above: Participants in a Creative Process Session, the Creative Music Workshop's regular series of drop-in classes, held in the Saint George's Round Church Parish Hall, Halifax, Nova Scotia. opposite page: Andrew MacKelvie (with saxophone) listening during the October 2023 edition of New Hermitage & Friends, a monthly series held at the Halifax pub Ramblers.
of chairs. The whole scene had a vibe and an atmosphere that made it seem more like a group therapy session or twelve-step program meeting than a musical get-together. It soon became clear to me that this was by design. The sessions usually begin with a group meditation, which typically lasts from five to ten minutes, or a listening practice. “You start with the awareness of listening, and you pull it into the 360-degree sphere and expand it,” MacKelvie says. “Then you listen in a way that’s non-hierarchical, non-judgmental. If you notice yourself thinking about the things that you’re hearing, you just touch that thought and come back to listening.” Then there might be a discussion, and then they’ll get into exercises.
During the session I watched, the focus seemed to land on considering, listening, and reacting to the aggregate. “The total of all the sound in the improvisation is the music,” MacKelvie says. “It is the
‘nth’ member of the ensemble, the third member of a duo, et cetera.” In one exercise, half the participants began a rhythm by thumping on the floor or on their bodies; the other half, once they’d listened for a while, inserted their own rhythm into the sequence, and the two groups went back and forth for ten or fifteen minutes. Later, Gibling began playing a sequence on her harp; the neighbouring flutist listened for a while and began their own sequence; Gibling dropped out, the flutist continued, and a guitarist began the process anew. While the exercises, players, and focus can change every week, the structure of that day—conversations and exploration—was slow, intentional, and open, creating an atmosphere in which players could not only participate without fear of judgment but also deeply consider their choices and investigate why they might make them. It seemed to have far less to do with music—although music is primary here, of course—and much more to do with the actual textures of creation. The questions are simple but certainly fundamental, and perhaps not asked frequently enough: What can I offer this space, this moment? What is it offering me? And what do we make together?
Questions like this clearly drive MacKelvie. At his house, he speaks about the introduction of movement-based artists to the CMW, the on the cd: Another Place; Light Through the Rubble;
Naturally Spaced
34 musıc works #147 | winter 2023/24
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