| Subtonic Monks
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The Subtonic Monks History and Artistic Endeavor. this is a Quick time movie The Subtonic Monks formed in 1994, is a collective approximately 50 performers who have a variety of talents in music, art, dance, theatre and mixed media. The main focus of the collective is to develop an understanding of improvisational performance. Tuning in to the other players with our ears, our heart our mind and our spirit has allowed us to open doors to the creative process. Throughout our history we have studied how the relationships between the individual performers and the performers and audience shapes the spirit of the performance. Improvisation puts increased pressure on musicians to focus on listening to each other and assisting each other in creative expression. We have found that when musicians listen both spiritually and technically to one another they can predict what the other is playing before the notes are actually played. This is when the process of free improvisation can begin. Players who are involved in the improvisation naturally ask: What is the emotional and spiritual character shaping the music? How am I responding? How do my own emotions and thoughts colour the musical interaction? This spirit of expression and interaction allows the music to have a cohesiveness that is pleasing to the listener? Including the audience is a vital part of the process which pushes the performer to explore these relationships to the fullest. We have learned that everyone has their own music. The challenge is for our musicians to assist them in finding it. The Monks work to integrate the performances with other community needs such as entertainment for children and community benefits festivals and parades. In this regard the Subtonic Cycle has been very successful. Over the past years we have participated in over 150 benefits. A number of the Monks have been active in disadvantaged communities which has allowed us to integrate our creative efforts with the needs of these communities such as street populations and children. The Monks have organized two trips to Bosnia. The first was a relief trip with food, medicine and children's toys. The second was financed by the federal government and involved three Nationalists from Quebec and three Federalists. In that tour we were guests in an art therapy program set up by War Child and World Vision in 17 schools throughout the rural villages.
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