PHILADELPHIA, PA – Tonic: The Card & Dice Game for Musicians, launched on Kickstarter this week.
Designed to teach students and seasoned players how to bring an element of playfulness to their playing, Tonic is an unconventional practice tool that is rooted in the free jazz and modern classical movements.
Tonic takes the form of a card and dice game that requires no theory or prior experience to play. Instead, each card has a prompt that challenges players to create a short piece of music on the spot according to easy-to-understand guidelines.
“Music education has a problem.” says founder Scott Hughes. “As a student, I felt overwhelmed by the wealth of information out there. Every book and every well-meaning teacher was telling me to practice something different. It was information overload in the extreme, and the more I talked to people, the more I realized I wasn’t alone. Creating music, whether it’s composed or improvised, shouldn’t be complicated. My goal is to make it simple again.“
Intended for musicians of all types, Tonic aims to make improvisation and composition more accessible by showing all musicians that they can benefit from flexing their creative muscles in a way that is not stressful or rooted in jazz standards, as improvisation is usually taught.
Since its digital release several months ago, the game has been used by thousands of players and educators to bring fresh and unexpected ideas into their art. The digital version is available at the link below, where anyone can download and print it free of charge.
Tonic is available on Kickstarter until August 13th.
Learn more & download for free: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1106146525/tonic-the-music-improvisation-card-game
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tonicimprov
