WS Chronicle

By Jess Schnur 

Next Saturday, March 29, beginning at noon, the streets of Downtown Winston-Salem will be filled with sounds of music, conversation, and exploration as The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) kicks off “Spontaneous Sound: A Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music.” This sonic celebration of creativity and melodic expression features a series of showcases from aspiring to seasoned performers; a Q&A panel featuring current and former members of the Michael Bublé Orchestra; workshops in musical improvisation; and masterclasses for a variety of different instruments.  

With performances from local middle and high school students, features from professional musicians to share their music and their wisdom, and an examination of the different genres influenced through improvised music, the program promises an evening of food, fun and appreciation for the art of spontaneous sound. 

This year marks the second year of Spontaneous Sound, after its inception by Steve Alford, UNCSA chair of the Jazz and Contemporary Department. Alford has been working for UNCSA since August 2023 and devised the festival with the aspiration of bringing the community together through music. “It’s been my opinion that our social environment has been kind of falling apart of late,” said Alford in an interview with The Chronicle. “We’ve lost the ability to have discourse with people and the idea of having a casual conversation with somebody that maybe has a different perspective than you do or [having] that form of interaction. 

“And so, for me, it was more of a mindset of what can I do that provides a wonderful experience for my students that allows them to play in a more, what we would call, a professional pro-type of environment for this type of music, because this type of music is not designed to be listened to in a concert hall. I also wanted to include the audience in the experience. And so, the idea of a festival comes about, like how can I combine aspects of a music festival, which is what this does, because there’s four different stages, there’s different types of bands that are playing all day long.” 

Alford has been developing his passion for music as far back as the ‘90s, after earning his bachelor’s degree from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. His talent has taken him on tour across the country and even overseas, only to then be called to academia to teach at institutions such as Mars Hill University, University of North Carolina Asheville, moving then to teach in Minnesota after obtaining a master’s degree, before finally landing in Winston-Salem at UNCSA. 

For Alford, music is more than just chord progressions and scales; it is a language without words. “I teach what I call linguistical improvisation,” said Alford. “Noise is a communication tool. And so, one of the things that I really like to think about is that with improvised music, there’s no such thing as a mistake, per se. If you’re making the noise that you hear in your mind’s ear, then that is not wrong. And so, if we build the music from the perspective of experimentation, trial and error, falling constantly, but then slowly figuring out how to get the equivalent thereof, that’s really kind of the goal with it. And so, it doesn’t fall into any specific genre of music … it’s utilizing the noise to communicate an idea.”  

One of the featured guest artists attending the festival is Daniel Seriff, a North-Carolina-based professional guitarist and teacher who has travelled the country in search of his sound. “Music has been with me nearly my entire life,” Seriff told The Chronicle in an interview. “I started playing at 13 and it’s been with me through the good and bad times. Even though it never came easy for me, all the work and effort has always been enjoyable. I’m thankful I can still wake up every day and be excited to explore music and the guitar still. The path is never ending.”  

Seriff first attended UNCSA back in 2003, and it was there he discovered his desire to break out of the conventionality within traditional musical institutions and embrace the creativity, diversity and personality of improvised performance. In 2018, he attended graduate school in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he experienced the roots of jazz, funk, groove, and pocket firsthand. Along his journey of musical discovery, he found his passions also lie in sharing his skill of the strings with others. From 2007 to 2025, Seriff has taught over 25,000 guitar lessons, and continues to teach online and YouTube guitar courses from his home in Asheville. “I think the “Spontaneous Sound Festival” is a wonderful opportunity because it allows everyone to bring their own voice,” said Seriff. “It’s not recreative music, it’s creative. Great to see creative music being supported.” 

Tickets are available online at the UNCSA website, starting at $25 for adults and $20 for accredited students. Admission wristbands provide all-day access to the festival, allowing for an all-encompassing experience of Downtown Winston-Salem. Dining at nearby restaurants, shopping in boutiques and galleries, and conversations with fellow festivalgoers are encouraged between sets.  

“Really, the goal for it is for everyone to just be able to hang out,” said Alford. “And I kind of see it as like a city party … a space that anyone can come to and hang out and just enjoy.”