Re: backing solo performances

[David Myers <dmgraph@pulsewidth.com>]

Once I used a small looping/soundmaking device I called "the shoebox" due
to its size and shape.  I was accustomed to working with my more eleborate
machines and maybe was nervous that what was a pretty big gig for me (the
Kitchen here in NYC) might come off as too sonically limited, so I fed a
tape of prepared sounds into the box for "transformations" along with the
realtime stuff.  Now this was very experimental/noise/soundscape
material--not the obvious instrumentalist with invisible band thing--and
the audience didn't really have a clue.  People raved about the
performance, and I even got asked for my autograph (unheard of in this sort
of music!), but I felt crummy about it.  I did this twice but would not do
it again.

I think that in purely electronic music, it is enough to ask that an
audience find enjoyment in watching someone produce sounds largely
disconnected from physical gestures; for pre-existing sounds to play a
large part in the performance seems like cheating.  Oddly perhaps, my
audience did not feel that way--but I did feel as though I cheated;
something was spoiled for me.  In this situation, the audience should get
something special; I feel I should be able to say "no one will hear these
sounds in this shape ever again".  But I suppose that applies only to my
sort of "abstract electronics"?

David Myers