Spotlight: Victor Haskins on The Importance of Improvising
Photo: Tania del Carmen Fernandez
In life, we’re often improvising even when we don’t realize it. We improvise when we speak to one another, when something goes wrong, but most commonly when we are being creative. For 2021-2022 CultureWorks grantee Victor Haskins, improvisation is the language at the heart of his musical craft. We spoke with the instrumentalist about his live album, coming out at the end of the month.
Read ahead for Victor’s words:
CultureWorks: Who are you and what’s your background?
Victor Haskins: My name is Victor Haskins. I am a multidisciplinary artist, a composer, an improviser, and an educator. My main projects are Victor Haskins & SKEIN (a progressive music ensemble) and ImproviStory (a multidisciplinary, improvisational performance unit). I also teach in a variety of capacities through formal and informal roles, and through content creation.
CW: Tell me a bit about your relationship to your creative work as a musician! What is your focus, and how did it get started?
VH: My main goal is to create experiences based on extemporaneous explorations. Improvisation is at the heart of my work. To improvise is to master a language, and then to use that language to communicate—to communicate within yourself (and sometimes externally with yourself), to communicate with other artists (who speak a language of the same medium, or a different medium), to communicate with your audience, and to communicate with the universe. I feel the most authentic expression I can offer is in the form of searching for and reveling in the discovery of the moment.
I do not know when this desire to explore began but it has always been my focus as far as my memory can serve, and it is a constant pursuit. Seeking different ways to create and exist in improvisational contexts as a creator and a communicator is a long-term experiment that pays endlessly positive dividends. This takes the form of creating my own projects where I am directing the flow of energies, participating in the projects of others to be a conduit of energies, as well as spending a large amount of time tinkering with sound, media, and modes of performance in order to try new possibilities and create new paradigms. Or perhaps, to rediscover old possibilities and view them in a new light…
Photo: Keshia Eugene
CW: What has your experience as a CultureWorks grantee been like, and what can we expect from your upcoming release?
VH: The experience has been eye-opening and valuable. My project has been to create a live album of my original compositions, performed by my band, “Victor Haskins & SKEIN” (like a skein of string). The grant funding allowed me to create a plan to develop the music in a different way than I’ve done previously. However, this is definitely a model I will use to develop future projects.
This music that we recorded has grown so much through our repeated engagement with it. To really get inside of the compositions, to figure out where the elements bend, break, or where the room is, and what the stories are that live within the tunes; this is the work that can only happen when a group performs and improvises with tunes over and over and over again.
These tunes are all based in specific, non-musical concepts and ideas (as are all of my compositions). Specifically, these tunes are based in personal development principles and ideas of growth; concepts related to being a human. It’s important that we have the ability to manipulate the tunes in such a way that we can give life to these abstract and relevant topics. The completed album will officially be released on July 1, 2022, through my website, victorhaskins.com.
CW: How have you felt your music connect with the community around you?
VH: The audiences who have come out to hear us perform are all vitally important elements and ingredients in our operations. I don’t write music for musicians, I write music for people. I write music that stimulates imagination and emotions. After we work on being able to deal with the technical elements of executing the music, then we must perform for people outside of ourselves. These people are, for the most part, not clued into the nuts and bolts of how we are creating—instead, they are experiencing the combined efforts and energies and spirits that we conjure. Having the energy of people in the room helps us to get closer to the magic that is contained in the sounds that we are releasing. It makes the music “honest”.
This is why it is important to have in-person events. Livestreaming is great if there are no other options, or for safety reasons, but there is no substitute for having other human beings in the room absorbing the vibrations and auditory evidence of decision-making, and reflecting these sounds and energies through their presence. That kind of participation is inimitable, and we appreciate all the folks who have come out to experience the vibrations we create, and those who continue to come experience the stories we tell.
Photo: Brian Gibson
CW: Have you collaborated with any other artists/spaces recently that were meaningful for you?
VH: I collaborated with Orbital Music Park by using their space to produce most of the performances that I recorded as potential candidates for the live album. I decided to make the final performance we did at OMP a fundraiser concert for Fox Elementary. This also is the performance that happened to have the most desirable takes of the compositions I wanted to record, so the live album will consist mostly (or almost entirely) of takes from that performance, AND we raised money for Fox—a double win.
I collaborated with Kinfolks (a food justice nonprofit) to provide music for one of their events at Martin Luther King Middle School. I collaborated with the Fan Arts Stroll and provided music for that community event both in the fall and most recently at the end of May. Along the way, I had photographer Keshia Eugene take some live photos of my band at Orbital Music Park, I had photographer Tania del Carmen Fernandez take some studio shots of me, and I had Brian Gibson of EVERGIB take some photos of my band at the Fan Arts Stroll.
These have definitely been cool visual reminders of the journey that I have undertaken over this past season of working with these new compositions. And of course, last and certainly not least, the awesome, amazing cats in Victor Haskins & SKEIN—Randall Pharr (bass) and Tony Martucci (drums)!
CW: What advice do you have for budding instrumentalists in the music industry?
VH: The best advice I can offer has several parts to it. Learn your craft. Learn at least one instrument (the voice is also an instrument) really well—know it inside and out. Also, seek to understand as much as possible. Don’t just memorize things. As much as you have the capacity to, ask “why” something is the way it is, and then don’t stop until you have a satisfactory answer.
Develop your ears. Being able to listen to and hear music (hearing = imagining sounds in your head) is extremely important. Listening and hearing are two different skills. Listening: external. Hearing: internal.
Learn to improvise. Everyone is capable of doing it—anyone who can’t do it has simply made the decision to not do it. Talking is improvisation with words. Get comfortable enough with music to be able to speak with it.
Learn different styles of music. Do this by learning it from situations where people who know these styles well can confer the information to you. You can’t authentically learn music from a book. I don’t believe in musical genres—it’s all just music to me. However, being able to hear what a situation needs is important.
Learn how to do good business. Show up on time. Respect people by being courteous, communicating effectively, and being prepared ahead of time.
There are plenty more things I could say, but I’ll leave it there for brevity’s sake.
Photo: Brian Gibson
CW: Where do you look for inspiration these days, and how do you stay inspired?
VH: I do not believe in looking for inspiration. I believe that each day I am blessed to open my eyes and breathe. It is another chance to make new discoveries, feel things, and try to elevate my awareness and my understanding of myself and the world around me. It’s inspiring enough to simply be alive. If others are looking for inspiration, just pay attention to yourself. Knowing yourself and having your senses open and receptive will tell you everything about what is your next step. Follow your curiosity.
CW: What do arts and culture mean to you? Why does it matter?
VH: Arts and culture are life. Literally. They are not luxuries. Art and culture are how we live, moment to moment. It’s important that we all cultivate positive, uplifting, and expansive cultures. We should strive to be artful in the way we move, the way we look at things, the way we listen to others and the world around us, and the way we create. Art should not be something relegated to the weekend. Art should be how we approach the world. Art is about being connected, giving, receiving, transforming, alertness, awareness, discernment; art is about seeking understanding. Art is about being together, art is about being alone, art is about taste, art is about individuality, and art is about community. It’s not just about a song or a painting. Art is about energy and spirituality. And, that is what we need more of. How you interact with your surroundings: art. How you interact with others: art. How you interact with yourself: art.
Pay attention to, and expand the art that occurs in your daily life and you will get more out of life.
To learn more about Victor and his upcoming events: https://www.victorhaskins.com/
To get tickets for Victor & SKEIN at The Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education: https://www.perkinsoncenter.org/upcomingevents