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Looper's Delight
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I've been following this semantic discussion for the past couple of days. I believe we are a group divided by elephants :) [read on :] To me I kind of think as looping as the *act* of construction, kind of like some form of [sonic] developer. Some people design / build schools, some sky scrapers, some garden furniture. If I said baldly to someone 'I am an architect and constructor', they'd have no idea of what I design and build but they would have an idea of the basic job that I undertake. If I say that I am a 'live' constructing architect they might expect me to design and construct a small bird table, a lean-to extension or a 48 storey office block while they look on. I therefore agree with the premise that looping defines the action but stops short of full information. In my case I would say I am a (nascent) looping percussionist, I would define 'percussive looping' as a genre because it contains two pieces of meaningful information (how / what). Adding in live, while setting out the environment in which the act takes place, still doesn't help tie it down totally but it adds useful information. I doubt that any of the musics played by the musicians here can be fixed in a couple of words so that it would require no further explanation to the unfamiliar audience. Individual tracks maybe can be defined to the artist's satisfaction but stylistically I doubt anyone of us is totally happy with a single word definition of what we do. Evelyn Glennie is a percussionist, I am a percussionist, she plays marimba I don't (not can't), I play Lambeg, she doesn't (not can't :) but when I say to someone I am a percussionist they conjure up their personal semantic image of what a percussionist is, percussion is a relatively well-defined thing and will have associated semantics for everyone.. If I say 'visualise an elephant' do you get an image? I'll bet you didn't have to run thru a checklist... large grey animal with huge ears, a trunk, tusks and a tiny wee tail, I bet you just saw an elephant intact. That's the beauty of semantics, we all have our own images and viewpoints based on our own experiences/ knowledge/ understanding and that's what I see happening in this thread. We all participate on LD within our own semantic understanding of what looping is (I do anyway). Whenever someone, anyone tries to give an absolute definition then that will challenge existing perception, supported by some but running counter to some / many / all others' definitions, ergo this long thread. 'Live looping' to me is the act of looping in a performance or one-shot environment where the loops are generated in-the-moment rather than in-the-studio. It clearly cannot hope to give any indication of the instrumentation or the style of music so I would argue that it needs qualified to give it meaning to the semantic understanding of the potential audience. In the case of Rick's work, I have found in my explanations regarding the forthcoming gig, it exceeds musical definition. Rick to me is a live 'stuff' looper. I would liken the definition of the noun 'looper' to 'student' or 'mechanic', the verb 'to loop' may be likened to any action, trade or industry eg carpentry, shop keeping, manufacturing, all have different types / levels within their definition but we 'know' semantically what happens broadly in each instance . Looping could be a genre if we can accept turntablism as a genre or live sampling & playback however I think it is perhaps contrived to shoehorn it in such a manner and it still says nothing of style. It is a tool or an activity that is only bound by the limits of technology and creativity. I applaud Geoff for the work that he put into his paper, I haven't read the full text yet but from the bits I have read, I have found it extremely interesting and enlightening. Almost every paper will have its opponents and proponents, I don't know enough about looping history to make that decision, so I support it in spite of my own ignorance because it gives me oodles of new information. I am enriched. I'm enjoying following the discussion. I doubt if this wee contribution will add terribly. Looking forward to ...erm....Live looping with Rick on 13 June in Belfast. Bing bang bong...gnob gnab gnib...g n o b g n a b g n i b...b i n g b a n g b o n g (Ok so I only have a DL-4 :) LOL Paul ---------------------- Paul Marshall Portfolio Sound Artist http://www.powerhaus.net http://www.drumdojo.com http://www.differentdrums.co.uk NI Facilitator for the Da Capo Foundation www.dacapo.co.uk Drumdojo Recommended link For May 2003** Rhythmweb http://rhythmweb.com