Jammin’ at the Commons-IfCM

At long last, the much-anticipated reschedule of the Jammin’ at the Commons interactive community concert (which was originally planned for March, but was cancelled due to monster snow) happened in the Briggs Center for Civic Engagement on Sunday, May 18th. The musicians originally involved in the project came from Harley, Eastman, School of the Arts, and Bloomfield, with teaching artists of the Institute for Creative Music from Rochester, Germany and Argentina. The creative improvising, composing and collaborations grew over the winter months–each small combo responsible for one composed piece. The larger group (and ultimately, all audience members) were involved in performing a composition by Matthew Golumbisky, who was going to virtually conduct it from Argentina.

The rescheduled date was finally determined, and unfortunately none of the Harley students (Dezmond Morrow, Bjarne Nielsen and Jack Sladden) were able to join the musical crew for the concert. They were missed, but under the keen guidance and musical mentoring of our own Mike Kaupa and IfCM’s Chris Teal, the event was a great success! The evening consisted of performances of student-composed pieces, a collaborative creation between bassist Matthew Golumbisky and graphic artist, Maryella Dyson, both in Argentina (check out the video below to hear an explanation of the process and see the product), more pieces, and finally a community-improvised composition involving all audience members and musicians, conducted by Matthew thanks to the magic of the internet!

The list of performers for the evening featured:

Gretta Cavatassi — Voice (School of the Arts)
Thomas Mariano — Piano (School of the Arts)
Lochlan Boebel — Bass (Bloomfield HS)
Taylor Simmons — Trumpet (School of the Arts)
Mike Kaupa — Trumpet (Harley School–IfCM Teaching Artist)
Chris Teal — Drums (IfCM Teaching Artist, co-director)
Matthew Golumbisky — (IfCM Teaching Artist)
Maryella Dyson — Artist

It was a fantastic expression of some of the overall goals for community connections for which the space was designed. We look forward to more opportunities and great music!

Opening welcome and composed tunes