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Oh yes, the wiring and electronics...the blasted, and freakin' bloody electronics. Improvising with a jazz combo over the changes for Stella by Starlight or All the Things You Are was so much more easier than improvising with a shit load of electronic gear and gadgets....with my rack/laptop hybrid setup....knobs to tweak, buttons to push, mouse to click to activate and deactivate VST effects, volume pedal, expression pedal, heaping rats' nests of wiring protruding out of my rack to my PA, mixer board, and computer like tenticles from one of HP Lovecraft's grotesque monsters...it's a bloody nightmare, I tell ya. ...but I love it, the nightmare that is. I love to torture myself with the insanity of tone mangling electronics. It's escapism, egoism, and deception all wrapped up into a nice all-to-pretty package. Yet, sometimes there is beauty in removing the security blanket of electronic effects, the fancy dressing around the window pane through which we see/hear just the notes, the gist that has made music "music" for the last few thousand years. Once in a while I like to plug my acoustic guitar into just my EDP and see what happens with the simplicity of that one set of tones and timbres. Kris -----Original Message----- From: Edwin Hurwitz [mailto:edwin@indra.com] Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 3:52 PM To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com Subject: RE: Improv loops (was Re: Upcoming gig I think that we are agreeing here. You've built up technique and vocabulary over the years that stands you in good stead when you need to empty your brain. If you never did any of it, you would be so caught up in the mundane details that you wouldn't be able to spontaneously create. I think this affects each of the elements of your equation. I certainly think that trying to recreate spontaneous moments is a complete waste of time. The practice is in the process rather than the results. Where I have let myself go is in improvising with the electronics, so it will be interesting. Even having a sense of the wiring is a challenge, given that I want to be able to effect loops and loop effects, etc. Edwin >Since I started looping and playing mostly improvisational, >spontaneously composed performances, I don't practice or rehearse for >them...I'm not lying. I find that it ruins the moment of improv. I >like to enter the stage with my mind as clear as possible. My ears >(knowing how to hear tonal centers, modulations, complex harmonies, >keys, etc) and years of technique from playing jazz and progressive >rock (reacting quickly and being able to play the guitar and express >what I hear in my head with my eyes closed) do the rest for me. I just >sit down, press the Record button on my EDP controller and play my >heart out. I do the same thing when I play with my partner, a didjeridu >player and percussionists. I just start playing, and he reacts....and visa versa. >Taste + Technique + Listening are the only ingredients I need lately. > >Krispen >http://www.krispenhartung.com > > > >--- Edwin Hurwitz <edwin@indra.com> wrote: > >> Anyone who says you don't have rehearse improvisation is lying and >> improv with looping is even more challenging. My rig has changed so >> much from the last time I did one of these that half the battle will >> be reconfiguring it for improvisation, effects wise. >> I felt I had to do it, unprepared as I am, as Penny Lane is closing >> next month and they have been a great venue for alternative >> performances (including many by Beat Poets back in the day). I also >> feel pretty safe in announcing this as I know most of you can't make >> it! >> >> Loop on! > > -- > > -- Edwin Hurwitz Boulder CO http://www.indra.com/~edwin http://www.cafemontalban.com Location Recording Services