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Looper's Delight
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In another thread, Matt Davignon wrote:
"On the other hand, many of the acts I've seen left me feeling like the performers are locked
into a scripted grid, with fewer opportunities to take the material in a direction other than a
previously-drawn, forward-pointing arrow from start to finish."
Honestly, I have had the same reaction. Granted, there are artists who pull it off
with panache and a sense of spontaneity's (I think , specifically, of Zoe Keating, Imogen Heap, Juana Molina and
Kid Beyond) but in general, pre-rehearsed and already thought out pieces of music
using live looping feel as sterile to me as people push playing on DATs, I-pods, CDs, DVDS
or computers.
I actually really and truly loved sculptured recordings but to me, the live sphere is a different thing.
And maybe this is just because I lack the discipline to go to all the work of pre arranging
pieces of music when I play, but the last ten years or so of my life have been all improvisational.
Of course, one (and specifically, me) run the risk of not having a cogent enough performance
or , worst yet in live looping, taking too long to create a piece of music and letting it go
on for longer than it is musically interesting for the audience. It's a constant worry for me and
I frequently blow it live.
I've noticed that a lot of loopers in our community seem to fail to realize that the what feels good
to play; what seems like a certain length of time in developing a piece of music is completely
different for the audience.
Personally, just because I teach a lot of live looping in my hometown, I tell newbies to set
up a clock and to force themselves to start, develop and cogentally end a piece of music
every five minutes so that they have six pieces of music in a festival set of thirty minutes.
It's a tough discipline to do that. I purposefully write set lists with 6 to 7 tableaus in it.
I don't know what I'm going to play, but I do take 6 or 8 'sets' of instruments to each gig
so that I can keep a found sound performance intriguing.
I've discovered is someone has the discipline to play 6 five minute songs in order five times a week
that after a month, they are ready to perform a pretty interesting set as a newbie at the festival.
******
Also, and pardon this rambling post, but I"m in a 'waxing philosophic' mode today:
I'm writing some new material that is more song oriented and even (damn this is scary to admit in public)
singer/songwriter oriented, so I know that I need to figure out a way that I can compromise my
desire for spontaneity and improvisation with composed (if not arranged) material.
It's a really challenging thing for me. Frankly, it really scares me because it's so different from the freedom
I've had for ten years, but I also am really hearing some new things with my new foray into stringed
instruments.
SOOOOO, pros and cons..................what do y'all like and/or dislike about pre arranged live looping shows
and what do you like or dislike about pure improvisational shows.