Re: AW: musicianship for solo loopers?

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

I played a show with Jonathan Segel and John Hanes this summer. Segel 
plays violin, and while Hanes normally is a drummer, for this show he 
used a bent Gameboy and a mini Kaos. Watching their set, I enjoyed the 
music very much, but I realized as a watcher what different reactions I 
had to their playing style. Segel sat low in front of a laptop, 
controlling it with a mouse. His M.O. was to play a single phrase on his 
violin, then set it down and mess around with the now-unrecognizable 
recorded phrase with the mouse for a couple minutes before picking it up 
again to play another few notes, watching the screen the whole time. It 
was boring to the point of frustration.

While Hanes had the tiniest setup imaginable, and his range of motion 
was only a few inches, he was much more interesting to watch as there 
was an immediate correlation between his physical actions and the sounds 
coming out, with him tapping the screens and working the controls in a 
constant, very involved way.

For myself, I find myself most interested in a performance when there is 
visible physical interaction, whether with an instrument or the 
processing equipment. Mouse clicks don't seem to count..! More than 
anything, a sense of real involvement in reacting to the music in some 
way is important.

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com
www.chinapaintingmusic.com