Be loud, be quiet, have fun.

photo by Asia Mieleszko

In this series of posts, we will have different collective members sharing their perspectives on art, performance, collaboration, improvisation, and creative practice. This month is one of founders; clarinetist, composer, rock climber, and fountain of good ideas, Elena Collins!

Please shed light on where your art is rooted and how improvisation relates to your artistic process. How does your creative process shift when collaborating with others?

During my undergraduate at DePauw University, I took a series of courses by William Pearson that changed how I made music and how I thought of my artistic practice. Through Pearson’s fun, engaging, and witty teaching style, I was introduced to all different kinds of music as well as visual art, literature, and philosophy. Pearson was the first teacher to encourage me to make/create things: write creative essays, compose music, improvise music, work with other disciplines, and the list goes on. In his classes, I not only was introduced to art of all kinds but was encouraged to make art of any kind. I remember taking poetry and writing music to go with it: I remember taking visual art and turning it into compositions through various creative systems: I remember improvising on piano in front of the whole class (my first time ever improvising) to a reading of a poem by my friend.

During undergrad, I also joined the newly formed Contemporary Ensemble Club and began attending the Friday night improv jam sessions where musicians would gather in the large ensemble room to simply jam: make noise, make music, be loud, be quiet, have fun. During these sessions I learned how vulnerable improvising is: how scary, self conscious, and nerve racking it can be. Especially when you are doing it with people you just met or don’t know very well. Improvising to me feels like the most vulnerable, intimate form of art making: you are creating something on the spot that will only ever exist in the now. It’s exhilarating. And terrifying in many ways. These jam sessions helped me push my creative limits and musical abilities while also allowing me to simply have fun making music (which is surprisingly difficult during school sometimes).

Photo by Dana Anderson from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

During undergrad I was also burying myself in the practice room, raking up 2, 3, 4 hours a day on the clarinet. But during some of this time I was secretly actually playing piano… Through the encouragement of that teacher, Pearson, I had begun improvising by myself on the piano. I had learned piano when I was younger, being forced to take lessons by my mother. I hated lessons. I hated piano. Until undergrad. Until I realized I could just improvise and didn’t have to read music all the time. My first compositions I wrote were for piano. My first improvisations were on piano. I have some really fun recordings on my phone of 18 year old Elena playing the piano for the first time since she was about 13 years old when she was (finally) allowed to stop taking lessons. Slowly, from improvising in the practice room to then in front of people in classes to then in those Friday night jam sessions, I started to realize I wanted to keep improvising. I wanted to expand what I was doing. I began searching out other disciplines to work with, using those resources and information from Pearson’s first classes. 

Years later, Vice Versa was born with these two amazing people (Dan and Brendan). Dan, Brendan, and I met on Zoom for almost a year, planning the first New York show, before we finally met in person. I had met Brendan in person once before, but I had never met Dan. 

photo by Asia Mieleszko

Improvising with Dan and Brendan for the first time was an incredibly special moment. I was so scared and nervous but also so excited. I had no idea if we would work well together, communicate well, or what kind of music we would even make. To my relief (and joy), it was amazing. From New York we went to Kansas City, continuing to improvise together and with many new friends of other disciplines. 

So, I guess you could say my creative practice originated during school with Pearson, piano, jam sessions, and hiding in that practice room, but I don’t think it will ever stop developing, especially as Vice Versa grows and expands, and I continue to meet amazing artists from all disciplines.