On a bright clear-sky morning ten of us gathered for musical purposes in a sunfilled room in the home of Clement’s former Art Fools colleague Susan McClure.

Holding their own with Barbara the song writer, Gill the music teacher, Carlos the jazzman, Simon the heathen drummer and Clement the composer, the other folk demonstrated with voice and instrument that music sits well not only with the formally trained, but is a natural part of being human.

After we had introduced ourselves we vigorously toned our chakras from base to crown, ending with strong earthy sounds to ground us.  That put a sparkle in the eyes!

Some structured musical game playing followed to get us all listening to each other, then letting it all flow in the first of two free improvisations before lunch, both lasting a good twenty minutes before finding their own natural, collective finishing point.  Clarinet and sax sounded well together with the voices and percussion.

How wonderful to sit beaming mutual regards to each other in the silences following.

After sharing our lunch contributions and some personal stories we went out to the park across the road, where we enjoyed the trees and lake, and experimented with some vocal ideas derived from Congo Pygmy women’s choral singing, much to the astonishment of other park users.

Then, back at our room, full of percussion brought by some of us, the rest of the afternoon was taken up by the dream images improvisation, which, after the initial work of integrating everybody’s images into the collective Alchemical sequence, and despite a hitch halfway, pursued its own idiosyncratic course of strangely appropriate music. [There is a full description of the process in the report of Music & the Psyche X]. 

After a closing hum, we departed in our several directions, new friends made, promises of future connections ringing out, happy and replete with the sense of well being that a goodly dose of music making brings.

Some comments arrived in the days that followed:

“I enjoyed it very much… lovely atmosphere, supportive and open.”   Carlos

“After spending eighteen months improvising on my own I was so excited to have the opportunity to improvise with other people. I enjoyed every minute of the day making music and sharing it with such a lovely group of fellow travelers. I especially loved the singing near the lake where we improvised in the open air.” Gill

“Had a splendid time and met some nice people who I would happily meet again.” Paul

"It was an inspiring day — led so sensitively, and yet with a brilliant
capacity to enable a disparate group of people to unite in appreciation of
music intentions, to listen and express deeply their feelings and dreams. …
It was fun, uplifting and profound."   Gilly