8 To 88

8 To 88

Musical Education for Children of All Ages

Musical education for children of all ages

IGUDESMAN & JOO’s unique edu­ca­tion pro­gram is designed for any musi­cian who wishes to widen their hori­zons and approaches to cre­at­ing, learn­ing, rehears­ing, and, per­form­ing music. “8 To 88″ explores often– ignored and less-practised aspects of music mak­ing and encour­ages musi­cians to be more open to such aspects, which may include impro­vi­sa­tion, chore­og­ra­phy, the­atri­cal­ity, psy­chol­ogy of per­for­mance, stage man­ner and pre­sen­ta­tion, dif­fer­ent styles of music, clas­si­cal and non-classical rhythm, com­po­si­tion, dra­maturgy, and humour.

Musi­cians are invited to bring their own instru­ments, and any other instru­ment they might play, and are encour­aged to bring along any own com­po­si­tions, sketches (musi­cal, or the­atri­cal), and to share any “hid­den talents”.

IGUDESMAN & JOO’s “8 To 88″ is avail­able to all musi­cians, and while it is cer­tainly not exclu­sive to string play­ers or pianists, vio­lin­ists and vio­lists would ben­e­fit from work­ing with Igudesman’s var­i­ous “work­outs” in dif­fer­ent styles, alter­na­tive sound pro­duc­tion, and, non-classical ornamentation.

The con­tent and direc­tion of the pro­gram can vary dra­mat­i­cally depend­ing on the enrolled par­tic­i­pants on any given day, which fol­lows IGUDESMAN & JOO’s organic and reac­tive coach­ing style that addresses each sit­u­a­tion and individual.

Stu­dents come away from “8 To 88″ inspired and invig­o­rated, and many leave some of their fears and inhi­bi­tions behind. The over-arching empha­sis is on being able to have fun with music, and feel­ing inspired and con­fi­dent to be cre­ative and break new grounds for their own musi­cal journeys.

In August 2014, IGUDESMAN & JOO will offer guidance to the participants of “A Feast of Duos”, the first competition for duos of violin and piano at the Sion Festival. Going beyond the usual boundaries of music competitions, IGUDESMAN & JOO will act as both jurors and coaches for the duos. The spirit of “8 To 88” is carried forward to the environment of a first-class music competition.

What others say

“Describ­ing the Igudes­man & Joo humor in detail would be to deflate its bril­liance. For the put-­upon Igudes­man, think Jack Benny and Jascha Heifetz rolled into one. For the zany Joo, try an unholy Chico Marx, Vladimir Horowitz and Jerry Lewis mash-­up […] The Igudes­man & Joo anthem is Glo­ria Gaynor’s ‘70s hit song “I Will Sur­vive.” Igudes­man begins it as if singing a Russ­ian folk song, and he elec­tri­fies it by play­ing on the vio­lin strings with an elec­tric swiz­zle stick (on a price­less 1717 Santo Seraphin vio­lin, no less). Ulti­mately, it sur­vives –­ barely and hilar­i­ously — as an unclas­si­fi­able audi­ence sing‐along. But the idea of sur­viv­ing is also a seri­ous busi­ness with these two mirac­u­lous per­form­ers“

Los Angeles Times
Mark Swed

“Alek­sey Igudes­man and Hyung-ki Joo played at my 80th birth­day
cel­e­bra­tions. I nearly died laugh­ing. I’d like to invite them back for my 85th, but that might be con­sid­ered reck­less… Great 
usi­cians, great fun.”

Bernard Haitink
Conductor

Since our first encounter with I&J in 2011, we (the musicians & staff of the Taiwan Philharmonic) had been longing for being part of the birth of the  “Scary Concert”.  From the perfect preparation of the music scores to the super efficient rehearsals, I&J not only inspired our musicians to be more creative in performances but also bounded them with our audience even tighter.  Right after the concerts, we received many inquires about when I&J will be back for another new project …. yes, from both orchestra musicians and audience.  The  Scary Concert is the healing concert for both audience and musicians in this stiflingly busy city life.

Joyce Chiou
Executive Director, Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO)

Next Dates for 8 to 88

No shows booked for this tour at the moment.