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IMPROVISER/DEVISER
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okay:
This one is hard to put into words, but since I have a strong jazz background and acting training, I really excel in situations where a creative team is like “i know we should have music here but i don’t know what it should be... john, can you try something out?” and i say “yes of course,” because i love to try things out and figure things out as i go.
like take this video for example. here i was tasked with improvising suspenseful underscoring while a clown did aerial silks. the challenge was to be able to create a structure that was flexible enough for the performer to be able to execute the silks routine, but i didn’t have one hundred percent freedom; you’ll see that he sings this little bit of music we came up with as an ode to the moon (for that is one of the main things clowns like to sing about imo). i knew i wanted it to be clear where he should come back in with the vocals, but i wanted the time to get all loose when he wasn’t singing. i knew the vocals had to be in the same key each time he sang, but i also wanted to get all chromatic when he wasn’t. i also knew i wanted to feel the room out, and really thread an arc through for the audience where they got to really experience that special kind of danger i call Circus Danger. anyway here’s how it came out:
i use this as an example because a) i think we did really well and it looks/sounds so cool, and b) because i think it serves as a strong example of the sort of work i want to do more of, whether it’s backing people up who are doing comedy/sketch, or more things in the devised theatre world. i’m constantly trying to find myself in rooms where music needs to do different things, and figure out how to make that happen. xoxo john