Benefits

I wouldn’t say that. I WOULD say that it’s not for Beginners. But in this dance form where self-classification reigns supreme, I’m not sure what all that means anyway.

I would also say that it is NOT for someone who has never performed before. This is meant to build on your experience, not just BE it. Think of it as grad school. You must have your undergraduate degree first.

To continue the higher education analogy, please remember that successful performance improvisation is – in many ways - a different skill set from successful execution of a learned – or even a self-created – choreography. So, chances are that some of what makes someone label themselves as Advanced might not fully “transfer".

Those are the components of your Project Band package!  It used to be just Private Lessons, Drills classes, and an occasional performahearsal.  It's grown quite a bit over the years!

"I really want to do this, but I don’t live anywhere near you!!"  I hear this all of the time.

You can do it.

Yes, of course, some of the pieces cannot be the same. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t use this as it is intended to be used – as a tool to advance your dance!

ALOT of changes have been made in this are since the pandemic.  Remote participation in Project Band is actually more practical than ever - with its own package category!  We also have a "virtual only" quarterly performahearsal for purely remote participants.

If you are thinking of traveling to the next GoLive!, remote participation in Project Band is a great way to keep the live music experience alive in your mind and prepare for the next year!

To be reasonable. That’s all.

I realize that this is a significant allocation of resources for people. But it is spread out over a year because the intent is for you to WORK on this throughout the year. If you save up your privates until 1 month before the End of the Year Showcase and try to fit them all in, you will get nowhere near the benefit that you could have gotten!

A lot of the work to be done here is in assimilation and organization of things that you know AS they multiply and expand over the year. You can’t compress that and be successful.

Of course, if you break a bone and must recover for 6 weeks or if you must leave town for some emergency, I’ll work with you.

Depends. On a million things!

You’ll see what I mean. If you are brand new, then chances are that you will get to pick a piece of music early in the process.

Please realize that one of the benefits of Project Band is a better understanding and connection with the music of the Arab world. Oftentimes our inexperience with it causes us to say that “we don’t like that music.” I certainly did that before I had a chance to work with live music.

Trust me. I’ll make sure you don’t hate the music that you have to take onto a stage, and you be willing to expand your preferences.

Deal? Deal.

As a weaning tool, yes.

But if you are on stage with a musician who is pouring his soul into a taksim, I don’t believe that you can express that to me by twirling your batons in a soulful manner.
I want to see YOU. Everyone wants to see YOU - and how the solid mass of flesh that is YOU chooses to express that soulful sound.

So, if you are a baton-aholic, I might let you use your batons for your first live performance; maybe 1 baton for the second live performance, maybe just use 1 baton as an entrance for 30 seconds on the third one, etc.

You know what I mean! 😊

You can get CDs and DVDs replicated at a place called “Dub King” here in San Antonio. When you walk in, there is a sign that says “Good. Cheap. Fast” Pick 2.

For Project Band music, the sign would say “Virtuoso. Niche. Live.” Pick 2 if you don’t want to spend $10,000 or more." But I continue to pick all 3.

And then we use live music for rehearsal throughout the year.  Have you ever hired a band?  An Arab band?  An orchestra from another city?  :-)

I charge $90/hour for private lessons and $12.50/hr for group classes.

Do the math. This isn’t expensive for what you get unless you don’t plan to use what you get.

If you don’t complete 80% of what you signed up to do, then you run the risk of forfeiting your end-of-year performance at GoLive.  But why would you do that?  Take your money and hire a band to jam out to instead.

In Project Band...

Your peers deserve better.

The musicians deserve better.

This dance deserves better.

Here’s the truth: You WILL benefit from the time spent in drills classes, Project Band exercises, and private lessons. Period.

You’ll be thinking about it. I’ll know you are thinking about it. I’ll be thinking about you and what can make your performance better, etc.

Welcome to live music!!! I have no idea how much time you will get! Here’s what I DO know:

If you are brand new, I don’t want you out there for 15 minutes and I will tell that to the band – although they pretty much know this now.

If you listen to and connect with those musicians, things can go on longer.

If the AUDIENCE gets into your music or your dancing or both, or even just gets into the way the musicians are playing, things can go on longer.

A "performahearsal" is an event that feels like a performance but it's really a rehearsal.

It's difficult for most dancers to frame anything to live music - especially if it's in public - as practice of any kind.  Chances to dance to live music are usually so rare.  They don't want to sacrifice the "good time" or miss a chance to show their best moves (regardless of musical relevance) to execute a deliberate exercise that would expand their movement vocabulary.

But this in Project Band!

Participation at the LOWEST level offers 16 opportunities to dance to live music in the year; at the HIGHEST level - 64 opportunities.  

You can afford to perform and rehearse at the same time for a while.  It delivers HUGE rewards!!

Up to 2 months, then you just stop making your payments and everyone goes on with their life.

After 2 months, if you quit, there is a penalty of one month’s payment. Sorry – but this is an expensive endeavor and plans are made very early in the year based on participation numbers. I don’t want anyone else’s opportunities affected by one person’s decision.

If you feel like you have to quit due to life circumstances – but you really don’t want to – please talk to me. So very often – where there’s a will, there’s a way!!

Up to 2 months, then you just stop making your payments and everyone goes on with their life.

After 2 months, if you quit, there is a penalty of one month’s payment. Sorry – but this is an expensive endeavor and plans are made very early in the year based on participation numbers. I don’t want anyone else’s opportunities affected by one person’s decision.

If you feel like you have to quit due to life circumstances – but you really don’t want to – please talk to me. So very often – where there’s a will, there’s a way!!

You may start anywhere in the first official month of the program – but every Project Band term is set up for the school year and all participants participate throughout and for the entire year.

If you are not sure about the full year, Project Band Lite students can sign up and convert to FULL Project Band after 6 months or stay in the Lite package.

This is how I express my form of insanity.

We are all a little crazy. 😊

Yes. You can do Project Band Lite for six months than join – but only at the “Classic” level.

You will be given the opportunity to dance in the End of the Year Showcase– not as a soloist (yet) – but as a group with other Project Band Lite dancers who converted to Classic.

There is a maximum to the number of participants at the higher levels just because it starts to put a greater demand on mine and the musicians’ time.

There is some flexibility if you want to move downward. But there are no refunds. Your monthly payment is simply adjusted moving forward.

Project Banders can tell you that we have some of our most illuminative moments about listening when we can draw comparisons between music with which we are extremely familiar and music with which we are not so familiar. We do it in class all the time.

A few years ago, we realized It was time to take that concept to the stage – where studio understanding gets put to the test.

This might not be for everyone. But it will be for most, for sure!  And it needs to be done before being judged.  :-)

Personally, I can’t get enough of this piece.

Email me at [email protected] I'll add it to the list!

No. You can’t pause payments.

However, you CAN accumulate hours of classes and private lessons and use them later when your life returns to normal. We can always devise a plan to ensure that you use your accumulated hours as best you can given our respective schedules.

Project Band performance opportunities are planned and budgeted based on attendees and participation levels. It absolutely will not work for participants to pay sporadically.

a. Falling behind in payments by more than 1 month will result in the suspension of participation in any live music events.

b. Participation in the components of your package at a level of at least 75% is necessary to perform in the end of year showcase.

c. Performahearsals

i. I Will be scheduled during the first two weeks (on the weekend) of each month.
That’s about all of the planning  that can be done with musicians for a year!

ii. Will be assigned and spread evenly over the course of the year.

1. Classic Participants will be assigned odd or even numbered months.

2. Lite Participants will be assigned designated events.
 

iii. Unexcused No Shows or Cancellations within 24 hours of a Performahearsal for which you were scheduled to perform will result in a forfeit of that opportunity and will not be reset for a later time.

d. Additional private lessons or Drills classes may be purchased at the standard rates; performahearsal opportunities, however, are set by package.

e. Similar to c.i. above – the make-up of musicians for the End-of-Year  Showcase will not be determined until we get closer to the event; however, you can assume that the usual GBDAC musicians will be a part of the mix PLUS members of the National Arab Orchestra.

f. Project Band is always evolving – even within a school year. Flexibility and open-mindedness is key for all participants.