Re: Not Underestimating an Audiences Ability to Understand our Process

[Greg House <ghunicycle@yahoo.com>]

--- "Rick Walker/Loop.pooL" <GLOBAL@cruzio.com> wrote:

> beautiful post, Mark....................I, too, think that most musicians
> UNDERESTIMATE the intelligence, and interest of audiences.

Hey, if they don't like our music, they MUST be unintelligent! Right?

> One of the things that I particularly love my Repeater (when the damn 
>thing
> works..:-)
> for is that I can take a found object like a brass candy dish; gong it 
>with
> my thumb and then manipulate the overtones of the gonged sound with the
> chamber of my mouth (acoustic vocoding, as it were) and loop a rhythmic
> phrase using this technique.
> 
> The audience can see me do this........turning an ordinary object into a
> loop and then
> I can pick up the wind synth and play the resulting rhythmic loop in a
> diatonic way.
> 
> I've had many audience members get really excited about this 'visceral'
> connection to the looping process ...

And it's both visually and aurally interesting to see. I think adding that
element of "theater" to the performance may give the music more appeal, 
even to
those who don't "like" the resulting sound. Plus, it's fun! I love shows 
that
incorporate an element of fun in them. I did a demonstration of my looping 
rig
for a friend and his son after I saw your performance in Santa Cruz last 
month
and I used a mic with some things that were sitting around. They loved it 
when
I'd tap on a ceramic mug or thump or blow in a plastic water bottle and 
the sound
would start repeating when I stepped on a switch!

The problem that I see with doing little lectures about looping techniques 
as
part of a performance (not your's in particular, Rick, but other people 
talked
about doing this) is that while it might be very interesting for those 
audience
members who haven't been initiated to the idea before, but for those that 
are
already familiar or repeat visitors to your concerts, the "tech talk" might
become boring and feel like a waste of time. 

Perhaps creating a written "program" that people can read while they 
listen to
you would be more effective. If they've seen you before, they could skip 
reading
about how you make your music, but if they're new to it, it might hold
considerable interest.

Greg

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