{"id":11433,"date":"2018-06-29T14:19:27","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T21:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/Becomeimmersed.com\/?p=11433"},"modified":"2019-11-26T11:25:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T19:25:12","slug":"guest-host-make-music-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/guest-host-make-music-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guest & The Host – Make Music – An Interview with Spencer Williams & Andrew Heringer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music is universal and integral to our lives. It can transport us to a moment in time, amplify or suppress emotions, or even force us to reflect in the stillness. The creators of The Guest & The Host<\/i><\/a>, Spencer Williams and Andrew Heringer, have incorporated their love of music into an intimate 90-minute immersive experience that anyone, even the not-so-musically-inclined, can enjoy and participate in. Immersed<\/em> sat down with Williams and Heringer to discuss what makes The Guest & The Host: Make Music<\/i> so special to the hosts of the experience, and to the guests that experience it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Beautiful Duet<\/h3>\n

Williams says he met Heringer 13 years ago and they\u2019ve been a part of each other’s lives ever since. \u201cI collaborated with Andrew on his band Milo Greene’s debut album. [Heringer] has done music for me for almost all of my major projects, from soundtracks made onset to\u00a0every installment of my immersive series Walk the Night<\/i> (now in its 5th installment).\u201d<\/p>\n

Heringer chimes in, \u201cI was really inspired by the immersive theater experiences that I had taken part in. I loved the idea of an active audience. So Spencer and I started talking about what it would look like to guide someone through an immersive music experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis piece came naturally to us,\u201d Williams continues, \u201cfrom a desire\u00a0to merge our crafts into what we both love about immersive theatre (interaction, journey, discovery, connection) with how we connect together with music (reflection, play, emotional expression).\u00a0We wanted a piece without pretense, which built on the magic inherent in music, to deepen all of our relationships to music based on complete immersion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is always to have an experience accessible by anyone, with a range of choice, and an ability to meet the audience where they begin on their journey as they are<\/i>, rather than forcing them into something without their consent.\u00a0So allowing inclusivity for guests to connect with music in their own way \u2013 whether an inexperienced “non-musician” or a professional \u2013 by validation and interaction was the main thing I brought to the table.\u00a0I wanted to thread that needle between passivity and activity, magic and play,\u201d explains Williams.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Guest
Co-Creator Spencer Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/h3>\n

The Orchestration of an Experience<\/h3>\n

Williams laughs that The Guest & The Host: Make Music <\/i>pretty much is<\/i> the title: \u201cyou, our guest, come to us, your hosts. We make music together. From that, we get a song.\u201d He expands upon this concept, describing that it\u2019s a process; \u201ca recording experience that literally anyone can participate in.\u00a0It’s funny, this piece is the simplest I’ve ever made on the surface, but it has a sort of infinite conjugation. Each session is as unique as the person in that time…\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience is made accessible to everyone, regardless of musical aptitude, by \u201cmerging psychology and the basic human journey, while letting go of the expectations for a professional. Not everyone knows recording, but everyone has a relationship with music.\u00a0That relationship has existed their whole lives, and will always exist.\u00a0Everyone relates to another human being they share a space with; and one they collaborate with. We built on that, from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams speaks of Heringer, \u201cit has done amazing things in expanding his abilities as a producer \u2013 right down to incorporating the process we created into full albums with some artists. The instruments he’s drawn to shift from session to session; he sees what guests\u00a0are drawn to (voice, drums, guitar, violin, etc.), and lends that sort of infectious desire to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a good <\/i>chunk of time spent reading them (specifically, their submission answers), looking over the notes taken during the session and listening to the song they created. While Andrew does the final touches on what will be their piece, we’re talking about what his experience was and what I noticed.\u00a0From there, based on our guest following through with a last step for one final\u00a0piece of interaction, we combine those into the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heringer adds, \u201cWe allow our guests to walk away with a song that they have fully participated in creating over the course of an hour. I run my own recording studio and write and produce music for artists every day; that background is fundamental to my ability to navigate the Make Music<\/i> process.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Guest<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thank You for the Music<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe experience,\u201d Heringer muses, \u201chas really influenced the way I approach \u2018play\u2019 \/ collaborating with others. The whole process has to be rooted in listening and being aware of how someone else participates in play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with guests in such an intimate one-on-one setting, Williams says, \u201cmakes for a rich experience, a connection that expands craft rooted in feedback rather than that sort of insular production that can lead to art for art\u2019s sake (which, while I love, is set aside for different projects).\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams explains that guests will leave with \u201ca song that holds a memory, and a picture they can look back on \u2013 for happiness, or inspiration \u2013 that can follow them and that they can share. We\u00a0want them to have a sense of accomplishment and connection.\u00a0 But most importantly: We\u00a0want them to feel more deeply the way they feel about music. With immersive, I myself\u00a0love the pieces that let us discover \u2018what we didn’t know we knew,\u2019 to quote a favorite poetry professor.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coda<\/h3>\n

In the future, Williams sees The Guest & The Host<\/em> progressing the way he sees “a boutique, brilliant Tattoo artist, or a restaurant, combined with music production. The greatest of those have reservations and waitlists a mile long, and open for submissions the way a school does. Submissions come in, we read them, see whom we connect with instinctively. We accept those submissions and set times, then we close down submissions. Imagine a music studio that allowed you to make a track, that quilted those tracks together into an album (I have to give props\u00a0to that phrase\u00a0to my friend and collaborator, Larry Powell, who came up with the term “Film Quilt” for another project we’re working on). And\u00a0you have it: The future of\u00a0The Guest & The Host: Make Music<\/i>.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Guest & The Host Make Music –\u00a0Spencer Williams & Andrew Heringer<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Guest & The Host<\/em> is accepting submissions through their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music is universal and integral to our lives. It can transport us to a moment in time, amplify or suppress emotions, or even force us to reflect in the stillness. The creators of The Guest & The Host, Spencer Williams and Andrew Heringer, have incorporated their love of music into an intimate 90-minute immersive experience…<\/p>\n

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