Music Improvisation Calisthenics: LA Report
Home from ~48 Hours in Los Angeles for a Tiny Orchestral Moments workshop in shared listening.
I’m just home from Los Angeles and the Music Improvisation Calisthenics event on Sunday with 8 musicians in the circle, working to invite Music into our world. Here is a Tiny glimpse of our work:
Last Sunday, we met in Los Angeles for a Tiny Orchestral Moments MIC workshop. Eight players arrived with different backgrounds and levels of experience. The focus was simple: attention, listening, collaboration.
We began from Silence, inviting intention and body awareness, listening before playing. From there, we moved into shared rhythm and improvisation exercises: playing a pulse in unison, expanding the texture, and eventually, Group Loops. With singing.
Each moment designed to invite and encourage awareness and interaction in an every-evolving soundscape. As the session progressed, the musicians and music grew increasingly connected. The room settled into a clear, collective pulse.
One consistent theme emerged: when people listen first, the music organizes itself. Leadership moved naturally around the group, space opened, and participants responded to each other in real time. The short video above captures a fragment of what emerged.
Our MIC workshops continue to explore how disciplined attention enables strong collaboration via presence, and there is another MIC session tonight (Thursday Feb 19th) in the Seattle area. Each session is part of the larger, growing TOM documentation process and learning ecosystem, connecting live practice, video, and ongoing ‘global community’ work. Ex. Fernando and Uma Kabusacki are arriving in Seattle even as I type this to continue this work via ten days of preparation. Continuous.
We completed the LA workshop with a tour and listening session at Brian Lucey’s Magic Garden Mastering. We listened to mastered versions of Norah Jones and Buddy Guy in both stereo and Atmos modes. It was a perfect way to complete the day with focused listening to masterful performances in a space designed for the highest-quality sound possible in 2026. Brian’s immense sense of tone was obvious both in his fretless bass playing and throughout the studio itself: Magic Garden Mastering
Thank you and gratitude to everyone who experienced the workshop last Sunday in LA. And special thanks to METAL brothers who joined us for dinner in Westwood.
Call to action: there will be another Los Angeles MIC workshop in the June timeframe. Please join us. And we have two weeks left in the Winter season in Seattle. Reach out for more details if this resonates with you.
Bring your attention.
MIC: https://www.meetup.com/musically-inclusive-improvisation-calisthenics/
TOM: www.tinyorchestralmoments.com
Merch: www.tinyom.net
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