the impermanence of looping

[Dennis Montgomery <morpheus@speakeasy.net>]

Hi all,
I just started looping with the arrival of my EDP+ about a month ago and 
I try to create a new sound collage/loop every day.  Spending some time 
every day working on music has been my routine for quite awhile.  My 
primary musical activity of the past 20+ years has been to write and 
record "songs".  This is a very goal oriented activity which looks 
toward the end result being a CD of my music.  The hardest aspect of 
this mode of work is that I work out a part and once it's recorded, I 
have no real reason to play it again.  It's like saying goodbye to a 
great new friend as soon as you capture a representative recording of it.

Anyway, since I started looping I've made it a point to not record 
anything.  This is very exciting and unfamiliar ground for me.  There 
have been some pieces that I turn the feedback knob back as I sit 
debating whether to let the creation fade into the ether or hit a record 
button somewhere fast!  So far, I just let them all fade away.  It 
definitely forces me to focus on my music very differently than I did 
before...the point being the present moment rather than the future 
finished piece.  I come to looping from a Fripp/Eno place and am 
familiar with Fripp's perspectives of music and musicians.  I just never 
thought I'd find it this much fun to do myself!

I'm not really as much of a serious nutcase as this sounds (hmmm...or am 
I???), but it's trippy to me that deciding to try realtime looping has 
opened this whole philosophical area for exploration that I never really 
tried before. 

Dennis