World Improv

Posted on June 19, 2010 by Moni

One of my favorite things to do in life is create. And I do that in a variety of ways. I love to sketch and doodle, I paint wooden boxes and frames, I compose and arrange music for myself and my students… but my favorite thing to do is improvise.

I get some unique opportunities to improvise and tonight is an example of one of those opportunities. I have a gig with the Pangean Orchestra for World Refugee Day (6/20/2010) tonight. One of the things that I love about playing in the orchestra is that I get a chance to play music with great musicians from all over the world. I get a chance to sit on stage with instruments that I have never seen or heard before and meet musicians from cultures very different from my own. We all have a different history and different reason for playing music, yet we are united. It’s amazing to sit and converse in the universal language of music.

My favorite thing about the group personally, though, is a chance to improvise over non-traditional colors and changes. I play flute and saxophone (currently tenor and bari) in the orchestra and I enjoy the different sounds – especially the saxophone. It’s still a novelty in any orchestra – so it’s fun to play.

Many of the songs we play are simple structure-wise and are in keys (major and minor) with only 1 or 2 sharps. This is due to the fact that many of the instruments in the orchestra only play in those keys. As a improviser it gives you a lot of possibilities  – do I go the modal route and channel Kind of Blue or Maiden Voyage? Or do I create some tension using chromatics? How far away do I stray from the melody or the scale? How you approach an Irish jig with a reggae feel is really different from a Okinawan traditional song to a dance number from India. It’s really cool.

I started listening to the solos by different members of the orchestra and we all take a different approach. It’s really interesting to listen to. As for me, I’m still experimenting and trying to find what speaks to me at the moment. It’s a lot of fun, though, and I feel like it’s helped me grow as a musician – I have a whole new appreciation for world music!

Moni at Pangean Orchestra Premiere April 11, 2010 Phoenix Symphony Hall

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Official Grant Press Release

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Moni

PRESS RELEASE

Contact:
Monica Shriver
Arizona School for the Arts
(602) 257 – 1444
shriver@goasa.org
www.monicashriver.com

Monica Shriver wins Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship
For Arizona School for the Arts

Surdna Foundation Awards $77,000 to High School Arts Teachers
in National Competition

Phoenix, AZ, June 2, 2010 – Local music teacher Monica Shriver (Age 32) has been selected to receive a $5,500 Fellowship from the Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship Program.  Arizona School for the Arts, where Ms. Shriver has taught for 6 years, also has been awarded a complementary grant of $1,500 to support post-fellowship activities in the school.

The Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship Program (SATF), a venture of the Surdna Foundation’s Thriving Cultures Program, recently announced Fellowship recipients for the tenth round of its national awards. Fifteen outstanding arts teachers, representing 14 specialized public arts high schools and arts-focused magnet and charter high schools from around the country, were selected from an initial pool of 67 applicants.  The teachers excel in a broad spectrum of visual, performing, and literary arts.

Award recipients were evaluated by a peer review panel based on demonstrated excellence both as artists and teachers.  All permanently assigned, full- and part-time arts faculty in eligible arts high schools were invited to submit applications.

Ms. Shriver plans to use the money to further her understanding and application of jazz improvisation and form mentor relationships with jazz professionals in three different cities: Louisville, KY, Washington DC, and Chicago, IL. Ms. Shriver will be conducting interviews and posting her experienceson the blog: http://saxymoni.com

“This is such an exciting and possible life-changing opportunity for me. The professionals that I am meeting and working with are so open and willing to share their love of jazz with me, which I will be able to pass on to my students. This fellowship is going to give me the opportunity to immerse myself in learning jazz improvisation ideas and techniques and will help me continue to inspire my students at Arizona School for the Arts. I am both humbled and honored to have been awarded this Fellowship.” said Ms. Shriver.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer these Fellowships to teachers of the arts.  By focusing on their own creative work and interacting with professional artists and colleagues, these teachers are exposed to new ideas and practices that they can carry back to the classroom.  After ten rounds of Fellowships—and close to 200 Fellows—we’ve witnessed the transformative effect of the Fellowship experience on both the individuals and the schools,” said Ellen B. Rudolph, Program Director for Thriving Cultures, Surdna Foundation.

-more-

About the Surdna Foundation

The Surdna Foundation, a national family foundation established in 1917, seeks to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States—communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by sustainable environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures.

One focus of the Surdna Foundation’s Thriving Cultures program is to strengthen the artistic abilities of teens while addressing the isolation and lack of opportunities for artistic advancement for young people from disadvantaged communities. Surdna hopes that these teens will contribute to the artistic fabric of the United States and to the evolution of new art forms. The goal of the Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship Program is to support the artistic revitalization of their arts teachers.  Surdna strives to help them increase their effectiveness as they guide and train young people for careers or advanced study.

For the next round of Fellowships, Letters of Intent to Apply are due by November 12, 2010.  For application information, go to: www.surdna.org/artsteachersfellowship

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Pangean Orchestra Premiere

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Moni

I know that I am horribly overdue for a blog update… it’s been a busy couple of months. I have quite a bit to talk about, including the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Conference, couple of great gigs, applying for the SUNDRA professional growth grant, and of course, The Pangean Orchestra – see the flyer above and links below!  More blogs to come, I promise!

Hear the free full-length recordings:
www.reverbnation.com/pangeanorchestra

Join us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pangean-Orchestra/178897032533?ref=ts

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First Grant – Step 1

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Moni

I had always heard that money was out there… and I have a few friends who have done some grant writing, but I had never gone through the experience myself until this year. About a month ago I applied for a professional growth grant from Surdna. It was one of those things where the arts coordinator at ASA told me to apply at the end of last year and it sat on my bulletin board all summer untouched. Then the school year started and the application deadline drew near and I finally just had to do it. I ran ideas past friends and family, trying to figure out some sort of plan that made sense for the money. It was a bit of a challenge. I honestly had trouble coming up with a plan, until I started thinking about my passion.

One thing that has always fascinated me about jazz improvisation, and improvisation in general is how people who don’t know how to improvise label it at this phenomenon that is so far out of their reach. People who can do amazing things on their instruments are reduced to frozen deer in headlights when you mention improvisation. As children, we improvised all the time. Even when we first learn to play an instrument, we experimented and made stuff up, because we could. It’s so much fun! Somewhere along the line, someone told us that what we played was “wrong” and we decided to never compose something new on the spot again. It’s really sad actually. One of my “secret” goals in life is to try and reach professional classical musicians and teach them how to improvise – preferably through workshops and/or writing a book.

I was telling my arts coordinator this one day when she told me that I had my plan for the grant. I was kinda surprised – but ASA is a conservatory based model and jazz band is one of the things that is different and unique. What I’m essentially doing is teaching classical students how to play jazz and how to improvise. I had never thought about it that way. Now, imagine that I had more tools, more experiences, and more guidance to help me? That’s what my grant application is all about.

I spent hours working on the ideas, researching dates, and thinking about what I would like to do. I came up with a plan. I wrote my first curriculum vitae (with the help of a friend and google) in 24 hours and turned in the application 90 minutes before the deadline. Then things got so busy, I forgot all about it. Your browser may not support display of this image.

I found out this weekend that I was selected as a finalist. My heart literally skipped a beat when I read the e-mail. I may get money to travel around the country playing, listening and talking about jazz and then bring it back to my students. So cool! Now it’s time to solidify my plan – talk to the people involved (even though they don’t know it yet), figure out everything I need, and fill out the next part of the application. The whole process is exhilarating. Wish me luck!

For more information on Surdna, check out this link and look around. http://www.surdna.org/whats-new/news/82.html

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What goes around…

Posted on November 28, 2009 by Moni

As a teacher, I always want to share a piece of myself with my students. I want to share with them my experiences, my history, my struggles and successes, and of course, the “good” stories. Small opportunities to do that come every day. However, every once in a while, there’s a chance to do something big – to share a huge part of myself and my story. Last Monday was the November concert for my Jazz Band and by featuring Dr. Pete Vivona as the guest artist, I was able to do just that.

Pete Vivona is a large part of my history as a jazz student. When I was in Jr. High I took saxophone lessons from his wife Terry, who passed away a couple of years ago, and I remember sitting in their living room in Flagstaff, AZ and Terry and I arguing about using a metronome. I remember her telling me that I needed to use it to help me with the rhythms and to stop guessing. I asked her if I had guessed right? She told me that wasn’t the point. It still makes me laugh to this day – especially as I encourage my students to use a metronome when they practice.

I practically grew up with the NAU Big Bands, were Pete was the director of Jazz Studies – always attending their concerts (had my first kiss in the back of the auditorium at a NAU Jazz 1 concert :) ) and hoping to get to know the musicians. I remember getting to work with Jazz 1 in 1992, they came and played with my Jr. High Jazz Band and Tim Matteson introduced me to Blood, Sweat, and Tears. (Because we were playing Spinning Wheel at the time.)

When I got to college, I kept playing jazz even though I really thought I wanted to be a classical musician. (Whole other story) I took improv classes from Pete and played in Big Bands that he directed. I learned a lot during those years – however it took me many more years before I really started to apply it. It’s interesting how sometimes you have to learn something more than once before it starts to sink in.

Every year, my Jazz Band fundraises in order to bring in a guest artist. This year it was time for a brass player (previous years were Dom Moio (drums) and Paul Brewer (saxophone)) and since I had 2 dedicated trombone players, I contacted Pete. He immediately said yes.

So on Monday, Pete came to work my kids. He did a improv clinic, a dress rehearsal, a Q&A, ate pizza with the kids, and then played the concert. It was so neat to listen to him teach – he’d talk about things that I teach, but also reminded me of things I need to focus more on. The best part was listening to him play with the kids – and hearing them change and grow right before my eyes. It was incredible to witness. The concert went fantastic and I was really proud. It was truly amazing to share Pete with my students – and hopefully the experience will stick with them for a long time.

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Intro Post

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Moni

I love hanging out with other musicians. I think most musicians do. Often times we feel so alone in our struggles and often our struggles force us to isolate ourselves unnecessarily. We are our own worst internal enemies. But, when we hang out with other musicians, we realize that we are not alone and that we have people in our corner supporting us all the time. Hanging out with other musicians reminds us that we all have challenges – even the ones who “make it look easy”. I’m looking to share my life as a musician with others – to put my journey out there, the things that I find, and some funny anecdotes along the way and hopefully be that musician, offering you a drink and a chance to find out that you’re not alone either. Welcome to my blog.

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