Re: What's experimental?

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

Finally, a discussion today I dare to comment upon!

"Experimental", I think, is simply an attitude one brings to 
playing/composing/recording. If the goal is to genuinely try out 
something new that you have not done before, I call that experimenting, 
hence experimental. As to whether it breaks new ground in the context of 
history and one's present peers, well, that'd be a big research project 
on its own after every session. And pointless, ultimately. To do 
something truly unheard before with, say, a guitar, you'd pretty much be 
prohibited from laying fingers on the fingerboard, or even putting 
strings on it for that matter. But if you approach your instrument with 
the sincere attitude of creating something that you haven't created 
before, and that isn't directly a copy of something you've heard, I 
think that not only are you experimenting, but it will truly be an 
expression of your self, hence unique.

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