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Looper's Delight
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I took it to mean that if you play a wrong note, play that next note "wrong" again, of course if you make the choice to play a wrong not it's no longer wrong per se, it's been made right by the fact it was chosen... Maybe I'm reading to deep.... Back to the chicken broth.... Plish ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stefan Smulovitz" <stefan@kenaxis.com> To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com> Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 3:17 PM Subject: improvisation and performance > I'm a bit of a lurker but the posts on improvisation got me thinking and >I > hope some of you find > these thoughts of interest. > > The importance of being a good performer when playing in front of an > audience is often forgotten in > more experimental music. While I don't think there is much to be learned > by the song and dance > routine of pop lip syncers - I do think that being aware of one's role >as > a performer is very > important. > > Its important to share your excitement about creating music with your > audience. Equipment > malfunctions, computer crashes, weird sound glitches - all these things > that do unfortunately > happen in a live setting can be part of making good music. You just have > to have the right mindset > as an improvisor and performer to make them work. When you are in your > studio - you can just stop > and restart, taking 30 minutes or more to solve the bug. When performing > you have to find a way to > make these things part of the performance if at all possible. > > There's the old jazz axiom - play a wrong note - well then play it wrong > another 3 times to make it > seem like you did it on purpose and make it the right note. I use this >all > the time. > > A bass player friend of mine told me about something Charlie Haden told > him. Feeling bad and just > can't play in tune on a particular day? Just use it. Play fully out of > tune and make that what you are > exploring. The same could be about gear malfunctions. Gear making >bizarre > sounds - go with it - > make your improv about exploring what the heck is coming out of your >gear. > > Another big thing is not to tell people that these are mistakes. If you >do > then you think of them as > mistakes and consider it a bad performance. You just need to think of >them > as challenges adding to > the excitement of live improv and part of the process. Often the weird > mishaps are the most exciting > interesting part of an improv. For me I always love the challenge of man >- > how am I gonna get out of > this and make it musical. > > For instance I was struck by some bizarre momentary impulse while > performing at BEMF with Rick > Walker to use a Bob Marley loop. (My sister's husband is a huge fan and > was at the show.) It > completely stuck out and sounded just awkward and weird to me. In the >past > I would have just > yanked it out and hoped that people forgot about it. Now instead I kept >it > there and did everything I > could to make it work. Rick started singing along and it was a great > surreal moment. If it had been in > a studio I would have just yanked it out and edited out this "mistake" > later. > > I also think that no matter how you feel after a show it important to > leave self reflection and criticism > till after the show and you have hopefully had a chance to listen to >your > performance again later. So > often I listen after a show that I think just was awful and quite like >it > given a weeks space. I think it is > healthy as a musician to always be striving to something better and >being > dissatisfied is not a bad > thing. You can always learn from listening to past performances. > > The issue arises when at a show you let the audience know you are not > happy with a set. Instead of > sharing the wonders of making music it becomes about your ego and you >take > away from listeners > ability to enjoy your music. Self reflection later as to how the next > performance can be better is great > - but make sure you realize you are performing for an audience and as >such > be gracious to them for > having taken the time to listen to your music. > > These are all performance issues and can change bad improv into good > improv. Also I highly > recommend reading the book Effortless Mastery - > http://www.amazon.com/Effortless-Mastery- > Liberating-Master-Musician/dp/156224003X > > While I don't agree with all the book says it makes some great points > about how to practice being in > the zone for performing. > > Stefan > > -- > http://www.kenaxis.com >