[RhythmAgogo] Lots of Things

Mon Mar 7 15:19:34 PST 2016

I'm not going to make it tonight. Feeling flu bound. Have a good discussion!Julie

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.-------- Original message --------From: Chelsea Moore <chelseamoore6 at gmail.com> Date: 2016-03-07  8:42 AM  (GMT-06:00) To: Rhythm Agogo internal communications <rhythmagogo at lists.resist.ca> Subject: Re: [RhythmAgogo] Lots of Things 
I'll be there tonight! 
On Mar 7, 2016 12:35 AM, "Neil Jones" <neil.edward.jones at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi folks!

It’s been a while since I sent out one of these grab bag of everything emails,
but there’s lots to talk about at the moment, so here goes:

Workshop Development

I suggest we use this Monday’s practice to work on workshops
– to workshop them, as it were. The March 19th and April 2nd
content will of course be up to those actually presenting the workshops.
Nevertheless, especially since we’re looking at offering similar workshops at
Ness, and potentially in other contexts as well, I think it would be great to
have as many of us as possible involved in developing and testing ideas. I
think there is a possibility for us to give a workshop similar to the one we’re
planning for the children’s area at Ness at the Nature City Festival, May 24th
– 29th. (I have emailed the coordinators and am waiting for a
response.) If there are no objections, I propose we dedicate tonight’s practice
to developing our workshops together.

Change of Practice
Format

On account of our relationship with Open Door, we are going
to need to do more to facilitate participation by newcomers and beginners. To
that effect, Julie and I decided on a new format. This is not set in stone yet,
but will need to be by the end of March, so please get back with any feedback
promptly. This is the format we are proposing:

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm: Community Connections Drum Circle – a time
to learn, share, and jam together

8:00 pm – 9:30 pm: Rhythm Agogo Rehearsal – a time to
practice and plan for performances and workshops

I realize that extends the time a bit earlier and later,
while also shortening the total rehearsal time. My thinking on this is that we
tend to spend quite a bit of time jamming, experimenting, and socializing
during practice as is, which combined with many of us having trouble making it
on time, cuts into our rehearsals quite a lot. I figure that, for those able to
make it for all or part of the drum circle before rehearsal, that should help
to burn some of that energy and get us focussed for rehearsal. For those only
able to make it to rehearsal (all or part), there should be more of a feeling
of effective use of time. This should also make our Monday nights more
accessible and welcoming for beginners of all stripes, for folks whose primary
interest is in jamming and not in performing, for those who want opportunities
to drum but are hesitant to take on another time commitment, and especially for
newcomers to share their own knowledge and build connections through music. And
for those of us who will more often than not attend both sessions, that means…
More Music!

Everyone’s thoughts on this are, as always, more than
welcome.

Hand Drum Parts

Since most of our active tunes are from the Rhythms of
Resistance catalogue, and none of them include hand drum parts, I suggest we
try to get all of our hand drum parts written down over the next while. I can
start leaving the music folder at Open Door, so that, whether or not I can make
it to a particular practice, we have that reference and continuity. I’m also hoping
that, by giving our novice hand drummers a handy reference, we will be that
much closer to being able to achieve full instrumentation, i.e. shifting some
hand drummers over to covering other parts such as snare, shaker, and agogo.
Goals.

Our Portfolio of
Tunes

I have been neglecting this myself, but I think we should
try to work on some of our less-practiced tunes at least every second practice.
I’m thinking of Ragga, Voodoo, Zombie (the Fela Kuti tune David shared with
us), and Crazy Monkey. I suggest we practice these, as well as some of our
less-practiced breaks, next Monday, March 14th, and about every
second week between then and Ness. This will mean we will have a bag of at
least eight tricks (i.e. tunes) for our stage show. I will be gone on March 21st,
and I’m hoping you all can coordinate to practice our more recently-practiced
tunes in my absence. (I can leave the whistle with someone.)

Cuba

I will be going to Cuba for a week. Lucky me! While I’m
there, I plan to check out one or two music stores in Havana for instruments. I’m
thinking güiro, clave, and other such small percussion dohickies. If you have
any requests or suggestions, let me know!

Materials for New
Instruments

Please keep your tin cans, and bring them to practice
sometime. We can use them to make new shakers, along with some duck tape and
the contents of the industrial bag of cheap rice I plan to buy soon. They also
may be useful for making instruments in our children’s workshop(s). (And the
new shakers will provide a valuable backup supply of carbs for the zombie apocalypse,
assuming sources of potable water and cooking fuel are also available at that
point.)

Bank Account

It would be good to have a bank account. We can get a
no-fees community account at the New Community Credit Union. We just need three
or more signing authorities. Who wants to volunteer (aside from me)?

Rhythms of Resistance

I have emailed the maintainers of the RoR website to ask
them to list us. Hopefully that will be a thing soon.

Facebook Fan Page

I have added Fred’s Logo #1, which had the most enthusiastic
positive response, as our new icon on the fan page. I guess that makes it
official? Also, I suggest we try to use the fan page just for promoting our
music and gigs, with few exceptions, especially since we now have the…

Rhythm Agogo Coffee
House

In case you missed it, I finally made us a group page on
Facebook. I think I have added everyone who comes out to practices as a member
and also as an administrator. (If I missed anyone, let me know.) I held off on
doing this as we had some people earlier on who were not Facebook users. There
were also some concerns about all the notification beeps the Facebook app was
sending out on people’s phones from the group conversation thread we had going
on before the listserv.

We can decide how we want to continue to use this email
list, and what functions we may want to shift over to the Facebook discussion
group. At the very least, I think that’s a good forum for more open
brainstorming of ideas, as well as for sharing audio and video links of things
that inspire us or that we would like to try to emulate and adapt. If
notification noises are bothering anyone, let me know, and I’m sure I can help
you change your notification settings as needed.

Also, please feel free to ‘personalize’ (collectivize?) away
– for example, if you have an idea for the cover image, that would be cool!

Again, any feedback on any of this is welcome and appreciated. Musically
yours,

Neil

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