Instructions for Playing

• • 3ARTS MATCH
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Instructions for Playing is a genre-bending concert program to be performed by Hot Second, a new duo consisting of myself (percussion) and Dylan Feldpausch (violin). The concert will feature two world premiere compositions, as well as existing classical works and our own arrangements of pop and jazz songs. Our hope is to deliver both a standard concert performance and a re-working for grade-school student audiences. With your support, we will share this exciting new program in Chicagoland in May/June 2024.

About This Project

After several months of collaboration, Instructions for Playing will be Hot Second’s first full-length concert program and one that embodies our musical goals: to create genre-bending performances and draw audiences into adventurous and playful sound worlds. My musical training is primarily in western classical music, but I love to capitalize on the universality of percussion—how it exists in nearly every genre and every culture around the world—to draw artistic connections, learn new perspectives, and share these points of connection with audiences.

Working closely with living composers to create new music is one of the most inspiring and energizing parts of my artistic practice. Both the creator and performer get to feed off each other’s strengths, skills, and energies to learn and grow. Collaboration with my duo partner through chamber music is also immensely rewarding. We are able to push each other’s technical and artistic boundaries, and to create more meaningful musical experiences than either of us could on our own. 

The concert will feature two world premiere compositions: one composed by José Martínez and commissioned especially for this project, and one composed by my duo partner, Dylan Feldpausch. We will also perform two jazz and pop songs in new arrangements that we will create, and existing classical works by Gabriela Ortiz, Stephanie Orlando, and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw. This program will be a joyful and adventurous musical experience that will surprise audiences and illuminate the possibilities that exist when we create fluid relationships between art forms and genres.

Listeners will benefit from seeing a program of classical music that is not rooted in the Euro-centric White, male canon that people often expect when they think of classical music, but instead centers voices of creators who are women, BIPOC, and/or LGBTQIA+. One of the program’s centerpieces will be the work by José Martínez, titled “Manual de Instrucciones.” This is the latest in José’s series inspired by a collection of satirical essays by Argentine author Julio Cortázar. Through instrucciones (instructions) for activities such as winding a clock, climbing a ladder, and even crying, Cortázar poetically creates surrealist humor while transforming mundane activities into particular, thought-provoking experiences.

The Instructions for Playing concert is scheduled to premiere on June 30, 2024, at Constellation (in person and live streamed), a celebrated venue in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood that is well known for its jazz and contemporary classical programming. We will also perform a version of the program for students at Southland College Prep in Mattson, Illinois, where Dylan is on faculty, and we are pitching the program to other venues and festivals for performance later in Summer and Fall 2024.

I am thrilled to perform this new program for Chicago audiences and students, to share an exciting experience that defies the expectations of a classical concert. Classical music today is living, evolving, and growing, and your support will help us share this innovative music here in our city.

Thank yous

Contribute any amount or choose from the levels below.

• $20
  Shout-out on social media and your name acknowledged in the concert program. ($20.00 is tax deductible.)
• $50
  Above, plus a music playlist curated by Rebecca and Dylan. ($50.00 is tax deductible.)
• $100
  Above, plus 1 complimentary ticket to the June 30 concert. ($85.00 is tax deductible.)
• $250
  Above, plus a recorded musical improvisation just for you. ($185.00 is tax deductible.)
• $500
  Above, plus a private concert by the Hot Second duo performed for you and 4 friends at a Chicago location TBD. ($300.00 is tax deductible.)

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Rebecca McDaniel

Make a Wave Artist

Rebecca McDaniel is passionate about sharing music with others and about supporting the creativity of young musicians. Relying on music as a unifying force, Rebecca seeks to share curiosity and joy as a performer, educator, and arts administrator. She is …

View Rebecca McDaniel's profile

• 3 updates
• 72 supporters

• Update 1: Halfway through and a milestone met!

  Posted on April 16, 2024

  

  Photo by Colin Campbell  

  Dylan and Rebecca with composer José Martínez, workshopping his new piece via Zoom.

  Dear friends,

   

  Thanks so much to all who have contributed so far to “Instructions for Playing”! You are helping us bring new music to life. I have reached the midpoint of my campaign, and thanks to folks’ generosity, I have met the milestone of receiving the match from 3Arts! Thank you for helping me reach this important goal.

   

  Hot Second is deep in rehearsal mode. As a percussionist, this doesn’t just mean learning notes; it means exploring sounds, trying out new instruments, and sometimes even a trip to the hardware store. One of the pieces on the program calls for 10 flower pots, so I’ve been on a Goldilocks-style trip to stores around town to find the pots that are “just right.” Stay tuned for how these will get put to use on stage!

   

  We also had our first workshop with composer José Martínez, whose new work is one of the centerpieces of the concert. José is a great friend of mine from graduate school, and I’m so happy to be commissioning a new work from him for this project. The workshop and our subsequent rehearsals have been so much fun; I really love José’s music and can’t wait for you all to hear this new work! His musical craftsmanship makes you listen closely to every single sound. Photo from our Zoom workshop below, and huge thanks to my friend Colin Campbell for facilitating our workshop audio and video.

   

  Follow me and Hot Second on Facebook (@Rebecca McDaniel) and Instagram (@rebeccamcdrums, @hotsecondmusic) to keep up with the creative process and see behind-the-scenes video of our rehearsals!

   

  Thank you for choosing to support me and my work.

  -Rebecca 

  Update 2: We met our goal! What’s next…

  Posted on April 22, 2024

  

   

  Rehearsing Dylan's new piece.

  Dear friends,

   

  I have an exciting announcement to share: we have met our initial campaign goal!! Thanks to so many generous folks, we have raised $6,000 in support of Instructions for Playing. Wow! Thank you.

   

  With a few days remaining in the campaign, we are now working toward a stretch goal of $8,000. These additional funds will help us increase our compensation for all artists involved, and create studio recordings of the new compositions.

   

  A few exciting things that have happened in the last week or so:

  1.     Just this morning, we received the next two movements of José Martínez’s new piece. We can’t wait to check them out!

  2.     I bought some new instruments: shakers, cymbals, and a “ribbon crasher”: a fun instrument made of metal strips that creates a sort-of junky crashing sound when played. All these will become part of Dylan Feldpausch’s new piece, in which I play drum set + other toy instruments. (Photo of us rehearsing this piece below.)

  3.     We hired our second violinist to participate in the program. Dylan’s new work is written for two violins and percussion, and we’re very excited to have Carmen Abelson, a wonderful Chicago-based violinist, joining us for the Constellation show on June 30.

   

  Follow me and Hot Second on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the creative process and see behind-the-scenes video of our rehearsals!

   

  Thank you for choosing to support me and my work.

  -Rebecca

  Update 3: We did it! Thank you!

  Posted on May 04, 2024

  

  Photo by Aline Stern Photography  

  Dear friends,

   

  Wow! Thanks to generous support from 72 amazing people, Instructions for Playing has been fully funded, and more. We exceeded our initial goal and reached $7,000 of support for the project. Thank you so much to all who have supported this work, whether it was with a donation, by spreading the word about the campaign, or simply by talking with me and caring about the project. The contributions from this community will help us share innovative music and create inviting musical experiences for folks in Chicago (and anywhere, with livestreaming video!). Thank you!

   

  Keep up with the project by following me and Hot Second on Facebook and Instagram, and please save the date for the project’s debut, if you haven’t already: June 30 at Constellation. Join us in person in Chicago or online from your favorite spot. (The video will remain on YouTube after the show, so don’t worry if you can’t watch that night.)

   

  Thank you again, and I hope to see you soon!

  -Rebecca

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