Re[2]: The Effects Of Looping...Or am I loopy?

[Mike.Biffle@wj.com (Mike Biffle)]

>> Have any of you loopers who are doing soundscaping noticed that your
>> perception of time is altered during the soundscaping?

> Yes, but for me it is similar to what happens whenever I "connect", if 
>you
> know what I mean.  I'm a didjeridu player and the same kind of thing 
>happens
> when I play it, for example.

> * I've been reading "The Power of Myth" by Bill Moyer and Joseph 
>Campbell.
> Campbell says that there are two kinds of myth.  The function of one 
>type is
> to entertain.  The other type teaches you things about the universe, 
>helps
> you access the inifinite, etc.  It's a ritual myth.  It struck me that 
>you
> can consider music in the same way.  Most of the music I play with other
> folks is entertainment.  Most of the looper-based stuff, the 
>soundscaping,
> is ritualistic in Campbell's sense.  In my earlier days, I found 
>listening
> to such bands as Pink Floyd gave me a similar experience.

Maybe we're getting somewhere here... "Ritual(istic) Music" could 
certainly 
pertain to a large body of our work in several genres. I'm sure the more 
humorous modes, and the slice and dice modes which move about wildly will 
probably not quite fit. The word ritual could serve to attract certain 
audience 
members quite ready to be swept away by the music...

> * Some examples of early non-technological looping can be found in 
>religious
> ceremony.  I think trance dancing and shaman drumming are probably 
>examples.
> In the Christian church, I think the "responsive reading" can qualify as 
>a
> looping experience.  Here, the leader recites varying phrases and the
> congregation responds to each phrase with (usually) an unchanging phrase.
> Consider this situation as the leader "soloing" over a loop!

Call and response is definitely western mantra in action! Check out the 
Robert 
Duval movie "The Apostle" if you want to see some really mesmerizing 
portrayals 
of this. What an amazing movie... I've become much more interested in 
reaching 
beyond my instrument (guitar) and adding word based conceptual ideas, to 
deepen 
the impact of various ideas. Ritualized repetitive action can be really 
powerful...

-Miko