***UPDATE: After much consideration, this event has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns. We look forward to rescheduling the event for a later date. Please check back in for more information.

Over the past two decades, Paul Winter has conducted hundreds of unique music-making workshops at colleges and universities throughout the United States in conjunction with the concert tours of the Paul Winter Consort. These workshops are usually held on the day following a concert, so that students will have first heard the range of music played by Paul and the Consort, and to enable Paul to announce and describe the workshop during the concert. These “Adventures in Making Your Own Music,” are open to any person, regardless of their musical background. They are intended to open doors to music-making for even the shyest individual, while at the same time offering new experiences in expression for those who have studied music. Paul’s premise is that music-making is the natural birthright of every person, and that all people have the ability to express themselves through sound.

Absolutely no music training or “talent” is required for this affirmative and celebratory approach, yet it can be equally nourishing for beginners, amateurs and professionals. Each person is asked to bring an instrument regardless of whether they can play it or not.
If you can produce one sound on it you can take part. Anything from a kazoo to a contrabassoon is welcome: folk, world music, jazz instruments; all the orchestral instruments – brass, strings, woodwind, percussion. Absolutely any sound-making device under the sun, including your voice. The sessions are ideally conducted in a large, empty, resonant hall or room, which can be darkened, since in darkness people lose their self-consciousness and fear of being judged.

The music-making is done collectively, usually in groups of 4. The experience is full of discovery, joy, humor and fun. There is no emphasis on soloing, or virtuosity, or performing. It is not a “master class” on how to play expertly in a particular tradition; rather it creates contexts in which our instincts for spontaneous expression can be awakened and nurtured, and participants receive clues on how to express themselves inauthentic ways. The same abilities by which we converse with words through improvising are brought into play in a myriad of different combinations of instruments and voices, in an environment of deep quiet and deep listening. Participants engage in a democratic process of responsiveness, the give-and-take of leadership and co-operation. After each round, both sound-makers and listeners have the opportunity to discuss their experience before Paul offers his observations and guidance.

Paul’s innovative and validating approach equips participants with experiences and tools they can employ in creating their own music, and leading their own bands.