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Stet Lab October 9th 2008

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Next Stet Lab will be on Thursday, October 9th 2008, Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music, Sundays Well, Cork, Ireland [map…]. Up-to-date details…

Stet Lab returns!

Thursday, October 9th 2008

7:30pm

Ó Riada Hall [map…]
UCC Department of Music
Sundays Well
Cork, Ireland

Free admission (€5 recommended donation)

Cork’s monthly improvised music event returns on Thursday, 9th October, at the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music, Sundays Well. Stet Lab is an onstage meeting of improvisers, and this month features guitarist Han-earl Park, double bass player Jesse Ronneau, vocalist Veronica Tadman and guests.

Stet Lab is a curated jam session, and a forum for improvisers—novice, veteran; student, teacher; part- or full-timer; amateur, professional; local or visitor. Come and witness music in progress and in process, and real-time mutations and hybridizations. Featuring a diverse gathering of Cork-based improvisers, this month’s event is a relaxed, informal introduction to a six month season that will go on to feature artist from England, N. Ireland, California and elsewhere.

Audience members are welcome to participate in association with the programmed artists; please introduce yourself to the Stet Lab curator on the night.

Next month (November 2008), Stet Lab will celebrate its first birthday with a very special session with Franziska Schroeder.

Stet Lab gratefully acknowledges the support of the UCC Department of Music in providing a venue for this month’s event.

updates:

09-24-08 update info on the November event (remove Hugh Metcalfe’s billing). [More info…]

update: November and December 2008

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The October 9th event will be the last Stet Lab on Thursday. As of November, Stet Lab will take place on the second Monday of the month (November 10th and December 8th). See the performance diary for more information.

November 10th 2008: Franziska Schroeder

The eagle eyed of you may have noticed the removal of Hugh Metcalfe’s name from these pages. Unfortunately, Stet Lab did not secure the funds necessary to bring Hugh over. (If there’s enough demand, I may post up the gory details of this funding application process at some point.)

However, Franziska Schroeder has very generously stepped in to occupy the November Lab’s guest spot.

I still hope to bring Hugh Metcalfe over to participate at the Lab in the future, in the meantime, I cannot think of any better musician with whom to celebrate Stet Lab’s first birthday than Franziska.

Lab report July 10th 2008: consequences of a noisy head

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Tony O Connor
on July 30, 2008
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Normally, nothing runs through my head when improvising. Occasionally, a thought will suggest, in an unobtrusive way, “Oh, that’s quite cool, you should copy that”. Or, as when I was first messing around with extended techniques on my bass, “My luthier’s gonna kill me…” But, at this Stet Lab, for the first time, a thought sounded loud and clear in my head almost immediately, and brought forth an emotional response which I don’t think left me for the whole performance. The emotion was panic, and the thought that caused it was, “Oh Christ, it’s too melodic…” Continue reading ‘Lab report July 10th 2008: consequences of a noisy head’

Lab report July 10th 2008: fitting the square piece into that triangular hole

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Han-earl Park
on July 25, 2008
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It’s good, I think, to think tactically about improvisation, and group improvisation in particular. You know, however, that you’ve lost the game in improvisation when you’re preempting the music. You don’t want to be thinking this is how it should be, goddamnit, and I will fit that square piece into that triangular hole. Continue reading ‘Lab report July 10th 2008: fitting the square piece into that triangular hole’

Stet Lab July 10th 2008: audio recordings

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on July 14, 2008
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Audio recordings of the July 10th Stet Lab are now online.

A very warm thanks to Mike Hurley who not only demonstrated his abilities as, to quote Eoin Callery, a “sh*t-hot pianist”, but also demonstrated his generosity as a performer.

Thanks to Neil O’Loghlen for keeping Mike company on stage. And thanks, as always, to all who came to listen and play, including the evening’s Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… Tony O’Connor and Han-earl Park, and Eoin Callery, Marian Murray and Kevin Terry for jumping into the (improvisative) deep-end.

Finally, Stet Lab gratefully acknowledges the support of the UCC Department of Music for coming through with this month’s venue.

Stet Lab and Mike Hurley in the Cork Independent

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The Cork Indy has a little article on Mike Hurley and Stet Lab.

[Mike Hurley:] “I have improvised in quite a free and gestural way since I was too young to know what free improvisation and free jazz were. …Like anything there was a fair bit of ‘trial and error’ when I was learning. …One prepares for an improvised show in a similar way to which one prepares for a surprise—it’s best not to worry about it.”

…Understanding personal differences is key, he says, to a successful collaborative improvisation, particularly as the process requires collective decision making and a trust in one another’s abilities.

Read the whole thing…

Catch Mike and the Stet Lab (ir)regulars tonight (Thursday, July 10th)! [Details…]

Stet Lab July 10th 2008 (reminder)

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This month’s evening of improvisations and extemporizations will take place this Thursday (July 10th). The ninth Stet Lab will feature guest artist Mike Hurley on piano, who will be joined by bassist Neil O’Loghlen. [Details…]

The evening’s second ‘rhythm section’ will be The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… Tony O’Connor (bass guitar) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

Please note (yet again) the new venue!

It’ll be a unique and exciting event. We hope to see you there, participating as audience, performer or helper, and thank you for your continued support.

Lab report June 12th 2008: thoughts of a newbie improviser

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Melanie Marshall
on July 7, 2008
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I’ve often wondered what goes through an improviser’s head during group improvisation. The improvised public performances I’ve participated in before have been more like improvised compositions in a sense—one person takes charge, or there’s a kind of plan vaguely sketched out (usually with the proviso that things might happen differently). This was my first time going in ‘cold’, without a plan. Continue reading ‘Lab report June 12th 2008: thoughts of a newbie improviser’

Stet Lab July 10th 2008 (update)

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Next Stet Lab (featuring Mike Hurley) will be on Thursday, July 10th 2008, Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music, Sundays Well, Cork, Ireland [map…]. Please note the new venue and earlier start time! Up-to-date details…

Stet Lab

featuring Mike Hurley
plus The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of…

Thursday, July 10th 2008

7:30pm [earlier start time!]

Ó Riada Hall [new venue!]
UCC Department of Music
Sundays Well
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

Following the success of June’s convention, Cork’s monthly improvised music event—Stet Lab—continues its Summer 2008 season of on-stage mutations and hybrids on Thursday, 10th July, at the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music, Sundays Well. This regular, yet unique meeting between novice and veteran improvisers alike welcomes the co-founder of the Birmingham Improvisers Orchestra, Mike Hurley to the rostrum.

Stemming from the bright lights of Birmingham, Hurley is an exciting and innovative young pianist, capable of both furious extemporizations and the “angelic piano” (Downtown Music Gallery, NY), who has quickly established himself as an original voice in the free improvisation scene. A mover and shaker within the English improvised music community, according to the Birmingham Post, Hurley is “making quite a mark in the British free jazz arena, and has already played with such stalwarts of the scene as Lol Coxhill and the Pauls, Rutherford and Dunmall.” This is Hurley’s first performance at Stet Lab and will see him performing both as a soloist and with the local musicians. However, he is no stranger to the Lab’s style having founded his own fortnightly free improvisation event FiZZLE, and curates, in association with Birmingham Jazz, the quarterly Invention Convention.

Also performing at the event will be Stet Lab’s house band; a group of Cork-based improvisers appearing as The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of…. Audience members are welcome to participate in association with the programmed artists; please introduce yourself to the Stet Lab curator on the night.

Stet Lab gratefully acknowledges the support of the UCC Department of Music in providing a venue for this month’s event.

Lab report June 12th 2008: being the odd-one-out

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Han-earl Park
on June 26, 2008
in reviews
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There’s a lot to be said for being the odd-one-out: you can be lazy.

There’s also a lot to be said for putting two ‘alikes’ together; be it the same instrumentation, or people who share a name. Okay, AFAIK, tactically, as an improviser, that latter factor doesn’t make an iota of difference, but I can vouch for the former. Continue reading ‘Lab report June 12th 2008: being the odd-one-out’