LaDonna Smith
  
violin viola voice    
        

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My Life and Work  
to make music from the very moment of the heart’s livingness,
deriving the material from the subconscious and organizing it as a piece which would stand on its own as an entity.

I want to take the viola beyond its traditional limitations, extending its voice, combining it with my own, making it a vehicle beyond my own body for a means of communication and expression.

I view my work in its broader sense as a kind of life activity.  It is basically what I do with my life, and how I give to others, that means anything.
I am deeply committed to the art of improvisation as artistic expression and as teacher to the soul.  Through the techniques and attitudes of improvisation and listening,

I "go with the flow" of life.

 
 

 

I want to utilize improvisation as a point of power in my life,
a point where I can go inward and pull out the evidence of my will and Spirit.
As a means to facilitate myself into connecting with the Impulse, the center of higher expression, the spiritual center, to sing one’s own song.

I want to refine my skills and specialties into one big vocabulary to make a new language and have it stand as a complete work of art.

To exist as an experience, a reflection of the moment, a time gem to hear and feel,
to flow with, to go inside of, and to come out moved.


 

 

I want to facilitate people to improvise as well. Music in our society has been degraded. Most of our society can’t even sing anymore. Because of massive media saturation and its takeover of the silence of our souls, people rely on external sources for their information. Making one’s own music can put one in touch with the internal self and empower one to come from a place of deeper soul power and compassion. In this forum even the beginner is not disadvantaged; he is in a position of being the true improviser, because when one knows little, one must explore. The skilled musician brings with him his experience as vocabulary to contribute to the mutual language. Through group improvisation, music can return to a role in the life of our society as a shared interactive expression, as a kind of collective artistic recreation and release.

 

My question is, "Am I fulfilling my beliefs to the best of my ability"?
I believe that through education, is it possible to build a society that once again shares in collective music making. Could widespread collective music making improve the health of community and society?
I believe it can heal our spirits, therefore the world.

 

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