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Re: the meaning of loop music



At 03:31 PM 5/25/2003, Stuart Wyatt wrote:
>I'm actually not one for pigeon-holing music in any way. Once you start 
>defining yourself in a genre, then start you build barriers around 
>yourself which can limit your full potential. People often ask me what my 
>style is, and I say "I don't know".. its a kind of fusion of celtic, 
>ethnic, electronic, classical, jazz, blues, experimental whatever 
>style"... even then, with that broad explanation it does not truly 
>describe how I class my music.

That is just fine, and in fact very much the way I feel about the term 
"Looping". I don't think it should get pigeon-holed into one style of 
music. It is a set of techniques, instruments, and approaches to creating 
music that can be applied to any different sort of style. Looping can just 
as well happen in jazz or pop or acoustic folk or rock or dance or ambient 
or experimental glitchcore or psychedelic-celtic-fusion or whatever. The 
looping techniques themselves do not determine that, the musicians and 
their own unique musical preferences do.

The danger I see is when the term "Looping" does get applied to a specific 
style. That style (usually ambient as it happens, but could be anything) 
is 
definitely not going to be representative of everybody who uses Looping in 
their music, or everybody who could use Looping in their music. If Looping 
then becomes associated with that specific style among the larger world of 
musicians or music listeners, anybody who is not interested in that style 
will avoid Looping. Many musicians will think "I don't play this Looping 
style of music, so there is no reason for me to consider owning a Looper 
or 
learning anything about Looping." An artificial barrier is built, and the 
potential growth of looping is restricted.

This is why I used the word "misguided" in my last post, in reference to 
labeling a specific genre of music as "Looping". I see some people, in an 
effort to promote Looping, attempting to define a specific musical style 
as 
"Looping Music". (Invariably this is their own style of music, and in some 
cases there is a not-too-subtle undercurrent of exclusivity about 
it.)  Perhaps this helps promote Looping to other practitioners and fans 
of 
that specific style, but ultimately I think this ghettoizes Looping to 
exist only within that style. The rest of the music world will become less 
likely to take it up, and the goal of promoting Looping is in fact harmed 
more than helped.

kim


______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
kflint@loopers-delight.com    | http://www.loopers-delight.com