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RE: looper vs storyteller. if there even is



Per,

> > And there where not that much storytelling in playing
> > "Sweet home alabama" in a cover band :-)
>
> In music with vocals the lyrics also weighs in to bring over "the
> story", hopefully the same story as the music is about. And a story
> doesn't have to be long and evolving. It can as well be just about
> delivering a sudden impact of a mode or attitude.
>
 
Yeah i agree in good rock and pop style music the 3 -4 minutes typical songs often try to convey one or to emotions, a state of mind rather than a story were lyrics, melody and instrumentation all have the same aim.
 
As for the "story" in improvised and composed music,  both try to convey something that the composer or improviser wants to convey. Again I'm not crazy about calling it story. I composed music one tries to combine elements to reach a goal, get a feel of a voyage for example. The composer uses diffrent elements to achieve the goal ant typically writes it down i some way to make repetitions possible, or records it to edit a complete composition. Improvised music is a bit different but might achieve the same goal. In improvisation you sort of follow the improvisers state of mind in real time. If they start out in one mood they might be inspired to move in unforeseen directions during the improvisation. To follow such a journey is, for me at least, very interesting. Both composed and improvised music are judged by how well the music reaches the listener. I really like the idea of composition as "synthesized improvisation". When you hear a composed piece of music (it can be Miles, Stones or Mozart) i follow and get the hear the result of a long creative process that includes editing to get to a optimal result. I a live improvisation you get to hear musicians edit them selves in real time not that much of a difference really...
But still i can't really feel comfortable with the "story" as a concept applied to music... 
To get a different feel for improvisation vs composition look a Kandinsky.. during a period he's painting were either compositions or improvisations and you can really see the different approaches behind it.
 
Take care,

Anders
www.soundclick.com/AndersBergdahl