Photo courtesy Ben Ammon

Cue the music because that’s a wrap! The very first Ignite Phoenix Music was a hit – all thanks to you and an amazing group of speakers, sponsors, entertainers, and volunteers. Check some of the amazing pictures from Ignite Music on Flickr!

First, thank you to these incredible presenters for rocking the house and sharing their musical passions with us! From cool genres like Indian classical music and a capella, instruments like the blues harmonica, music education, and more, they helped all of us see (and hear) music in a whole new way.

We also want to recognize our gracious sponsors, who shared their talents, funds, and support to help bring Ignite Phoenix Music to life:

• Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
• square peg creative
• Bookmans
• Brand X T-Shirts
• Videoloco
• Phoenix Innovation Foundation

Another huge thank you goes out to the food trucks and bands who helped fill our bellies and ears:

• Cassidy and Company
• Jerusafunk
• Deejay Smite
• BuzzNBeez
• Loca Popa
• Food Diva
• Paletas Betty

And finally, one last (but MASSIVE) thank you to our dedicated team of volunteers who got the band back together and made Ignite Phoenix Music happen!

But wait – there’s more! Feel that happiness flowing through your veins after the show? Remember all those great presentations you saw, all the friends you caught up with, and all the fun you had? You can get another dose of the Ignite experience in a few months at Ignite Phoenix #19! We’re still firming up a date and venue, so start prepping your presentation submission, and sign up to be notified when the details are announced.

Until next year!

The post Encore encore! Thanks for being part of Ignite Phoenix Music. appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

(cc) MrAnathema

Venue? Check.

Lighting? Check.

Instruments? Check.

Performers? … Check! The first ever Ignite Music presenter lineup is ready for its grand reveal.

The Ignite Phoenix team put out the call for submissions, and so many of you answered! We received over 60 submissions from people who want to share their music-related passion: diehard fandom, musical mashups, choreography, history, weird instruments, cultural music, education, and much, much, more.

Like a music festival where there are way too many good bands to pick from, our judges had the gut-wrenching task of narrowing down dozens of submissions to just a handful of talks. They painstakingly worked through the judging process, put their personal preferences aside, and chose 18 presenters who they know YOU will love.

Meet the speakers who are jazzed to share their stories with you at Ignite Music on Friday, October 28th!

Ignite Music will be on Friday, October 28th, at 6:30 p.m. (food trucks and pre-show music start at 5:00 p.m.) at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (SCPA).

Tickets go on sale this Saturday, October 1st, at 10:00 a.m., and they will sell out quickly — perhaps in less than an hour. Tickets are $20 each, general admission seating, with a limit of 6 tickets per order.

Please note, you have to create an account through the SCPA before you can purchase tickets.  We’ll post the link to purchase tickets from the SCPA Box Office on our tickets page, Facebook, and Twitter, so bookmark those pages now and set your alarm to make sure you can be there to geek out with these music lovers!

The post Introducing the 18 Presenters Ready to Rock Ignite Music! appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

I have lived my life in music having worked for Disney, written for tv/film and performed a lifetime for people whose music-connected remarkable stories deserve to be told. Through a series of photos I’ll introduce you to these peoples’ lives with stories Spielberg only wished he could write and preserve, I’ll perform on saxophone excerpts of the very songs that defined astounding moments connecting all the dots with the latest science discoveries revealing secrets to the meaning of life, music.

The post Music – The Secret Meaning Of Life appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

Humans receive millions of tiny movement cues every time they go out in public and use that information to inform their decisions. In an extremely refined way, flamenco guitarists use a dancer’s movement cues to create a sonic tapestry that not only makes sense musically but makes sense visually. Flamenco guitarists make predictions using visual and auditory input while accessing their own musical knowledge and bring it all together in real time. The ability verges on the super-human.

The post Flamenco guitarists…are they super-humans? appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

I’ve been a professional musician for close to 20 years but I recently discovered the most profound way that music can contribute to my life, by bringing my daughter and me closer together. When my daughter’s eyes light up as she hears me sing a song I wrote for her, that’s priceless. Well, guess what? YOU can feel this amazing feeling too! I’m going to teach you 3 simple techniques so that you can create your own original music with, and for, your children. No musical experience required!

The post 3 Easy ways you can create music with your child without being a musician! appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

I was born with a birth “defect”, or more specifically, a cleft lip & cleft palate (think Smile Train). In grade school, I was unable to walk for 3 years because of a rare hip disease. Because of my “defect” I showed up to my first day of high school with stitches and swelling from a reconstructive surgery of my nose, lip and palate. Oh, and I was small, weak and asthmatic. Not the recipe for being captain of the football team that’s for sure! I felt so ALONE! Until I was gifted a guitar…

The post I was so *&ck-ing LONELY! appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

I’m a jazz player, but listen to country music 90% of the time!
I’d like to inspire and motivate the audience to give country music another listen by presenting the orchestration and improvisation “theories” of country music, as well as the compelling stories behind the lyrics. I will be using wonderfully humorous images and talking about the stereotype of country music lovers. I want people to walk away with the thought “Hey, let’s put on some KNIX and give country music a try.”

The post I’m a jazz musician, and I love listening to country music! appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

I don’t speak Korean, but I do know that when my favorite Korean band, Big Bang, came to America last year, I was going to see them – even if that meant spending $400 on the concert ticket alone. South Korea exports its pop culture like other countries export manufactured goods. I want to talk about how the Korean music industry is creating entertainment with universal appeal – so much appeal that 1.5 million fans worldwide attended Big Bang’s Made Tour in 2015.

The post I Spent $400 to See a Band I Can’t Understand appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

I don’t speak Korean, but I do know that when my favorite Korean band, Big Bang, came to America last year, I was going to see them – even if that meant spending $400 on the concert ticket alone. South Korea exports its pop culture like other countries export manufactured goods. I want to talk about how the Korean music industry is creating entertainment with universal appeal – so much appeal that 1.5 million fans worldwide attended Big Bang’s Made Tour in 2015.

The post I Spent $400 to See a Band I Can’t Understand appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.

Rock music has fallen stagnant. Whether the music has lost its innovation or the lifestyle itself inhibits harmful behaviors of the past, the deterioration of rock music is doing you a favor more than you know. Why? Probably because I am a victim of its degradation, yet probably its biggest supporter.

In this talk, I will rapidly weave 30 years of musical trends where the behaviors have taken us from the impassioned, the excessive, the self-inflicting and back.

The post The Versatility of Extremes: Why Today’s Rock Music Is Meant to Suck appeared first on Ignite Phoenix.