Support
Looper's Delight
|
Support |
|
|
|
Chances are, 'spacial loops' DO make the audience uncomfortable.
The majority of listening audiences out there may not know how to listen to
music that demands their attention. I know from a lot of live shows that an
extremely attentive audience is very rare, and even still, many of them are more
likely to staring blankly at the sounds forced upon them than digging your music
as much as you do. Looping also may be extremely boring to watch in this age of
quick-edit MTV-isms. When playing live there are a lot of sacrifices- you may
not get a musically educated audience that 'understands' you. The room may be
noisy, there may not be a seated audience, etc. We recently did a show at the
Florida Aquarium that was wonderful- people milling around, pretty noisy, but
the setting was gorgeous. Few musicians give up playing live because the
audience doesn't act the way they want them to. Use your surroundings to
influence your loops, this includes the audiences' reaction or non-reaction.
Choose to perform in non-standard live music settings, like an Aquarium or other
museum. 'Modify' the dynamic range in the performances according to the noise
level in the room. Although it would be interesting to see the reaction when
someone asks the entire audience to wear headphones (and worth the admission
price alone!), in the end, ask yourself why you play live. Enjoy the music,
rather than the audiences' reaction to the music. Don't give up live playing,
just rethink the way it is done.
Dave Eichenberger
********************************************************************* Its almost as if a live audience is uncomfortable with
spacial loops to the point of nervous applause. Our greatest successes are when
we are playing to an extremely attentive group focused on the sound. This is
rare as chatter and external influences always seem to contribute to the sonic
landscape. I don't want to come across as a demanding performer but I know the
power of our music lies in its wide dynamic range-- delicate textures to corse
bold blasts. Is looping too intimate for live settings? Are we too boring
visually? I too wish everyone in the audience was wearing headphones. Too much
seems to be sacrificed. Perhaps recording is our best direction.
Feedback?
|