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Looper's Delight
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Kim wrote: > >In college I took a class in West African music performance. (Taught by >C.K. Ladzekpo at UC Berkeley) What is interesting is that he taught >polyrhythms in a similar way, using voice and clapping. It says something >about human nature that different cultures happened upon similar methods >for effective teaching, doesn't it? > >In order to pass the class, one thing we had to do was clap the basic >gonkugui (sp?) bell pattern, which is a four beat, three vs four >polyrhythmic pattern that underlies much of the traditional music from >Ghana. While clapping this, we had to count 2 bars each of every possible >eighth and triplet beat division of the 4 beat bar. So: whole notes, half >notes, half note triplets, quarter notes, triplet quarters, eighth notes, >triplet eighths, sixteenths, and sextuplets. It took me the whole semester >to be able to do this at all, and I still wasn't very good. > >I started that class thinking that I knew something about rhythm since I >had been playing music for a long time. I was humbled very quickly! In a >good way though. I learned that I knew almost nothing about rhythms, other >than the very basic structures in western music. It pushed me, and showed >me how important a rhythmic language is to expression in music. Gave me >just enough tools to get started learning more. Yes, I know how hard (seemingly simple) polyrhythms can be to internalize. Listening to them for extended periods is a great way to do this. I think the looping device can be a powerful tool in this area, although I haven't spent much time using it in this way. Often, I will get a loop going -- and leave it going for hours. I walk in and out of the room -- forget it then notice it again. I begin to internalize it after a while. And even though, at some point, I turn off the power -- everything's gone -- it still stays with me, and perhaps, affects my next loop. In this way, I feel the loppers help in the development of my performance (and composition). I feel that my weak points are my abilitity to sit down and compose, and lack of virtuosity in my technique. But I do know what sounds good to me. ANd if I hear something I like in a loop (no matter how subtle), I will learn from that. -- This ties into what you were saying about creating good-sounding loops accidently. I think a looper has chaos on his side -- he can turn an accident into something wonderful -- wheras if a traditional performer were performing his piece -- an accident would surely sound out of place! Perhaps I am only justifying my lack of musicianship, but hey -- an artist creates his own standards! --------------------------------------- Chris Chovit cho@gomez.jpl.nasa.gov ---------------------------------------