Improv Karaoke Team

The Improv Karaoke Team consists of four music friends with a passion for free improvisation. They are on a mission to fuse musicians from different genres, practices, and experiences to further connect, support, and strengthen our local music community.

More info about your Improv Karaoke hosts/organizers: Andrea Wong & Spencer Schoening of Public Dreams, Mike WT Allen, and Matthew Ariaratnam.

~

What is Improv Karaoke?

Improv Karaoke developed from a desire to create more regular opportunities for collaboration, discovery, and innovation within our local improvising community. Co-hosted by Andrea Wong, Spencer Schoening, Mike WT Allen, and Matthew Ariaratnam, this artist-run community event started in December 2022 and has been a monthly series where improvising musicians of all genres and experience levels drop in, sign up, and play in new ensembles created from a pool of names freshly drawn out of a bowl.

~

Of all the ways to play collaboratively, why free improvisation?

Because of its ease, widespread relevance, and accessible nature! Improvisation can be approached by musicians from any culture, any generation, and with any amount of experience, breaking down many practical and creative barriers to collaboration. Free improvisation additionally removes barriers to making music including any necessity for a particular instrumentation; shared knowledge-base such as Western music notation fluency; specific qualifications, merit, or credentials; or a pre-curated set-list of standards or repertoire selection. Musicians merely need to be open-minded to improvise with each other. With minimal preparation required, the flexible nature of improvising provides an excellent creative setting to focus on musical connection and innovation. By facilitating opportunities for our community to mindfully improvise together - a setting that practices adaptability and attentive listening - the desired outcome of this project is a stronger, more diverse and interconnected music ecosystem. This project invites people to gather and play together, with hopes it seeds new musical collaborations and branches outwards as a more nourished and sustainable music community.