RE: musicality vs. gear quality (was Re: loop mud)

["Liebig, Steuart A." <Steuart.Liebig@maritz.com>]

Title: RE: musicality vs. gear quality (was Re: loop mud)

> i think the problem is that one person's
> "musicality" can be another
> person's "lame-ass crap."

exactly!  right on the nose!

** still . . . i think that some of your commentary could be read with this sentiment in mind

 is that muscians/loopers
had a loop going and rather than focussing on the
continuity of the jam/music around them, they allowed
their parts to run rampant creating a sound that made
me and others in the various places where i witnesses
such acts, to cover our ears. 

** sure, but (in my mind) this comes down to your expectations of what *could* happen versus what *did* happen - - and then your artistic judgement on what did happen. i kinda think that you might be missing the boat on this. whether or not you like it, it is possible that the person doing the processing got *exactly* the effect that he/she wanted. i which case you are left to decide whether it works for you or not.

and i was disappointed to
see people fiddling with nobs and dials...shifting the
pitches and sounds even further into disonance (which
is beautiful music at times) with total and complete
disregard for the sounds around them.

** assuming that they wanted to do this and that they were succesful at doing it, it all comes down to whether that sort of thing works for you. if it doesn't, just chalk it up to something you don't like. 

when i say that i was upset to see people turning
nobs, i was referring to the idea that rather than be
concerned with the overall sound of the jam and
EFFECTIVE ways to use the gear...

** but (this is how i see it) isn't this a matter of not liking what they did, not it being *wrong*??  they thought they were in that musical moment.

it makes me question
whether or not people are just having fun pushing
buttons or actually listening

** well that can be an issue and can be hard to discern . . . but you can get that with people playing with all acoustic instruments as well.

(which is the biggest
problem with musicians is lack of listening to others
aside from yourself...but then again, i come from the
phish jam school where music is a collective effort
and not a solo thing - and i often forget that not
everyone has the same musical values/priorities that i
have).

** sure. i do a ton of free improv where listening is absolutely essential. whether or not anyone else gets it at a certain point of time is gonna be up to them (assuming that i'm playing "well"). but ya know, someone who's really into microtonality or noise-blast might find post-phish jamming not to their taste; if they consider you wrong or lame, then *they* need to deal with the fact that it's just a matter of taste.

** re people talking more about gear. i think it comes down to the fact that it's easier to do that - - it's less subjective than music is. (i've tried to get people to talk about music and what they want to with looping or what they see themselves "becoming" in terms of the gear and have not really gotten too many answers.)

stig