“[I]mprovisation still gives me the greatest challenge
and the greatest pleasure. I never know from moment
to moment where I’ll end up,
and sometimes I’m scared to death.

Yet, with all the risks, being on the edge is always
the most fulfilling place to be”
— Bobby McFerrin

…

Bass-playin' Brice

On the third day, our instrumentalists joined us.

Brice (pronounced Breese), a small, soft-spoken and very, very sweet bass player sat on a stool to play his bass, which towered over him.

For all his sweetness, he was a beast on the bass. He began to study the bass at age 18 (I couldn’t even guess how old, or young, he is now?) and also told us how he took a fiberglass bass into the Cameroon Rainforest and lived and made music with the aboriginal people there. (When asked if he had a teacher there, he replied “I had a friend.” *smile*)

His wife and toddler son visited us often throughout the week.

On Brice’s first (or was it second) day with us, we broke into smaller groups — mine had 5 of us in it — and got to create duets with him. Here is an excerpt of the piece I created with him. (You can hear some of the “accompaniment” provided by the city — and nearby construction workers — in it. *smile*)

…

Gunga with some of his instruments

Gunga is a percussionist who has lived in Amsterdam for over a decade, but still speaks with a thick Scottish brogue. Rhiannon labeled him the “trickster,” and he certainly put us through our paces.

Take the exercise where I had to harmonize with him as he played whistling tubes as an example. Gunga played them beautifully and with much more subtlety than you might imagine would be possible. He displayed incredible musicality while playing all these instruments he has constructed mainly from children’s toys and what we might consider “non-musical” items.

As the week progressed, he joined us often and became more and more tender with our group and vice versa. (I even got a smooch on the cheek during our final concert Friday. *smile*)

On our fourth day (Wednesday), my small group (the same 5 singers) worked on duets with Gunga. Here is a snippet from that duet.

…

Both Gunga and Brice (and our dance instructors, too) were incredibly generous in the time they gave to us. They came for extra sessions and added so much to the rest of our week. I really enjoyed improvising with them and now I am thinking about how I might work with instrumentalists in my own projects.

“Gather quickly
Out of darkness
All the songs you know
And throw them at the sun
Before they melt
Like snow”
— Bouquet by Langston Hughes

“Bring me all of your dreams, you dreamers,
bring me all your heart melodies
that I may wrap them in a blue cloud cloth
away from the rough fingers of the world.”
— from The Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes