Most teens in the 21st century have never danced to live music! To compound this social absurdity we pay a DJ hundreds of dollars to play canned music at a community dance when we have talented students who would play for pizza.
David Mills and his colleagues at Neighborhood Music School are reconnecting dance and live music by creating a dance band that can provide stylized music according to the dancers’ terms, be it couples dancing or group dancing. A Community Dance Band can perform with just seven musicians, and the scores are flexible in order to accommodate those who play instruments not usually associated with improvised music. The intention is that each arrangement can be played by good, high school musicians with plenty of room for virtuosity in the improvisation sections. No conductor is necessary, so a school could have an extra-curricular dance band club, and the students might find themselves performing every weekend rather than just the occasional recital or school concert. In the following video you will get a glimpse of two Community Dance Bands from Neighborhood Music School: one is a group of high school students, and the other is comprised of both faculty and students. NMS CT: Community Dance Band
Music is not an end product, it is a form of communication. As such, it transcends language