Chamber Music Improvisation with Alice Schuth

Build string chamber music skills and have fun with improvisational games in this four-class series led by Alice Schuth. Designed for adults wanting to create and play music without the constraints of written material and who are ready to become a composer in the moment! Each exercise will focus on a compositional element found in orchestral and chamber music. 

This course will explore improvisation through a series of puzzle pieces and musical frameworks that allow room for players to endlessly create. Based on the work of Alice Kanack, we will adhere to her dictum of "no such thing as a mistake". Each session will begin with “breaking the ice” exercises. As we gain confidence and begin to find our voices, we will link the puzzle pieces and create extended improvised pieces.

Instrumental skills required: String players with the ability to play in multiple keys. Basic skills with scales and arpeggios. No notation will be used during this course.

Maximum of five participants.

About the Instructor:

Alice Schuth is a strings educator who has maintained a studio for over 30 years. She is most proud of her work authoring the Paper Orchestra Project, a strings education program tailored to rural communities. Her students often begin as pre-school children in paper orchestra, then become private students, give solo recitals, play chamber music and graduate to orchestral music.

As a certified teacher trainer in the Creative Ability Development method she combines playing music in groups with one-on-one instruction to provide a well rounded musical education. While part of the Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra (now defunct), over a dozen young musicians under Alice's tutelage joined the ranks of the string sections. Alice was fortunate to see her three sons grow as musicians through Eastport Strings and become founding members of the PBSO. Now that they are out living on their own, she devotes her time ensuring other children and parents can have a similar enriching experience through music. 

 Alice studied jazz violin at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA before moving across town to become a graduate in violin performance from the New England Conservatory of Music. After building a career in Boston that included freelance orchestral performance, a thriving private studio, and chamber music coaching, Alice moved with her family to Eastport, Maine, where she co-founded Eastport Strings in 2001. Alice continues to play with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra when she can find the time.