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Ad Hoc: Why Improvisation Matters

Ad Hoc: Why Improvisation Matters

Written by: Ars Nova Workshop
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About this listen

Ad Hoc is a podcast about improvisation: in music, in other art forms, and in the lives and work of professionals of all stripes. It was started by us here at Ars Nova Workshop, a jazz/creative music presenter in Philadelphia. We’ve built decades-long relationships and ongoing conversations with the greatest musical minds—MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellows, Doris Duke and Pulitzer Prize award winners—who are all world-class innovators. And we’ve come to understand that improvisation is more than just a fortunate talent for jazz musicians: it informs the very world each of those musicians inhabits. 


Through conversations with these world-renowned musicians and a host of others, we explore how improvisation affects their work, their creative lives, even their relationships. We also see how improvisation often leads to roads outside of music: visual art, movement, all the way to scientific study or martial arts. We use conversations with these world-class musicians as a launching point for considering the many facets of the phenomenon of improvisation: its history, development, cultural status, applications, and the science behind it and that it makes possible.

Ad Hoc is produced by Ars Nova Workshop in partnership with Rowhome Productions. 

© 2024 Ad Hoc: Why Improvisation Matters Art Music
Episodes
  • The Whole Body Connecting (Tribute to Milford Graves)

    The Whole Body Connecting (Tribute to Milford Graves)
    Jan 30 2024

    Drummer Milford Graves was a leader in the Free Jazz movement and also a self-taught polymath who made significant contributions in fields as varied as visual art, cardiac research, and martial arts. We hear from Milford as well as friends and colleagues about what made his music and his life so special.

    Legendary bassist William Parker tells the story of having his heartbeat recorded by Milford; Olympic gold medalist Bob Beamon reflects on the connection between long-jumping and drumming; composer and drummer Susie Ibarra talks about what she learned from Milford; Kim Gordon discusses watching Milford perform; Camae Ayewa (moor mother) walks us through her visit to "A Mind-Body Deal", an exhibition Ars Nova Workshop curated about Milford Graves. 

    Ad Hoc is produced by Ars Nova Workshop in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

    More information about "A Mind-Body Deal" our Ars Nova Workshop's website here.
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    27 mins
  • Improvisation Is Everywhere

    Improvisation Is Everywhere
    Jan 3 2024

    Ad Hoc is a podcast about improvisation: how it creates music, shapes worlds, and lives in the brains and souls of some of the most curious and inventive people on the planet.

    In our pilot episode, we talk with a poet laureate of Philadelphia, a world-class chef, and some of the many geniuses who we know about how improvisation enters into their lives and work. A conversation between saxophonist Chris Potter and medical researcher Dr. Charles Limb (Co-Director of the Sound Health Network, a special initiative of the NEA, NIH, and Kennedy Center) starts to unfold what “this is your brain on improvisation” might look like.

    Ad Hoc is produced by Ars Nova Workshop in partnership with Rowhome Productions. 
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    35 mins
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