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RE: memory and improvisation



Title: RE: memory and improvisation

Sometimes I listen to old recordings and suddenly some theme sounds
familiar and in a few cases I managed to track the other version and
they were really similar, though years apart.

** this is where you have a melodic style, no? most composers or improvisers tend to have a sensibility that is "theirs."

In other sessions its as if a theme or style dominates the night and
keeps turning back in several ways. Some partners then complain and
want to "get rid of it", but I dont care.

** i once did a improv session with a guy who didn't want me to do a thematic exploration for even one piece. i did anyway . . . when he listened back to a tape of the seesion, it was his favorite piece of the whole day.

In a reggae or blues
concert there is not much variation either,

** or, often, jazz!


But its very different from "wanting to remember": The mind works
(apparently) as a monitor and compares results rather than feeding
the music.

* yeah, i guess. i think that "remembering" a theme from earlier in an improv and reusing it later in the same improv (with intent) is a good thing.  "remembering" something where it means that you don't have any other licks is a bad thing. but then, again, my way into doing improv often deals with  a *compositional" situation/intent.


Somehow it feels like the fingers know what they want to do. Must be
true to some degree: There are typical movements, positions the
motoric system is familiar with and such falls into a pattern,
reproduces a lick or a chord. But then again, why would the fingers
want to execute a complex musical trip?

** i think there are times when hand memory takes over - - and i'm not always sure that it's a good thing. to me, it can mean that the instrument - -or my preconceptions on the instrument - - are playing me/the music, and not the other way around.


Similarly, when driving the car automatically: The leg knows how to
use the clutch and the arms how to take a curve, but what knows the
way to go and how to react when pedestrians approach? The mind would
never be able to control all those situations!

** synergistic, no? same with playing at certain times.


To bring it back to T: The most fascinating about looping for me is
the possibility to grab this influence and instantly throw it back on
us and make us realize it, react to it

** yeah, or use it (primary theme) as a new secondary theme later.



right! But why not keep some tonality or rhythm (some language that a
public can deal with) and let the form grow freely? Thats what I
hardly heard so far. Could you give an example of such music?

** why not do both? at the same time/at different times. that's often what happens in improvs that i've been involved with - - and sometimes neitehr happens.


The song form is important if you want the public to learn your song
or if you want to simplify the work of the musicians that execute
your composition, but I doubt that it is necessary to bring the
message through.

** it is if the message is the song ;-)

I suffer from my position because so far all interested producers
gave up on me when they understood that I am not teaching my music to
the public: "you need to establish your melody that sticks in peoples
minds if you want to make success". Why? If they like every concert
although (or: because) they are all different, isnt that enough to
make them come back an buy CDs? Will they go home sad because I did
not reproduce the piece they liked on the CD? Maybe...

** well that's about the comercial interest . . .

thats a way I would like to learn (and get a Repeater for :-)
When I try it with the EDPs NextLoop feature, I usually get shocked
how little "appropriate" the old loop is and loose track...
I hope that will become more fluent with several tracks that we can
bring in slowly.

** i do it in a pretty low-tech way (two line6 dl4s and an eh 16-second delay).


Yes, I guess so... the boarder get more and more loose. Once you
bring in several old loops, you may as well call it a free
composition, maybe?

** or a variation on some themes . . . i guess it comes down to context. if you're by yourself, it might work. i feel that it might be a little harder to organically introduce loops from previous days in a group session.

stig