I'll Improvise
Have you ever played with music?
You're sitting with a group of people, maybe on steps, maybe on a summer night. Someone picks up a fiddle and plays one note. An open string, an easy rhythm. Someone strums chords. Someone takes off their shoes and starts banging a beat with them. Someone takes that note and throws in a run of notes, dashing up from that one. And you have a dance. You have music swinging from one pair of hands to the next, fumbling and free.
In college, in a rough semester, I fell into a contradance band. This is music for back porches and long afternoons. It's music anyone can pick up. I play the recorder, that simple whistle kids learn in fifth grade, and playing like this, with other people, taught me to love it. The music made me high. I could walk up and take hold of it with both hands.
Eric Buddington and Elena Traister kick off an impromptu rehearsal in a North Adams Coffee Shop.
This week and next are good ones for improvisational music in the Berkshires. Ed Mann, percussionist for Frank Zappa for 10 years, will perform this Saturday, April 12, at 4 p.m. at Berkshire Music School to raise funds for the school's drum equipment. Mann played with Zappa's band, Mothers of Invention — an intensive training ground for complex rhythms and quick changes. He will perform with Fran Curley on drums, Charlie Tokarz on winds, and Dave Christopolís on bass. Tickets are $25; order ahead at (413) 442-1411.
And this weekend and next week, The Williamstown Jazz Festival brings concerts to the college and the town and north county arts museums. Pianist Gabriela Montero will perform on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Clark — half an evening of classics, and half music created on the spot, based on themes or pieces the audience suggests. For more information, visit www.williamstownjazz.com or call the concert hotline at (413) 597-3146.