MIMA brings improv music to campus

Are you tired of hearing Britney doing it again? Do you wonder if Christina really knows what a girl wants? And how long will it take *NSYNC to truly say "Bye, Bye, Bye"? For you, the University community offers an alternative to the candied lyrics of pop — MIMA.

Last fall, Adam Nemett '03 and Pam Shisler '03 started MIMA, which stands for Modern Improvisational Musical Appreciation. One year later, the group is a campus success story. Along with new officers Alex Rosenfeld '03 and Brian Deleeuw '03, Nemett and Shisler have formed a large community based around improvisational music.

But what is improvisational music? According to Rosenfeld, it "encapsulates a broad range of music from jam to electronica to jazz, with the spirit of improvisation running through it." The genre, he added, comprises "largely non-mainstream music."

Some types of improvisational music have no words but focus instead on the live experience. MIMA officers said for this reason, watching a show in person is better than listening to a recording. The music, Rosenfeld explained, "must be held in its element."

MIMA encourages this experience — the communal feeling that flows through improvisational music fans when enjoying a live performance.

Even the origins of the club encapsulate this sprit. The summer before their freshman year, Shisler and Nemett were communicating online, sharing their love for improvisational music. Once they arrived at the University, they met other people who enjoyed this type of music, and before the fall '99 term ended, MIMA had begun.

When the club's officers talk about improvisational music, there is a kind of familiarity — and even respect — that reverberates in their voices. In their discussions they all focus on a similar theme — the sense of empathy and kinship that fans share. Shisler spoke of the "tight-knit communities" that exist because of this music, Deleeuw of the "many different DJs everyone knows." And Rosenfeld said he wants to "bring that communal spirit to Princeton."

With more than 300 members in what has quickly become one of the largest organizations on campus, they seem well on their way to Rosenfeld's goal.

What elements unite the students who join MIMA? Shisler called the group's members "open-minded and willing to experience various types of music, from jam bands to electronic music."

So why not pop music?

"Most pop music is very structured," Nemett said. "Songs are performed the same way at a live performance and on the CD. With a jam band, there are some songs that are composed, but mostly it is a basic freefall — unlimited improvisation." The music of jam bands is not structureless, however, but "builds freedom into the structure," Nemett added.

Therein lies the reason why jam bands will probably never swim up the mainstream with the Dave Matthews and Savage Gardens of this world. Nemett, describing the experience of seeing cult favorite Phish time and time again, said that each concert is "a completely different show. Each time you hear a song, it's a new experience."

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MIMA tries to spread its musical message through the University in much the same fashion that improvisational music is spread through the outside world. Instead of structured meetings, they hold raves. Instead of prearranged interaction, true group spontaneity occurs at MIMA events. Shisler said these events "give people a basis to get together. They put out an idea at the forum and meet to enjoy them."

At the raves, Nemett explained, "the focus is not on the tap room or some DJ spinning top 40. It's on experiencing different kinds of music — new music." And while Rosenfeld did confess that improvisational music is an acquired taste, he also said that every person who goes to an improvisational music concert comes away feeling changed. What unifies these people is simple — their overwhelming love of the music.

MIMA has already made an impact on the University social scene. A few weeks ago, the group organized a 12-DJ rave at Terrace. All 12 of the DJs were current University students or recent graduates.

In future weeks, MIMA plans more events to bring improvisational music to University students. The Disco Biscuits, a band that has played at locations across the nation, comes to Terrace on Nov. 9 thanks to MIMA.

Also in the works for early November is a double bill with student bands The Ally, from the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton's Zookjera. According to Zookjera bassist Dave Hittson '02, the band's members met and organized their group through MIMA.

Deleeuw said he believes the "talents that lie within the Princeton walls can finally be uncovered" through MIMA's events.

While University students learn to appreciate improvisational music, the genre continues to mature and develop elsewhere. DJs and experimental rock are beginning to have more and more in common. According to Deleeuw, there is starting to be "a cross-pollination between the underground music — a unity between jam band culture and rave culture."

As improvisational music changes, MIMA will grow along with it. The club's officers are hoping to extend their network, creating branches of the club at other universities around the country.

This cross-continental music community may be an idealistic vision, but it is a vision that MIMA supports, and looks forward to seeing fulfilled. For music is more than just rhyming lyrics and cute dance moves. It is, as Nemett said, a "spiritual performance that leaves you with a lasting connection to the music."

And that connection is the heart and soul of MIMA.