Roger Roe, oboe, Mike Muszynski , bassoon, Kent Cook, piano
Sometimes in group improvisations, we start with a framework. This time Kent told us before the service that he wanted to play in the Dorian mode and would likely use some of the Wondrous Love hymn tune as a ground. When we heard the story and the sermon of the Prodigal Son, both Mike and I found ourselves wondering what roles we have played or are playing in that story in our lives and today.
Mike found himself focused on his role as a dad and setting boundaries for his daughter. He tells says that would feel only joy if she was lost and then found, and he wanted to play those emotions in the improv. When I walked away to the back of the sanctuary and played my own unrelated tune, he found himself thinking,“Kent is toiling in the fields, Roger is lost, and I am the dad, looking for ways to relate to Kent and let Roger go off on his own.”
As it went on, and I went further away, Mike added more intensity and expressivity and started calling out and responding to me. I eventually heard him and stopped to listen. When I did stop what I was doing and pay attention to them, I realized that Mike and Kent were playing very beautifully together. I turned and walked back towards them to join the music they had been making in my absence, and I had to call out, as they were about to come to a stop. Mike made eye contact with me and played a response to my call to encourage me to meet him back down front. As I started walking back, we met on a D together and rested.