Workshops


→ or Click to download workshop details for
　 Intro to Chinese and Taiwanese music
Singing Body
Dancing Taichi.


A Moving Sound Presents: An Introduction to Chinese Music and Taiwanese Culture

Music has played a very different role in Asian culture than for most of the rest of the world. In Asian culture music is traditionally used to help in the telling of a story through dance and drama; throughout Asian history music as an art, in and of itself, played a much smaller role. For this reason Chinese and Asian music has been less developed and less popular world wide in the way that Latin, African or classical European music has been. A Moving Sound seeks to bring Chinese and Asian inspired music into the realm of highly enjoyable and accessible music composition for a wide range of audiences to enjoy.

Singing Body - Creative Voice Exploration

Voice is an important and primitive tool for expression. In modern urban life, many of us have lost our connection to Nature and to our own creativity. This workshop draws from Mia’s experience with both experimental western and traditional eastern vocal styles. Through breathing practice, voice and movement games, free improvisation, world sound appreciation, and wonderful group chanting; workshop participants will have the opportunity to explore their vocal range and experience the voice’s potential to connect us all to a universal expression.

“When you open the door to your own unique voice, the free sound and jumping notes will flow naturally and extend you into infinite joy.”

Dancing Tai-Chi

This workshop provides an opportunity to explore the aesthetic quality of eastern culture through our bodies. The first part of the class introduces the main ideas of Tai Chi movement; concepts such as contraction (Yin) and expansion (Yang), spiraling, rotating, loosening and softening. The class will experience these concepts through a series of movement and breathing practices.

The second part of the class is derived from Mia’s own personal integration of Tai Chi and dance. Class participants are guided from the Tai Chi foundation to explore their own internal flow of Chi, and to cultivate the experience of moving this energy into space through solo movement and interaction with others. This improvisation practice is an opportunity to listen and observe the body’s inner voice, and to dance freely with the wonderful balance of an inward and outward flow of chi. The class concludes with a short guided meditation experience.

Painting Diary

Painting As a Process of Self Exploration

In order to create something new there must first be a space available for which this new thing or idea can come into. The main goal of this class is to create a safe and exciting space to explore how the creative process works in us; in making art and in how we come to "make" our life.

In this class, participants do paintings, drawings, writings and collage in a sketchbook that becomes a special container for their creative experience, something like a multi-media diary. Specific exercises are given for in and out of class completion along with instruction on artistic technique and composition. The most important principle of the class is that there are no "mistakes" or right and wrong. In this process what is most important is the choice to be curious and allow ourselves to see and express more of who we are. We explore the possibility that we are more than what we might think we are. In this class we explore art-making, creativity and human nature. We discuss the process from a number of perspectives; artistic, psychological, philosophical and spiritual.

A Moving Sound’s co-directors Mia and Scott are very interested in teaching, connecting and community building. As part of that effort we offer the following workshops.


Instructors

Mia Hsieh

mia

Mia worked in art and community development for many years. Her movement training includes modern dance, Tai Chi and Asian dance. She has also studied vocal training in traditional singing and contemporary vocal performance with Meredith Monk and Lynn Book in New York City, as part of her time there on a Fulbright scholarship. Mia has developed her own style that she calls "singing body" physical theater. She has performed with respected Taiwanese and international artists in dance, theater, music, visual art and film. She is leading several workshops about creativity and healing through movement and voice.

Scott Prairie

blue horse in heaven

Blue Horse in Heaven
Look to the sky
Look inside
See a scene
From a timeless dream
Something is happening deep inside you
Do you know what it is ?

Lived in New York City for six years and moved to Taiwan in December of 200l. He has a diverse artistic background drawing from his studies in music, visual art, and psychology. He was trained as a conservatory French Horn player, and later developed his own compositional style using ethnic, experimental and pop music forms. He has performed in many of New York City's most respected centers for creative art, including "'The Kitchen", and "The Knitting Factory”. His music has been featured in theatrical productions in the United States and Taiwan. He has exhibited his visual arts, paintings and drawings in galleries in the eastern United States and Taiwan.

Scott Prairie workshops

Please contact Scott and Mia for more specific information regarding availability and cost of these workshops. We would be happy to work with you or your organization to create a wonderful creative learning experience.

→ or Click to download workshop details for
　 Intro to Chinese and Taiwanese music
Singing Body
Dancing Taichi.