WE LOVE TO IMPROVISE

magazine

DECEMBER 2010

g

MIMA Teachers Caleb Dance and Kevin Wenzel completed their trial MIMA program at New York’s Center for Living, an outpatient drug rehabilitation clinic for private clients. They will host another 5-month songwriting program in January 2011.

NEWS

PAGESEL SALVADOR 3MIMA WEEK EL SALVADOR 4MIMA METHOD 5MIMA HANDBOOK 7TESTING THE MIMA METHOD 8 “Hug the Ugly” now online 9

Photographs & layout by C.Geiseler 1-10El Salvador graphic by Rei-artur 3El Salvador data from Wikipedia 3 Photographs by FUSALMO 4

the magazine DECEMBER 2010

Edited and Published by Christoph A. Geiseler

CONTENT

NOTEWORTHY

New York 1 December 2010USA Dear MIMA,

This December will mark the beginning of a new collaboration with the US State Department. From December 4-17, Jonathan Barnes, Alan Gaskill, Kevin Wenzel and I will travel to El Salvador as US Cultural En-voys. We will host an intensive two-week music-making workshop. We will train local teachers with the MIMA Method. Our objective is to work with them to build their self-confidence, musical creativity, risk-taking ability, self-discovery and understanding of American Culture.

The El Salvador program marks an important milestone because we will implement the teacher training module that we tested at Princeton University during our International Conference. The following pages of this magazine will give an insight into the El Salvador program and the MIMA Method.

CHRISTOPH A. GEISELER MIMA Founder and Executive Director

g

The citizens of El Salvador witnessed a brutal civil war from 1980-1992. Young

adults now recall childhoods spent in fear of murder and kidnapping. Arts educa-

tion floundered in the wake of political instability. Reconstruction is slow.

How can we help?

INSPIRE: Cultural Envoys will provide free music workshops for kids and adults.

TRANSFORM: 2 weeks of training will give local teachers new ideas & methods.

CREATE: A group recording, music video and performance will build solidarity.

CELEBRATE: Local teachers will replicate this model for kids born after the war.

EL SALVADOR

Capital (and largest city) San SalvadorOfficial language SpanishEthnic groups 85% Mestizo 12% White/Caucasian, 1% Amerindian (Pipil, Lenca)Government Presidential republicPresident Mauricio FunesArea 21,040 km2 (8,124 sq mi) Population (July 2009) 6,134,000 (estimate)

MIMA WEEK EL SALVADOR

4-17 of December 2010

sponsored by US Embassy San Salvador

US State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs

LOCAL PARTNER FUSALMO (Fundación Salvador del Mundo) Fusalmo is a non-profit entity whose mission is to provide a com- prehensive and innovative education for children and youth with limited economic resources and/or are at risk. Fusalmo’s vision is to be the best option for children and youth in their overall development, especially the needy, forming young producers and agents of social change in their environment.

CULTURAL ENVOYS Jonathan Barnes, Alan Gaskill, Christoph Geiseler, Kevin Wenzel

SCHEDULE

6-10 December 13h30 Kids Music Education6-10 December 16h00 Leadership Training

7, 8, 10 December 10h00 MIMA Method demonstrations at local institutions

13-17 December 13h30 Music Video Production

14 December 10h00 MIMA Method demonstrations at local institutions 17 December 18h00 Final concert, celebration

WE LOVE TO IMPROVISE

g

MIMA METHOD

We encourage musical creativity, risk-taking and self-discovery.

MIMA Music workshops are transformative experiences that positively impact our attitude and worldview.

The MIMA Method is:

A step-by-step processA mindsetA way of interacting with the world

By unlocking the creative potential of students, we set them on a path toward more fulfilling lives. This is a path that will continue beyond the walls of a classroom and spill over to an individual’s role in his or her community, thereby having an impact at an even larger level.

QUALITIES OF A MIMA TEACHER

Friend • Student • Artist • Entrepreneur • Hero Open • Humorous • Versatile • Tenacious • Enthusiastic

Step 1INSPIRE

Step 2TRANSFORM

Step 3CREATE

Step 4CELEBRATE

MIMAMETHOD

INSPIRE

TRANSFORM

CREATE

CELEBRATE MIMAMETHOD

THE MIMA METHOD IS FLEXIBLEThe MIMA Method can be explored at any pace and at any level of detail.

Below is a version of the MIMA method that emphasizes twelve values or steps, not just four.

EXPLORE

APPRECIATE

COMMUNICATE

COLLABORATEADAPT

IMPROVISE

EDUCATE

REALIZE

TRANSFORM

THE MIMA METHOD IS FLEXIBLEThe MIMA Method can be explored at any pace and at any level of detail.

Below is a version of the MIMA method that emphasizes twelve values or steps, not just four.

THE MIMA HANDBOOKOVERVIEW

The MIMA Handbook is a guide for teachers, musicians and leaders. It describes the MIMA Method, an approach to leading music classes that also may be applied to other creative group activities.

APPROACH

We focus on improvisation, which teaches values that are important both to cultivating strong musicians and to developing more socially engaged citizens and leaders. Our exercises are designed to teach traditional musical skills such as rhythm, pitch and melody, while also empowering individuals as creators and leaders.

CONTENTS

Theory, classroom themes, classroom structures, method variations, teaching exercises, sample lesson plans

I tested the MIMA Method in the most unlikely place: the US Embassy in Paris. I gathered a group of NGO leaders and embassy staff in order to demon-strate the classic MIMA games that light up class-rooms and musical settings around the world. By recounting my experience here, I hope to give some insights into the functionality of the Method for set-tings that do not include musicians.

The context for my collaboration with the Embassy is not random. I first presented MIMA’s work in June 2010 at the Create Today symposium hosted by US Ambassador Charles H. Rivkin at his residence in Paris. The embassy staff invited me to continue our dialogue about social integration in a workshop set-ting so I could build excitement for a future MIMA project in Paris. In solidifying our ties with the State Department, I have noticed a greater demand for our work at the institutional level, because if we teach the MIMA Method to other leaders and community organizers all at once, we can lower the cost and the time to implement it.

One of the most important lessons that I have learned in the past is— always consider a better way of set-ting up a space, and don’t hesitate to make changes if you’re responsible for the comfort of a group. In the carpeted Franklin Room of the US Embassy, my job was to lead a discussion about social integra-tion. This discussion would have been impossible if half the group sat around the table with the rest of the group behind them. I promptly cleared the tables from the center of the room and set up the chairs in circle. The space was ready for a demonstration of the MIMA Method and a discussion.

The embassy staff introduced me to the group of 12 visitors and I immediately started to break the ice. We began with the Name Game. In MIMA’s Name

Game, one person introduces himself or herself in the center of a circle with a gesture, and everyone repeats it. Smiles then start appearing instantly. The Name Game sets the stage for random move-ment and breathing exercises that help loosen up the group. We started a big circular shoulder mas-sage while everyone marched in a circle, first clock-wise, then counterclockwise — it’s surprising how challenging marching in a circle is for adults. During this process I explained how our religious, political, social and economic backgrounds and affiliations don’t matter in a collective space. It seemed so cli-ché to say, but it was important to remind the group that we all shared something in common. The center of the rotating circle served as the symbolic focal point of our group in the Franklin Room. The circular marching brought the group into a slow trance and everyone connected. This whole process took five minutes. From there, I lead the group through the Number game, the Arrow Sequence and movement exercises that combined Arrows, Call and Response and Bees. One participant exclaimed in the middle of the exercise, “this energy feels like the metro!” The first session of the workshop ended with the creation of a multi-colored mandala formed by the hands of each of the members of the group.

We broke the circle with food and drink provided by the embassy. A lively discussion ensued. Participants talked about their work as artists and community leaders in Paris. They said that they needed more helpful tools and teaching methods like the MIMA Method to enable themselves to work in group set-tings and facilitate social integration. They expressed an urgent need for the type of teaching tools that MIMA is developing. Our method helped start a pro-ductive dialogue between strangers. If our method works inside the French Embassy, I believe that it has the potential to work elsewhere in France.

TESTING THE MIMA METHOD A US-embassy workshop in Paris, France.

by Christoph A. Geiseler

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PRINCETON PARTICIPANTS

1. Is there a moment during MIMA Week at Princeton when you got inspired?

I was really inspired by the writing of the song during the week - when we split up into groups initially and kind of just “jammed.” The very beginning stages of a song are very exciting because you have no idea where you are going, and the only thing you can do is trust yourself and others and just “go with it.”

— JESSECA TURNER

2. Did you experience a personal or musical transformation during MIMA Training?

Being raised with a classical background, I was never really into improvisation (more out of fear and lack of confidence) so this experience really broadened my musical horizons and showed me how much fun improvisation really is. Even if I doubted myself at times, the encouragement and positive environment that MIMA week provided really allowed me to explore a musical side of myself that I had not yet accessed.

— PATRICK WASSERMAN

3. How would you describe MIMA’s group songwriting process?

I thought the group song writing process was really incredible. I write songs all the time but usually just by myself, maybe with one other person. To see a group of about twenty people get together to write a song was a pretty amazing thing. I think it can be really hard to collaborate with that many people and have every-body get to contribute, but that is what happened. I felt the group songwriting process demonstrated how we can build communities with these ideologies and in that create as a community.

— MONICA BOLLES

“HUG THE UGLY” New MIMA video from Princeton now online

© Creative Copyright 2010. THE PLUMA GROUP