Grand Style Orchestra: Pandemic Era Videos and Live Performance
THE GRAND STYLE ORCHESTRA REMOTE RECORDING PROJECT
Tonight’s screening presents a selection of music videos from the Grand Style Orchestra’s Remote Recording Project, a monthly audiovisual recording series released during the COVID-19 pandemic by the GSO Social Music Collective, March 2020–March 2021. GSO will perform several songs live with video projection.
The GSO Remote Recording Project (RRP) began in March 2020 as a response to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on live music performance. Orchestra leader Shorty Grapes devised a plan to continue the collective’s monthly “happenings” without meeting in person. Each month, Shorty sent an audio guide to orchestra members, who then recorded their individual parts at home. Participants did not hear each other’s recordings at any time during the process. After collecting the individual recordings, Shorty edited the final mix for release online. Videos for each recording were also produced remotely and were timed for release on the last Sunday of each month. The entire output (videos and audio) is available via YouTube.
THE GRAND STYLE ORCHESTRA
The Grand Style Orchestra (GSO) is a social-music collective founded January 2013 in Portland, Oregon. GSO began as a weekly Sunday residency at the infamous Slabtown West nightclub in downtown Portland’s Pearl District. After the demise of Slabtown in 2014, GSO migrated to Northeast Portland, where they have enjoyed a monthly stay at Turn! Turn! Turn! for over a decade. To date, over eighty persons have directly participated in 140 GSO events. But what is GSO? On the last Sunday of each month, the GSO embarks on sonic, visual, and spatial explorations that invite challenge for players and listeners alike. There are happenings, but there are no rehearsals. There are songs, but there are no parts. There are participants, but there is no band. The GSO is what it is in the moment it happens, and that is all it is. Simply by virtue of being there, You are the GSO and the GSO is You.
