We collaborate with Pretty Lights and share Bob’s legacy in Honduras: Jam Cruise 2015, Jan. 6-11

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Bob Moog Foundation collaborator Derek V. Smith: Pretty Lights

All aboard MSC Divina for adventures including a sound science lesson to schoolchildren in Roatan, Honduras, and a special trip through Bob’s legacy with Pretty Lights himself, Derek V. Smith, at Jam Cruise 2015.

Sound like fun? With help from rock star Foundation volunteer Jason Pisaro, the Foundation has put together a dream team around our new Jam Cruise workshop at sea, “Surfing Soundwaves,” aboard the Divina later this month.

Another rock star local volunteer, musician Ben Hovey, designed and facilitates this workshop. Here’s our dream team behind Surfing Soundwaves, which also includes musicians from Umphrey’s McGee and Nth Power:

Mike Dillon (percussion)
Nate Edgar (bass – Nth Power)
Derek V. Smith (DJ – Pretty Lights)
Borahm Lee (DJ/Keys – Break Science)
Joel Cummins (keys – Umphrey’s McGee)

Here’s a workshop description:

Surfing Soundwaves: In this workshop we follow in the footsteps of Pretty Lights’ latest album, and explore the process of live sampling and cutting-edge techniques used to create and perform music, blending the latest technology with traditional instruments. Jam Cruise artists along with the Bob Moog Foundation team take you on a journey into the future of improvisation. The artists will demonstrate the creative process of capturing inspiration, as well as live remixing, effecting, and synthesizing a new sound using Ableton Live, Push, Moog synthesizers/effects, Moog theremins, keyboards, drums, live percussion, bass guitar, and vocals. Our Bob Moog Foundation Teaching Artist and host for this workshop is Ben Hovey, aka HoveyKraft. Ben is a Ableton Live Certified Trainer, trumpet/keyboard player, and “sonic scientist.”

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And that’s not all. We’re also providing another interactive workshop on board:

Sound Therapy and Interactive Workshop – Bob Moog Foundation volunteer, sound therapist, and former Moog engineer August Worley, appearing with his Paradym instrument, will discuss and perform sound therapy in short semi-private sessions. Foundation director Michelle Moog-Koussa, along with Ben Hovey and Jason Pisaro, will talk with Jam Cruisers about the Foundation’s mission and Bob’s legacy, and share gear including theremins and synths for people to explore and play.

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Surfing Soundwaves facilitator Ben Hovey serenades the waves.

And as always, we share Bob’s legacy wherever we go: we’re providing a traveling international version of Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool for schoolchildren in Roatan, Honduras. Our young Roatan audience will move through four interactive learning stations, spending about three hours experiencing sound science in an adapted version of the life-changing curriculum we use back home in the U.S.

Providing access to this workshop and music technology requires off-loading our equipment, getting it to the learning site, setting it up, teaching the kids, striking the equipment, getting it back through customs and loading everything back aboard the Divina. Our executive director Michelle Moog-Koussa and a team of BMF volunteers will facilitate a custom version of Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool for the kids of the Roatan community and for SOL International Foundation.

And then we’re back home to unpack, rest up, and plan our Jam Cruise adventures for 2016!

View our previous adventures with Jam Cruise here, in this 2012 video of our visit to Falmouth All Age School and the Ras Astor Institute for the Arts in Falmouth, Jamaica. (Part 1 of this video is the Conscious Cruiser efforts to create and distribute hula hoops to the children of Falmouth. The Foundation comes in at Part 2, starting at about 2:12.)