MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2016 Activities by Category - Music

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A Jazz Approach to Being an Entrepreneur

Ken Zolot, Senior Lecturer

Jan/26 Tue 03:00PM-05:00PM E14-633

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

A Jazz Approach to Being an Entrepreneur

Talk and improv with Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey

How is starting a company like jazz improvisation? In more ways than you might think. Come hear Grammy-winning musical icon Victor Wooten, and 6 string fretless bass pioneer and Berklee Bass department chair Steve Bailey, talk about their journey using music as a language for startups.

Contact: Kenneth Zolot, 32-386, 617 253-6481, ZOLOT@MIT.EDU


Bellringing in Towers

Ellena Popova, Naomi Schurr

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

What we do: Ring tower bells in permutations (n!), like Paul Revere (and a bunch of English people) at Old North Church and Church of the Advent in Boston.  Learn change-ringing, the traditional British style of ringing bells. We follow mathematical patterns instead of sheet music to ring up to 8 large tower bells with each bell controlled by a single rope. 

Change ringing = Combinatorics + Music. Those changes in the order of the bells’ sounding that constitute a method are governed by 4 rules:  (a) no bell may move more than one position at each change/row; (b) each bell sounds once in each row; (c) no row is repeated; and (d) the ringing begins and ends in Rounds.

Curious?  Learn more on our group website, under the "Ring with Us" section: http://bellringers.scripts.mit.edu/www/, or just come on out and join us!

Please wear comfortable, warm clothes. No previous musical experience necessary.  IAP is a great time for first-time learners!  We often go out to eat after practice, and you are welcome to join us. The Guild of Bellringers is a secular organization. All are welcome.

Meet in Building 66, Green Building side, at the designated times (or let us know if you'll be there a little later, so we can wait for you.) T-fare to the tower is provided.

Sponsor(s): Guild of Bellringers
Contact: Ellena Popova, bellringers-contact@mit.edu


Ringing at Church of the Advent

Jan/13 Wed 06:30PM-09:30PM Meet in Bldg 66
Jan/20 Wed 06:30PM-09:30PM Meet in Bldg 66
Jan/27 Wed 06:30PM-09:30PM Meet in Bldg 66

Rehearsal starts at 7pm, so we will meet in Building 66 at 6:30 to take the T to the Church of the Advent, which is in Beacon Hill. T fare is provided. Wear warm clothes as we will walk from Charles MGH station to the Church.


Ringing at Old North Church

Jan/16 Sat 10:30AM-01:30PM Meet in Bldg 66
Jan/23 Sat 10:30AM-01:30PM Meet in Bldg 66
Jan/30 Sat 10:30AM-01:30PM Meet in Bldg 66

Rehearsal starts at 11am, so we will meet in Building 66 at 10:30am to take the T to Old North Church, which is in the North End.  T fare is provided.  Wear warm clothes as we will walk outside, and the tower may be cold.


Build your own Electric Guitar

Hayami Arakawa, Asst. Director

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 12/22
Limited to 5 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Non
Fee: $50.00 for Membership

 

Now in its eighth year, this popular class continues to build on the long-standing tradition of instrument making in the Hobby Shop.  Making full use of the Shop’s many tools, including the CNC router, students will build, finish and assemble their own solid-body, bolt-on neck electric guitar or bass.  

 

The types of instruments available to choose from include Stratocaster and Telecaster-style guitars and a Precision-style bass.  The first step in the process is a required meeting with the instructor in December to select instrument type, body and other parameters.  The result will be a bill of materials that each student must order and have delivered prior to the beginning of class.  The cost of these parts will depend on the wood and components selected with the lower end of the range (for good quality parts) of approximately:

Stratocaster-style guitar, $400

Telecaster style guitar, $375

Precision-style bass, $350 

 

When the workshop begins, students will transform a prepared blank into a completed body, ready to accept the production-made neck and other components.

Sponsor(s): Hobby Shop
Contact: Hayami Arakawa, W31-031, 617 253-4343, HAYAMI@MIT.EDU


Build your own Electric Guitar

Jan/06 Wed 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031
Jan/07 Thu 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031
Jan/13 Wed 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031
Jan/14 Thu 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031
Jan/20 Wed 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031
Jan/21 Thu 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031
Jan/27 Wed 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031
Jan/28 Thu 06:00PM-09:00PM W31-031

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required 

Limited to 5 participants 

Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions 

Prereq: MIT Hobby Shop membership 

Fee: $50 

Hayami Arakawa - Asst. Director, John Armstrong - Instructor


Change Ringing on Handbells

Cally Perry, Naomi Schurr, Ellena Popova

Jan/11 Mon 07:30PM-09:45PM 5-231
Jan/18 Mon 07:30PM-09:45PM 35-310, note different room
Jan/25 Mon 07:30PM-09:45PM 5-231

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session

An introduction to the traditional English way of ringing bells called change ringing. Because of the way the bells are hung in a church tower, we do not ring tunes on the bells. Instead, we ring permutations of the bell orders by following particular mathematical patterns. It's music! It's a realtime multiplayer orientation game! It's the most fun you'll ever have counting to eight!  Come give it a try. No previous musical experience necessary. All are welcome.

Sponsor(s): Guild of Bellringers
Contact: MIT Guild of Bellringers, bellringers-contact@mit.edu


Dance Dance Revolution session and fan gathering

Richard Matthew McCutchen

Jan/09 Sat 07:00PM-09:00PM 32-G449, Dress comfortably.
Jan/27 Wed 06:30PM-08:30PM 32-G449, Dress comfortably.

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session

Do you think you might enjoy throwing your feet around in time to your favorite music, or are you already a pro?  Join us in playing StepMania, the leading open-source clone of Dance Dance Revolution, the classic arcade game of stepping on panels to a beat.  This game can be a great thrill, engaging both mentally and physically.

 

If you're interested but this time is bad: I'd be delighted to play with you another time.  Just email me.

For information about future events: Join the mailing list or check my new DDR resources page.

Contact: Richard Matthew McCutchen, RMCCUTCH@MIT.EDU


Folk Dancing with Live Electric Balkan Music

Kristi Beck

Jan/10 Sun 08:00PM-11:00PM Lobdell (W20 2nd fl)

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Learn to dance in time signatures you've never heard of! Then practice your dancing to live electric Balkan music by the band Rakiya!

Beginner teaching at 8 pm, live music at 9.

Rakiya performs a rich mix of modern and traditional Balkan music, including music of the Roma (Gypsies), with jazz and rock influences, electric and ethnic instruments, passionate singing, exotic harmonies, and driving, offbeat, irresistibly danceable rhythm.

By the end of the first hour, you'll be dancing in rhythms such as 7/8, 5/4, 15/8, and more!  Our repertoire includes circle dances, and a few couple dances, from Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Hungary) and around the world (Quebec, Sweden, China, South Africa, Scotland, and the U.S.)

No partner needed and absolutely no experience necessary. Come by yourself or bring friends. Beginners are encouraged to arrive on time for introductory teaching in each session.

These dances continue throughout IAP and as a regular series on Sunday nights, so you can keep coming once you get hooked!

Sponsor(s): Folk Dance Club
Contact: MIT Folk Dance Club, fdc@mit.edu


IAP - Movement, Concentration and Meditation Techniques for Performers

Jean Rife, Lecturer in Music and Theatre Arts Department; musician, cha

Jan/19 Tue 12:30PM-04:30PM 50-201
Jan/20 Wed 12:30PM-04:30PM 50-201
Jan/21 Thu 12:30PM-04:30PM 50-201

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 12/31
Limited to 12 participants
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session

Movement, Concentration and Meditation Techniques for Performers

Wear comfortable clothing such as shorts or tights and T-shirts

Performers—whether in theatre, music, or sports—need mental, physical, and emotional strength and flexibility. With this short introduction, you will learn new physical and mental techniques to give you such strength and flexibility. Those who embrace these practices report more effective and efficient practice and more calm and enjoyable performance in their chosen art form.

Each day will include meditation, movement, play, discussion, and will end with a deep relaxation.  Since each day builds on the previous, it is highly recommended that you plan to come to all three.  Limited to 12 participants.

Day One:  Tuesday

Build a strong base

Meditation for concentration and staying power.

Building power in the legs, pelvis, and abdomen, with safety and awareness.

 

Day Two:  Wednesday

Accuracy, speed, and upper body comfort

Metta (lovingkindness) meditation and self-compassion; its importance for performance.

Best practices for your inner critic.

Releasing the upper body while building strength:  the shoulder girdle, arms, hands, neck, and facial muscles.

 

Day Three:  Thursday

Put it into practice

Review of days one and two, with class practice.

More refined mental techniques, fields of awareness.

Practical applications for your art form.  We will play, sing, recite, speak, and move in class.  Bring music, texts, instruments, and equipment.

 

Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts
Contact: Jean Rife, 617 253-4964, jeanrife@mit.edu


Intro to Contra Dancing, with Live Folk Music

Ann B. Cowan, Kristi Beck

Jan/12 Tue 08:00PM-10:30PM Student Ctr 407
Jan/26 Tue 08:00PM-10:30PM Lobdell (W20 2nd fl)

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: none

Banjos + group theory + twirling your partner = FUN!

Contra dancing is a high-energy American folk dance, using easy walking steps, set to exciting, LIVE folk music from New England, Ireland, and Quebec. Dance with a partner and other couples, then change partners. A caller teaches the sequence of moves and prompts you during the dance, making it accessible to all. No experience necessary!

Free snacks will be provided. Come alone or bring friends! Website lists Tuesdays later in semester.

Sponsor(s): Folk Dance Club
Contact: MIT Folk Dance Club, fdc@mit.edu


Iolanthe (Victorian comic opera) open sing & orchestra playthru

Mary Spanjers

Jan/10 Sun 02:00PM-05:00PM Student Ctr 407

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Are you intrigued by what Victorian comic opera sounds like (hint: it's nothing like Wagner)? Are you curious about Gilbert and Sullivan, but not sure you can commit to a full-fledged production? Are you just looking to spend a Sunday afternoon making music with like-minded people?

Then you're in luck! Join the MIT Gilbert and Sullivan Players for a delightful open sing & playthrough of Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri.

We are seeking choristers, soloists, and members of the orchestra.

About the show:
Iolanthe, a fairy, is allowed to return after being banished for the crime of marrying a mortal. And not a moment too soon for her half-human, half-fairy son Strephon needs her help! The Lord Chancellor refuses to allow Strephon to marry the beautiful shepherdess Phyllis. Iolanthe and the fairies agree to help Strephon by overcoming the opposition of the entire British parliament!

If you would like to sing a solo role, please email rebecca.s.graber [at] gmail.com by Wednesday 1/6 with your voice part, preferred role, and a little bit about yourself and your singing experience. We will try to give a role or partial role to anyone who requests one, with MIT students taking priority. Or just show up and sing in the chorus!

If you would like to play in the orchestra, please email your name and instrument to crossana [at] mit.edu by Thursday 1/7 if possible. All orchestra instruments are welcome.

For a synopsis and list of roles, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iolanthe

Sponsor(s): Gilbert and Sullivan Players
Contact: Gilbert and Sullivan Players, gsp-ec@mit.edu


Learn to Play Music on Your iPhone or iPad

Dazza Greenwood, Scientist

Jan/13 Wed 04:00PM-05:00PM E15-393, Bring iPhone or iPad

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/13
Limited to 18 participants
Prereq: None

Check out GrooveCommission.com for more information on this new method and come to the workshop with an iOS device to learn how to do it yourself!  We will have a group jam session at the end of the workshop and you all get a soundcloud copy of your jam (if you want it).

Contact: Dazza Greenwood, E15-384C, (617) 500-3644, dazza@civics.com


Learn to Square Dance

Veronica Boyce

Jan/19 Tue 08:00PM-10:15PM Morss Hall, Walker

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Come to the Tech Squares Beginners' Night and get a taste of modern Square Dancing. At Tech Squares, the square and round dancing club at MIT, we dance fast, we dance smart, and we have lots of fun! No previous dance experience or knowledge necessary.

Sponsor(s): Tech Squares
Contact: Veronica Boyce, 650 933 0841, squares@mit.edu


Mathematics Department Music Recital

Alexander Moll

Jan/25 Mon 02:00PM-04:00PM Killian Hall

Enrollment: Contact Alexander Moll (alexmoll@math.mit.edu)

This annual concert gives those in the mathematics community, together with family and friends, a chance to perform for each other. Come to play or listen.

Sponsor(s): Mathematics
Contact: Alexander Moll, alexmoll@math.mit.edu


Musical Mechanical Engineers

Barbara Hughey

Jan/22 Fri 03:30PM-05:30PM Killian Hall 14W-111

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required

Participate in the seventh annual IAP Course 2 Concert!  Anyone affiliated with the ME Dept is invited to perform in a concert to be held in Killian Hall on Friday, Jan 22 at 3:30 pm. The hall will be available at 1:30 pm on the 22nd for run-throughs, and the concert will be later in the afternoon. You may form your own group, or simply sign up and ask to be placed in a group. All the information you need is here:

https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/2IAPCONCERT/Home

Please email Barbara Hughey (bhughey@mit.edu) with any questions. 

 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Barbara Hughey, 3-038, x2-1812, bhughey@mit.edu


Old-Time String Band Jam at MIT

Peggy Conant, Jam Leader, Selene Victor, Jam Leader

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

This session has been reinstated!  To get meeting and session updates, please contact the pconant@mit.edu.

Before radio and before bluegrass, fiddles, banjos and guitars were being played throughout Appalaichia and in the southeastern states by people gathered on front porches and in dance halls to make their own fun.  These people passed on an enduring repertoire of tunes and a musical style which is still alive and well.  Today players from all over the US gather regularly to "jam," playing old and newly composed tunes in the style now referred to as old-time southern string-band music.  

If you play or if you just like to listen to traditional music played on fiddle, banjo and guitar, come to the Old-Time Music Jam at MIT!  

Contact: Peggy Conant, W92-203, 617 715-5142, PCONANT@MIT.EDU


Old-Time String Band Jam

Jan/05 Tue 06:30PM-08:00PM (CANCELED)
Jan/12 Tue 06:30PM-08:00PM 20-407, Contact leader to get session updates
Jan/19 Tue 06:30PM-08:00PM (CANCELED)
Jan/26 Tue 06:30PM-08:00PM Lobdell Dining Hall, Contact leader to get session updates

Peggy Conant - Jam Leader, Selene Victor - Jam Leader


Patter-a-Thon (open speed-sing)

Phil Arevalo

Jan/24 Sun 06:00PM-08:00PM Student Ctr 407

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Do you like to sing songs at a rapid-fire pace? 
Do you know the entirety of Tom Lehrer's "Elements" song? 
Curious about Gilbert and Sullivan? 

Then join us for our first ever Patter-a-Thon! Patter songs are songs with "a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note." 

We'll be singing through as many Gilbert and Sullivan patters and parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan patters as we can. 

Pizza dinner will be provided! No previous experience is necessary to participate. 

If you would like to sing a particular Gilbert and Sullivan patter song, please email parevalo [at] mit.edu by Wednesday 1/20 with one or more songs you'd like to do, and a little bit about yourself and your singing experience. Parodies of patter songs also allowed and encouraged! 

If you just want to join in on the fun, there will be opportunities for choral singing as well, so come on down!

Sponsor(s): Gilbert and Sullivan Players
Contact: Phil Arevalo, parevalo@mit.edu


Radio Station Tour

David Mercado

Jan/26 Tue 08:00PM-09:00PM 50-030, Walker Memorial Basement
Jan/30 Sat 02:00PM-03:00PM 50-030, Walker Memorial Basement

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session
Prereq: None

WMBR is a student-run college radio station that has been operating out of the basement of Walker Memorial since 1961. On this tour, you'll get to see a collection of thousands of records and the control rooms where our DJ's make the magic happen! We'll give a quick description of the equipment that is required to transmit a radio signal and show you a live broadcast of one of our shows!

Contact: David Mercado, 50-030, 617-253-8810, DMERCADO@MIT.EDU


Vintage Musical Sound: Audio Technology from 100 Years Ago

Timothy Peng

Jan/28 Thu 02:00PM-03:30PM 14E-109, Lewis Music Library

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Come hear how music sounded over 100 years ago. Timothy Peng of Duo-Art Music will demonstrate the Lewis Music Library's Edison wax cylinder player from ca.1905 and Victor V 78 player from ca.1910. Light refreshments provided.

Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Peter Munstedt, 14E-109, 617-253-5636, pmunsted@mit.edu


What's Old is New: Recent Additions to our Special Collections

Stephen Skuce, Rare Books Program Manager

Jan/22 Fri 10:00AM-11:00AM 14N-118 Archives

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

This year the Institute Archives and the Lewis Music Library have added some very cool things to their special collections. Lewis Music has acquired a 15th century chant book that's got to be the biggest volume you've ever seen. For balance, they've acquired a teeny tiny miniature book to go with it. The Archives has some "new" acquisitions too: want to see a 4,000 year old cuneiform tablet? How about a second-folio copy of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar from 1632? If you prefer something more recent, we'll have a mid-20th century lab notebook from a founding member of the Center for Cancer Research. Come get an up-close look at these treasures and several others. Drop in between 10 and 11 am.

Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Stephen Skuce, 14N-118, 617 253-0654, SKUCE@MIT.EDU