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Looper's Delight
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This is something that's been going around on another experimental music forum that I'm on - the idea of that trying to please a listener is in some way watering yourself down. I've thought about these things a lot. I think audiences exist for just about every type of music. I've seen crowds of over 100 come to see things I otherwise thought would be too experimental to be popular. So the listeners are now very important to me when I perform. I try to listen to my music as if I don't personally know the person who's making it. Am I getting across the ideas I want to get across? Is it something I'd enjoy listening to if I was in the audience and "some guy" was making the sounds? Sometimes it's hard to tell during the performance, so I usually try to record it for later critique. It also helps me understand when I'm sounding like what I want to be "me" and when I'm being "not me". So in some ways, caring about the listeners can be a distilling process rather than a watering-down one. I think these days applause is simply an acknowledgment that music has recently finished, rather than an indication of quality. Though if the audience applauds in an excited manner, then you usually done good. Funny youtube clips of the week: Guitarists SHRED! http://youtube.com/user/StSanders (No seriously, listen to them. There's comic genius here.) Matt On 9/13/07, Tom Washatka <tom@stellarsound.net> wrote: > I don't care about the listener or applause. It makes my life easier. >I'm > the one listening. If they like it, great if they don't, oh well. I >just > go out and do my best. If I tried to please the listener I wouldn't be > doing my best. > > Tom