The Changing Dynamics of a Musical Group

All creative people are known to have strong personality types, whether they are reserved, outgoing, or vocal about their opinions. This is a necessary path of a successful musician, who makes anything from a decision about phrasing to choosing different career paths. As each individual member of In Radiance navigates their personal paths by changing, adding, or subtracting important career moves, it also changes the dynamics of complicated social contracts.

Some recent changes in our personal lives included going from having four permanent members for the past two years, to an unexpected and wonderful addition to the family: Laura Pillman! Learning to adapt to working with different artists kept us on our toes constantly. We received valuable feedback from different perspectives on how we interact. On occasion, we can get too comfortable with old thought patterns. Now we look forward to having another person to add to our web of unique artists who constantly challenge and re-invent what it means to be a modern musician.

Stacey Chou left for basic training this past January as a member of the Air National Guard Band of the Northeast! We took over her responsibilities while she was away, such as applying for competitions, grant-writing, taking over communications, and accepting the National Flute Association (NFA) proposal. It was interesting receiving information through the old-school snail mail type of communication, reserving the most important pieces of information and delivering them in a concise manner.

Joanne Wheeler accepted a new teaching position as general music teacher at Wellesley Middle School this past year! Her continuous involvement with us have been unwavering, and we continue to work with her through her regular school schedule and taking time off.

April Cheung went to the NFA Convention with the group and came out on the other side with a new Jupiter alto flute! All the members were just as excited for her, because each additional musical instrument feels like another member of the family. Even non-musical instruments, such as Joanne’s new Zoom, is an exciting time for us to create more content for our audience: you.

Gaby Alvarado experienced health issues and had to undergo surgery and be hospitalized. Due to physical limitations, we switched around parts and found ways to practice with more efficiency with our rehearsal times. It enabled us to make music with a different lens, and to make use of our time together to the fullest extent.

Stacey, Joanne, and April ventured off as members of In Radiance in Brooklyn, NY this summer to think of music in a different way. Members of Project Trio Greg Patillo, Peter Seymour, and Eric Stephenson took us on a 3-day Teacher Training journey. It was three days of music-making with no paper, no ink, and no boundaries. There were improvisation workshops based on simple ideas that had endless possibilities on melody, rhythm, beatboxing, and simply “creating noise.” Peter offered us insight as a professional who has the business side of things down to a tee.

This past summer inspired all of us to start our rehearsals with spontaneous compositions that we hope to expand into our own music, and to memorize our current repertoire, instead of our previous model of only expanding our repertoire. Finding solutions and being quick in our problem-solving skills has been a recurring theme this past year. To put it transparently, anything could happen, from building stronger ties to breaking apart as a group. Luckily for us, we are rising to the occasion and are determined to bring you new creations.