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On 6 okt 2007, at 14.46, Paul Mimlitsch wrote: > 1) how many people on the list do solo non looping gigs? Sometimes. Not very often though, since there isn't any natural forum for solo concerts. I've mostly played non looping solo concerts for art exhibitions. One time I used a sax and walked around among the visitors while playing, making a point of the different acoustics of the different halls. > 2) "the beauty of the single note line" - how many guitar players/ > players of multitimbral instruments can do an improv. gig using > only single note lines and hold an audiences attention? for how long? I don't see that this would be more difficult on a polyphonic instrument compared to a monophonic? "The beauty of a single note line" does not reside in what you play but what you do not play, but rather create the set-up for the listener to fill in by his/her imagination. To play that way you need to hear and react to not only the sound of a single note but also its attitude and suggested directions by that note. Non-musicians hear this easily, but somehow many players don't bother with this in my humble opinion most important aspect of playing music. > 3) if you're not comfortable doing this, is that because of > preference (ie: vertical vs. linear hearing)? When I was a child I sometimes hid under a grand piano and experienced some vertical hearing ;-)) In other words; "I'm sorry, I can't understand this question". ;-) > Being raised on a particular instrument? No. Of course one instrument was the first I learned, but I wouldn't call that "being raised" on it. > Or did you gravitate towards your preferred instrument due to how > you hear things? No. I gravitate towards new instruments when I get too bored with the instruments I already use. Today there's not much such boredom though, since I have learned at least four different instruments well enough to play rather freely. So I can always move on to another one when in need for wider perspectives. > 4) if you play a mono timbral instrument (horns etc) is the desire > to "loop" a means of filling up vertical space to compliment your > single note line play? Hmm... when you say "vertically", do you mean instantly sounding? (as in a orchestra score?) Well, never mind. The answer to this question is "no". I look at loopers more as a way to extend the instrument. Kind of the same urge that forces me to trim vibrato bars, modify mouth-piece sound chambers, knock away frets, program synth sounds etc etc. Even when playing polyphonic instruments, as the guitar, I like doing monophonic melody lines. And, as said above, what I like is not what is heard but the open horizon it brings. The harmonies and chord sequences implied but not explicitly played. I think Luis Armstrong was quite early in doing this in his singing, "scatting" a short phrase after the actual lyric line just to give a clue for a chord/harmony. On 6 okt 2007, at 16.49, Paul Mimlitsch wrote: > I've always wondered why someone chooses a particular instrument as > their "voice" My "musical voice" is something I have been aware of since I was three and a half years old, long before starting to play music. It's not directly about "sound" or any certain instrument. Music has simply become the most efficient way for me to explore this area. When I hear certain instruments I can tell if it would be a proper expression for me, and then I learn to play it to match my "musical voice". > Another question I should have asked in my original post was: How > many people have switched instruments to meet their needs. No instrument is perfect, but humans are extremely multi faceted beings. Switching is just a way to get along a little better. When playing in bands I have of course picked up whatever instrument needed for the collective project. I guess that's means the answer "yes and no" (switching seriously just for fun but sometimes also because a band situation needs it). Greetings from Sweden Per Boysen www.boysen.se (Swedish) www.looproom.com (international)