Re: PrePrepared vs. Improvisational Live Looping Performances

[Fabio_A <eterogenus@gmail.com>]

Interesting discussion !

 

When I play in my studio, I always improvise and sometimes some nice themes come out.

Surely is my "classical backgroud", but when I find a theme that I really like, I dont' want to let it go, so I try to work on an arrangement for that theme.

 

I'm one of those who can play for hours and hours the same piece of music, but I always tend to have "free parts" in a song for improvisation.

 

For example, at the last loopfests (Antwerp-Florence-Rome) I've played "three pictures":

- first one was a structured piece of music with predefined themes and  two parts (in the middle and at the end) where to improvise;

- the second was a 100% soundscape improvvisation; here just the tonal centre was predefined;

- the last one was the first section of Piano Phase by Steve Reich; and here I was really "locked into a grid", as a classical player usually is.

 

Differently from that, two week later the Loopfest in Rome I've played a 100% improvised set with a percussionist and war guitar player.

 

At the end, I can say that for me the approach to follow depends by the live context I have to play in: if I play with other musician I love to improvise all the time, but if I play alone on the stage I prefer to mix the two approaches and expose "my" musical themes.

 

Fabio

www.eterogeneo.com

www.myspace.com/eterogeneo

 

 

 

2009/7/8 Anders Bergdahl <anders_e_bergdahl@hotmail.com>

I do think there is a BIG difference between the sort of "classical" music background and the "rock" "folk" thing. A classically trained musician, to me, "use" a composed piece a a starting point of interpretation (improvisation) it is the small variations that the musician "adds" to  the composition that makes it interesting. That might be the reason that classically trained musicians *tend* to do composed looping more interesting than folk/rock musicians (like me).
Many musicians with rock background really CANT compose intresting instrumental music, i can't, not yet at least!! We can write song, instrumntal sometimes, nut not usally with couter themes, development etc...
BUT some rockers/jazzers can imprivise and some times there as nuggets in those improvisation. And over time. like Andre LaFosse, you keep those nuggets and turn them into songs...
Still I do NOT usually like the approach that is like - first I do a fun beat, then add bass, some backing vocals, more rhytms, a guitar, sing verse......
 
> From: sbingham@con-brio.com

> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com

> Subject: Re: PrePrepared vs. Improvisational Live Looping Performances
> Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 10:15:47 +0100

>
> Rather like Zoe, I come at this from a classically trained background
> where I played everything straight from the composers music for about
> 20 years! When I started some tentative improvisation it was in a
> group and not solo, which somehow felt easier. In that group I got the

> looping bug from Steve Lawson, but .....................