-making. Thank You, Music for People Board of Directors Neil Tatar, Jane Buttars, Ron Kravitz, David Rudge, Andy Smith, Todd Rogers Page 2 Music for People Celebrates 30 Years! How Is This Work Alive in You? Interviews with Participants at the 30th Anniversary Celebration Some participants at the 30th Anniversary Celebration were asked how the work of Music for People was alive in them. Here’s a condensed version of their responses. For links to the full interviews, visit: http://musicforpeople.org/wp/videos-30th-anniversary-celebration/ A special thanks to Ingrid Bredenberg and Sharon Little for recording the interviews. Interview with Betsy Bevan: I’ve been with Music for People since about 1990. Music for People has helped lift me to the point where I could do more my life purpose. Which for me is sharing the beauty and the joy of my creative life — which is through painting and through composing and improvising, and now I can share it out. I’m a long time Zen meditator so to blend the meditation with spiritual words — poetry — and original music and world music is part of my life purpose. People after they see my paintings and after they hear the music the musicians created together, they feel joyful and lifted up like I do. I couldn’t have done that without Music for People. Interview with Eric Edberg: So I discovered Music for People about 1995 or so. I had just started improvising on my own and I found a recording of David Darling in a record store. I came to what was then called Improvising Chamber Music (now Art of improvisation). It really changed my life. Having a way of relating to people and making music with other people in an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard. And then I took it back to the university where I teach, DePauw University in Indiana. Freshman when they come in, I introduce them to Release that I learned from David: “This is one of the most valuable things that you’re going to learn in college.” Now alumni come back and they say “I teach this to all my students.” It’s so fantastic.” Interview with Ingrid Bredenberg: I first participated in Music for People back in 1984 at Omega Institute. Well, first of all what really came alive to me in the work not only was the courage to improvise and to make music, but I got my dancer back. I was a mover, but I had figured that since I wasn’t dancing professionally, or I didn’t even take a lot of classes, that I wasn’t a dancer. And just like I’ve now learned that we’re all musicians, I reclaimed my dancer. How that shows up in my life — the music making, the movement, the whole presence — is in my work with leaders. I’ve realized how important it is for leaders to understand the importance of silence…. And to give them permission as a technique to make room for things to occur, to arise. We do that through a variety of activities. Some of them from Music for People. The work is alive. And it’s getting to leaders, and I’m excited about that. Page 3 Interview with Jan Hittle: To me Music for People was such an important part of a musical journey. When I heard Bobby McFerrin’s Medicine Man album, it opened my eyes and so I went looking for an improvisation teacher. Finally I got to experi- ence David Darling. And one of the first things he said was “your music is import- ant…your music is really important to the world…you need to record it.” And it was one of the few people who gave those wonderful musical messages to me. You know, a lot of my teachers in music were like “Oh, you need to do this better… oh, you need to work on this.” Whereas David was just “Ahh, Wow! Your music is great.” And this music journey still continues because I was so scared to make music, to make music in an improvisational way without notes on a page. And I am finally learning to let that fear release a little bit. And I have a feeling that’s going to be a life-long process — learning to be more present in this music, in this moment in this music, and therefore be more present for myself in all areas of my life.