Author Archives: Max Pollak

MiniDoc/Interview about Max’s story

Tap Love Tour Interview with Max Pollak

Thank you very much Travis Knights and Tanya Knights for making this beautiful piece out of an interview, with so much incredible footage and historic photos they bring all of my references to life in the most beautiful way. It makes me even more proud to be part of this historically significant effort to document the present state of the art-form!

MaxAmBerg (English)

                                                                        “MAXAMBERG”

 August 10 – 13, 2017

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in St.Ägyd, Lower Austria

Tired of overcrowded cities and classrooms? Looking for an inspiring environment to be creative?  Join me for a mountain jam in Austria! No stress, no crowds – no kidding. Just music, inspiration and creativity… an international body music event in the Austrian Alps by Mariazell. Four days full of body music, jamming and improvisation, Cuban, Austrian and other folklore, singing and RumbaTap – all this in the mountains around Mariazell (2 hours south of Vienna) where I spent my childhood.

Maximum 10 participants per course.

Here is what participant Serena Chan had to say about MaxAmBerg 2015:

“From drums, body percussion, tap, alpine reed flute, Cuban chants, to great company and more, it certainly was a fantastic opportunity to go jamming while hiking in the mountains last year. And now, #MaxAmBerg is back again! It’s the best festival I’ve had so far. Because it’s small enough to really develop both musicality and dance in a comfortable environment (both the people and in nature), but big enough to incorporate everyone. There’s no rush or stress to go from one class/element to another so I really got to understand the areas I need to strengthen more and then develop from there.
I still think of that week until now and I can’t believe that it’s been almost a year!”

Every day instruction and practice in:

  1. Percussion with and without instrument (body)
  2. RumbaTap (according to your level)
  3. Group singing, ear training, music theory
  4. Improvisation – collaboration – composition
  5. Cuban music/jazz/tap history (will be discussed throughout the day at appropriate times)

And then we go hiking every day to another beautiful location where we do an improvised jam session among natural surroundings – on a mountain, by a rock spring, in a gorge, a forest clearing, at a Gasthaus…

In addition to that we’ll have a garden BBQ, Kaffee Jause (real Austrian coffee break!), home-made schnapps and more to make sure we don’t get bored! We will have jam sessions each day.

Please send email to rumbatap@gmail.com to request a registration form. Registration is valid after payment has been received.
MaxAmBerg porch 2

 

Important equipment:

Since we will be at an altitude of 900m (almost 3,000 feet), please make sure to bring sunscreen  and some warm, waterproof clothing, including strong hiking boots. You may also want to bring a recording device and any instruments you would like to use. Some percussion instruments like conga drum, clave, shakers, bells are provided. Piano is provided.