ZOOM Music Listening Workshop Series
for The Creative Mind
An eclectic & passionately curated set of topics guaranteed to inspire musicians and non-musicians alike.
One of the fastest ways for you to develop musically is to sharpen and broaden your listening. Our playlist includes artists as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Yo Yo Ma, Brad Paisley, Muse, John Coltrane, and Art Lande who all create very different worlds. And yet, how you listen will determine your ability to feel the deeper commonalities in their various styles. We’ll use several non-traditional ways of listening that will get you inside the music such as the brightness, temperature, imagery, and the basic elements of each piece.
Students will have the opportunity to share their experiences and insights with the group in an interactive ZOOM environment.
Inner & Outer Hearing is a 2 part series held on consecutive Mondays (June 7th and June 14th).
Part One — folk / pop / funk / blues / rock / country / chamber
Part Two — jazz / free improvisation
“I enjoyed Michael’s helpful methods for experiencing music from a variety of non-traditional vantage points — temperature, degrees of lightness, the 5 Basic Elements and a system of listening that elicited our sensations, images, thoughts, and emotions. The discussions he led were lively and fun for everyone, regardless of their musical level. Highly recommended! ”
Teacher/Artist Bio
Michael Smolens has been teaching privately and in universities since 1974, including Sonoma State and JFK University, Orff-Schulwerk Institute, City College of S.F., College of Marin, and the A Capella Summit. He has coached other teachers since 2000 and is passionate about making connections between different styles and cultures. He holds two music degrees from UC Santa Cruz and has studied under such innovative teachers as Art Lande, Allaudin Mathieu, Kenny Werner, and Dorthy Taubman. His own teaching is informed by physical re-training principles, linguistic-conceptual models, time management techniques, and Buddhism. Books on the art of practicing and piano performance are in production.
Michael’s compositions draw from the worlds of jazz, gospel, classical, pattern, North Indian, Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Turkish, and West-African musics. His works have been commissioned by Meet The Composer, National Public Radio, the Occidental Choir, UCSC Dance Dept., technological companies, and many solo vocalists. His music has appeared on many “Critics’ Choice” lists and he has been frequently interviewed on public radio stations.
As a band leader, Michael has created and performed with a myriad of ensembles, from duos to 18-person ensembles: Sheldon Brown/Michael Smolens Duo, Brisas do Brasil, Bal du Kor (West-African), NUVO Chamber Jazz Quartet, New American Songbook Project, earPlay Jazzquintet, KRIYA Octet, Project Vox, and The Mirabai Ensemble. Currently he performs with an international quartet of improvisors and a jazz quartet playing reconstructions of well-known Holiday music.
Michael has recorded or performed with jazz icons Stefon Harris (vibraphone), Paul McCandless (reeds), Paul Hanson (electric bassoon), David Balnakrishnan and Evan Price (violin & viola), and Zakir Hussain (tablas), along with Bobby McFerrin vocal collaborators David Worm and Rhiannon, and folk/jazz legend Claudia Schmidt.
Michael’s instruments are piano/keyboard, voice, alto flute, Egyptian dumbek, and balafon and djun-djuns from West-Africa.