Why improvising is more than something from nothing, and how creativity and collaboration can improve lives and save the world.
Part discussion and part experiment, the show’s hosts American saxophonist Steve Treseler and Canadian poet/musician Lauren Best find the fun in risk-taking, unscripted conversations, and multi-disciplinary perspectives to creative practice.
Brought together by a shared belief in transformation through improvisation, Steve and Lauren bring their audience along for the journey, making it up as they go. . .
Creativity from Day One: An Interview with Siliana Chiliachka
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Founder of Siliana's Piano Studio, Bulgarian-American pianist Siliana Chiliachka is reimagining music lessons for young children, teaching technique, composition, and improvisation through Music Learning Theory.
In our conversation, we discuss that children are naturally musical and creative, but there is a lack of creativity in early music instruction—and what we can do to change that. We also discuss the principles of Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory, how to promote life-long music-making, and the distinction between learning about music vs. understanding music.
Siliana Chiliachka is a dedicated music educator who has performed and taught piano throughout North America, Canada, and Europe. She debuted as a soloist with the Vratsa Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria when she was 10 years old. She is a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada and holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music. She has received training from renowned artists such as Jerome Lowenthal, Charles Asche, Yuval Yaron, Anne Epperson, and Peter Yazbeck. She is a recipient of numerous scholarships including the UCSB Music Affiliates Quarterly Performance Award, the SB Music club, and an awardee of several competitions and festivals in Bulgaria, Canada, and the U.S.
Learn more about Music Moves group classes with Siliana for 4-7 year olds
https://www.instagram.com/silianastudio/
https://www.facebook.com/siliana.chiliachka
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Theme Song: “Cold Hammered” by Steve Treseler
1 Apr 2023
School Rock Bands and Creative Musicking: an Interview with Steve Giddings
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Canadian music educator and author Steve Giddings joins us to talk about sparking creativity in high school music programs on Prince Edward Island. He reveals what it was like to stretch from being a classically trained orchestral player to jamming in blues bars and playing in a ska brass section, and what ignited him to self-publish his first practical guide to teaching rock bands in schools.
Steve’s work to innovate and inspire “creative musicking” in the classroom has most recently resulted in his newest book from Oxford University Press “Technology for Unleashing Creativity: Practical Tips and Tools for Music Educators”. He shares some spicy thoughts and why they get pushback, and explains why he wants to electrify music education and create change for more fun and functional learning.
https://www.stevesmusicroom.com/@StevesMusicRoom
facebook.com/stevesmusicroominstagram.com/stevesmusicroomtwitter.com/stevesmusicroom
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Theme Song: “Cold Hammered” by Steve Treseler
22 Feb 2023
Improvising (Pencil) Tips: props and prompts inspired by W.A. Mathieu
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Steve and Lauren discuss how to mix things up with some unusual improvising tricks and tips- including playing piano with eraser tips! Featuring inspiration from the audiobook, "W.A. Mathieu reads from The Listening Book and The Musical Life", the episode is packed with unconventional yet easy methods for tapping into creativity.
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Theme Song: “Cold Hammered” by Steve Treseler
audiobook "W.A. Mathieu reads from The Listening Book and The Musical Life":
https://coldmountainmusic.com/downloads/the-listening-book-and-the-musical-life/
print: https://www.amazon.com/Listening-Book-Discovering-Your-Music/dp/159030831X
streaming:
https://open.spotify.com/album/31yOnWgSqu1GoxvTsJn4nf
22 Feb 2023
Teaching Improvisation
In this episode, we talk about emphasising creativity in music education for young people, from leading bands for Seattle’s JazzEd to Lauren’s approach to improvisation in small-town Ontario, Canada. We discuss program design with a focus on improvisation, how Lauren changed her approach to teaching piano, online group music lessons, and mixed instrument improvisation ensembles.
4 Jan 2023
Creativity and Indigenous Music: An Interview with Ed Littlefield
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best. The first episode of our interview series, a conversation with Ed Littlefield. We discuss Ed's journey studying Native Lingít music alongside jazz, community music making, composing a song for Betty White (first 10 seconds: https://youtu.be/yp0yf5PpqkA), and much more!
Ed Littlefield is a freelance percussionist, educator, and composer based out of Seattle, WA. He is Lingít from Sitka, Alaska and has released three albums featuring traditional native melodies, which he also arranged into the jazz idiom with the Native Jazz Quartet. This quartet represented the United States in South America as “Jazz Ambassadors” through the American Music Abroad program.
For film he composed a song for the 2009 Disney movie The Proposal for Betty White’s character and played the percussion score and consulted on indigenous music for the 2022 documentary Exposing Muybridge.
Ed has played K’alyaan in the world-premiere of Battles of Fire and Water by Dave Hunsaker and written and performed an original musical score for Eurydice by Sara Ruhl for Perseverance Theater in Juneau, Alaska. He has done sound design and composition for the world premieres of Our Voices Will Be Heard by Vera Starbard, and was the composer and cultural advisor for They Don’t Talk Back by Frank Katasse at Native voices at the Autry, La Jolla Playhouse and Perseverance Theater. He also did sound design for Off the Rails by Randy Reinholz at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Sovereignty by Mary Kathryn Nagle at Arena Stage. Most recently he composed the songs for a new play produced by the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign called The Neverland by Madeline Sayet. Currently he is working on a three-year project to create the first ever Lingít opera. This project will combine traditional contemporary Lingít melodies inside the western opera genre and will also include an all-indigenous cast.
Ed is an active educator around the country, facilitating artist residencies for students and teachers to help them learn more about Lingít culture and music and traditional ways of knowing.
Contact Ed at edwardlittlefield@hotmail.com
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Executive Producers: Lauren Best and Steve TreselerProducer: Sam BlakeTheme Song: “Cold Hammered” by Steve Treseler
26 Aug 2022
How to Improvise Part 5: Reflection
The fifth episode of a five-part series on how to improvise, exploring each of Infinite Improvisation’s creative practices: Experimentation, Play, Limitations, Deep Listening, and Reflection. In this episode, we reflect about reflection and discuss how to be an ally to ourselves in the process of infinite improvisation.
3 Aug 2022
How to Improvise Part 4: Deep Listening
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
The fourth episode of a five-part series on how to improvise, exploring each of Infinite Improvisation’s creative practices: Experimentation, Play, Limitations, Deep Listening, and Reflection. In this episode, we experiment live with listening activities. We discuss our potential for deep listening and how to develop our deep listening skills.
16 Jul 2022
How to Improvise Part 3: Limitations
The third of a five-part series on how to improvise, exploring each of Infinite Improvisation’s creative practices: Experimentation, Play, Limitations, Deep Listening, and Reflection. In this episode, we discuss the surprisingly expansive results of using, learning from, and embracing limitations.
4 Jul 2022
How to Improvise Part 2: Play
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
The second of a five-part series on how to improvise, exploring each of Infinite Improvisation's creative practices: Experimentation, Play, Limitations, Deep Listening, and Reflection. In this episode, we dive into play—embracing the unknown, taking the scenic route while learning through exploration, and being kind to ourselves.
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Download a free digital copy of Steve’s book, “Creativity Triggers for Musicians”.Download free creative limitation menus.
27 Jun 2022
How to Improvise Part 1: Experimentation
S2 E1: How to Improvise Part 1: Experimentation
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
The first of a five-part series on how to improvise, exploring each of Infinite Improvisation's creative practices: Experimentation, Play, Limitations, Deep Listening, and Reflection. In this episode, we dive into experimentation—embracing the scientific method, curiosity, and failure.
For a transcription of this episode and more: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/e/how-to-improvise-part-1-experimentation
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Get updates and exclusive community content by signing up for our email newsletter at:
www.infiniteimprovisation.com/podcast
Download a free digital copy of Steve’s book, “Creativity Triggers for Musicians”.Download free creative limitation menus.
21 Apr 2022
Q&A: Student Reluctant to Improvise
S1 E5: Q&A: Student Reluctant to Improvise
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Steve and Lauren take questions from listeners about encouraging students who are reluctant to improvise, and how to foster creative student collaboration online.
For a transcription of this episode and more: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/e/q-a-student-reluctant-to-improvise
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21 Apr 2022
Who Are We? Part 2
S1 E4: Who Are We? Part 2
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Learn about your hosts Steve and Lauren—where they are coming from, and why improvising and creativity are important in their lives.
For a transcription of this episode and more: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/e/who-are-we-part-2
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21 Apr 2022
Who Are We? Part 1
S1 E3: Who Are We? Part 1
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Learn about your hosts Steve and Lauren—where they are coming from, and why improvising and creativity are important in their lives.
For a transcription of this episode and more: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/e/who-are-we-part-1
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21 Apr 2022
What is Improvisation?
S1 E2: What is Improvisation?
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Steve and Lauren discuss what it means to make things up. What is improvisation? What isn't improvisation? What are we even talking about? What are the links between improvisation, art, and life.
For a transcription of this episode and more: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/e/what-is-improvisation
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11 Apr 2022
Infinite Improvisation Podcast Trailer
Listen to the Infinite Improvisation Podcast on your favorite podcast platform: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/
11 Apr 2022
Why Improvise?
S1 E1: Why Improvise?
Infinite Improvisation Podcast: adventures in music and creativity with Steve Treseler and Lauren Best.
Our explorers discuss the "why" behind the show. Why this podcast? Why improvise? Why not improvise? Why are we talking about this? Why do we believe in creativity as a tool for transformation?
For a transcription of this episode and more: https://infiniteimprovisation.podbean.com/e/why-improvise
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