Re: Making a spectacle of yourself

[Goddess <thefates@earthlink.net>]

  I think the audience is a very important part of a performance.  <smile>
  Personally, I address the audience all the time when playing, in speech,
in mannerism, in physical stance, in visual aspects of the performance
itself, and the music itself as well.  The audience matters in all of it.
-just like I, and the music matter in all of it.  <smile>  The audience is
cool, and if you treat them that way, they and you, contribute to
eachother.  It all goes together to make a wonderful performance.  -just my
thoughts...  

Smiles,

CQ

  At 08:56 PM 10/14/02 +0100, you wrote:
>Max ("max valentino" ekstasis1@hotmail.com) wrote:
>
>
>> It interests me how others here are using their loopersŠ. especially
those who
>might be working within an ensemble.  If you are working within the
>structures of ³traditional² song forms, how does that work?
>
>Iıve been using loopers in three settings recently, ranging from
>ambient/avant/improv to French tradtional music. The ambient band
>(www.big-hair.co.uk) features fretless bass, theremin and trombone and is
>essentially structured improvisation using loops now and again with 
>various
>boxes and long long delays. By contrast, I play fretless bass in a five
>piece band (www.pauljamesmusic.com)  (drums, keyboards/accordion, samples,
>sax/bagpipes) which plays real songs. The role of the looper is to provide
>digital voodoo to complement bagpipes and accordion playing. I also use
>atempo loops and very long delays with a pitch shifter/Ebow to play
>melodies/harmonies which sound like nothing else you would usually 
>encounter
>in folk music. Works well.  We get gigs.
>
>
>
>> The other interesting aspect of this thread is of the nature of
performance.
>> Especially with solo loopers, there is a tendency towards ³shoe-gazing².
>> We might have so much going on with our feet and hands that any 
>performance
>> (read: entertainment) aspect is simply impractical.  I did not make it 
>to
>> the recent Womenıs LoopFest, but from what I hear, there were several
>> performers who added a visual spectacle to some very impressive looping
>techniques.
>
>> This is important as what we do as musicians is directly tied to our
ability
>> and need to communicate on some level with people who are not musicians.
>> People who do not play are always fascinated by our alchemical 
>abilities to
>> conjure up sounds, which relate to them on various intellectual and
visceral
>> levels.  Yet, attention spans do not last that long.  The
>> visual/entertainment aspect of our work is a great aid in our ability to
>communicate.
>
>Good point. I play the knobs on the DL4 and frankly it is desperately
>non-visual (keeps me happy, though). By contrast, Big Hair involves three
>visual instruments ­ a bass guitar, the sliding of a trombone and the arm
>waving involved in theremin playing. Also, my musical partner has long 
>been
>a theatre performer too. This means that we are able to shape performance
>and harness his stage presence as well as his trombone/theremin skills.
>
>If youıre asking people to pay to see you, then I think you have a duty to
>give them something back ­ it may be that the music you do is so fantastic
>that the visual side is not relevant. On the other hand, there are 
>positive
>benefits for performer and audience if you spend time thinking about these
>things. For example, Big Hair performed at an experimental music fest  
>where
>the audience had been faced with serious electronic improvisers for two 
>days
>solid, most of whom could have been playing in their bedroom for all the
>notice they took of the two hundred people watching. We came on and spoke
>to, and looked at the audience ­ they responded very positively. In fact,
>the audience reaction made us play better. A positive feedback loop (no 
>pun
>intended). 
>
>One side effect of modifying the sound of a bass with all this gear is 
>that
>the audience doesnıt realise  what is making the sound ­ it could be a
>keyboard. Generally, they donıt care and Iım sure this is right. To me, 
>this
>underlines the point that it is the music which is most important, not the
>technology. The old punk rocker in me starts to get very suspicious when 
>the
>gear itself becomes the reason to play.
>
>v
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---

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