Come play with us!
YES! This event was MADE for you! It is a place to practice playing with others, grow as a listener and musician, and try out new things, maybe even create sounds that feel "wrong" to play otherwise. Improv Karaoke has challenged us to think "what things actually define music?". There is no requirement in experience, age, or musical background. We have discovered so many beautiful and novel-sounding sets at our events that are created by music-lovers like you who are intent in being openminded through attentive listening and play collaboratively with reciprocity. You'll find people who love to play genres like rock, jazz, classical, folk, metal, experimental... Some even bring their computers or custom-built instruments to make music. There are no wrong sounds at Improv Karaoke. We can't wait to hear you play with us.
Vocalists are very welcome! We have microphones for those who want to sing, add spoken word/poetry of different languages, or other sounds created by the incredibly versatile instrument that is the human voice. In the past, we have even had vocalists who bring fun pedals and effects to add to their voice! While we don’t play songs or read charts/sheet music, any and all improvising people are welcome - including vocalists!
You know what... when you're right, you're right! This is totally possible. Especially because everyone has different tastes and definitions of what "music" is and can be, never mind defining "good" music!
But what really is music? (Some people have said music is organized sound - but how is it organized? And what are those sounds?) Furthermore, what is good music? And what if "bad" music-making is a necessary experiment towards figuring out what aspects of music we like and want to keep making? What are the core needs to make good music? Does it have to groove? Does it need to have a key? What makes something interesting to listen to?
Over the past years, we have gathered and made over 150 hours of music in this manner (that’s roughly 200 LPs!). Listeners may feel that some sets “worked” better than others, and we are fascinated with reflecting why this is. Was it because the randomized instruments blended really well? Was it because a player developed a musical idea created by another band member? Was it because everyone was listening well? Was it because some musicians were clear with taking a foreground or background role? Was it because they had tons of fun? Was it because they made sounds with techniques you didn’t even know were possible on their instrument? Was it because their artistic expression through music felt raw and genuine?
Drawing a quintet made up of a piano, cello, banjo, modular synth, and drums makes a lot of us think “Okayyy, how is this going to work? What will it sound like? Are we going to like it?” Every time, we are surprised by the musical choices people take and are challenged to review our previous conceptions of music. Being in a room of open-minded risk-taking people has allowed us as a community to grow together in our concept of what music is and can be. It’s not super conventional, though we think it's helped us become not just better musicians, but listeners and people. We hope you join us in the human expression of making all types of noise - wacky and docile, nasty and beautiful, ridiculous and serious, celebratory and mournful. Because isn’t music meant to reflect life? And isn’t life made up of all these noisy things? We hope that at our event, you can find music within the noise in our lives.
We've found many people like to listen back to our nights of fun so our events are recorded for archival purchases (audio, photos, and temporary short videos/Instagram stories). We find listening back to old recordings of our own playing is also a great tool to learn and further grow as a musician. That being said, please reach out to an event host if this is not within your comfort. It's more important to us that everyone is comfortable to come and play. :)
In an attempt to capture the fun moments of such spontaneous music, we will send out *unlisted* YouTube links with audio recordings of the night's sets to all our participants. In order to keep Improv Karaoke a safe space for everyone to experiment and discover together, we have a No-Questions-Asked policy. If you have expressed not wanting your playing to be recorded, we will delete any recordings with your playing in it, no questions asked! Do let us know before the end of the night should you change your mind either way and we will gladly accommodate to keep this a welcoming space!
You'll receive an email from us when the archives are ready! We aim to upload them quarterly throughout the year. Thank you for your enthusiasm and patience.
We want to respect everyone's comfort with their musical journey so our archive is not publicly available. However, you are absolutely welcome to share them for personal reasons like sharing them with not only friends and family, but also grant and school applications! They are all timestamped with your names and instruments for ease of searching. We hope you enjoy them!
Bring your instruments, cables, and smiles! We have available on-site: drum set, piano, between 1 to 2 guitar amps, and a bass amp. Drummers: bring your sticks (optional: your favourite cymbals)! It sometimes gets loud so you may decide to bring some *earplugs*.
Absolutely nothing! We want to create an accessible place for people to simply play music. While we are incredibly grateful for donations, there is no cover or door fee to play or listen in at our events.
We are simply limited by our venues' physical capacities! 8EAST can hold up to 40 people, and Brentwood Presbyterian Church can hold more. That being said, please come out and we will work our best efforts to include everyone who wants to play.
We love having listeners, please come in, make a friend, and enjoy!