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Re: the meaning of loop music



I did not have time to read through all the recent posts, but since I 
may have thought more about this than anyone, I just type my actual 
state of opinion about it anyway:

The last big discussion in October 02, LD convinced me to give up to 
really define those things. There are many words that are understood 
by their spirit rather by a definition, and thats just fine.
Genders are like styles, but not quite. A Loop tool is somehow like 
an instrument, but not quite.

We have to face the fact that looping music started to exist when 
people started to use the expression, many years ago on this list and 
probably many more years before elsewhere.

Rick established the Live Looping expression and it has been in the 
press and its on my new CD, so it does exist, there is no point in 
fighting against it.
I see Rick as a natural leader in this movement, and since he never 
told me what I should do, but only offers help to everyone, I can 
easily follow him :-)

But you are free to decide whether you want to participate and to 
call your music the way you want. Maybe the listener will end up 
calling it differently anyway, but with time, there will be some 
consent.

We are also free to care for the names we choose and fill them with 
meaning, with music, with associated text and maybe by trying to find 
some definition.
There is no way we can exclude someone, but maybe some will not feel 
part of it - no problem, they can be part of something else or all on 
their own, whatever.

Forget about the paranoya to be put into some drawer!
A style is not limiting in any way, its just a way to explain a 
tendance in some music. No one is going to accuse you of crossing 
boarders, much less in this globalizing times, where most music is a 
mixture of many influences.

I see most of the points against calling Live Looping a style or a 
category, but what else would you call it, once it came to exist?
I agree that most styles are defined by a rhythm, where as Live 
Looping music (LL) has no specific rhythm. But is it a suficient 
definition? Look at the many kinds of Reggae, for example, and thats 
one of the most simple to define styles.
Is New Age a style or a category? There is no rhythm to it. Its 
easier to define it by the covers have a picture of nature in a white 
frame :-) Or better define it by the belief behind it. Anyway, it 
became abused and washed out, maybe because there was no suficiant 
definition?
Is Chamber music a style or a category? It gives a fairly good idea 
of what sound you get, but it can still range from Barock to 
Avantgarde.


>Guitar Music? Wouldn't that be anything with a guitar in it :)

no, its understood as music which is based on guitar, probably 
composed on the guitar, so it has the characteristics of the 
instrument and you mainly hear guitar.

Similarly, not everyone that uses a looping tool plays Live Looping music.
It can aid any category of music. Or maybe some new category can 
arise from the use of looping tools for which we may still find 
names... (I believe Andre is on such a track)

But most musicians that build the music live on looping tools share 
some boundaries. The so far existing looping technologies imply some 
musical form and help some ways to express more than others.
For example: no Live Looping piece starts full blast, since we have 
to build it up. It hardly changes tonality wildly or contains complex 
breaks...
Some smart users will transcend those boundaries with tricks and 
studio editing, but a general tendency which the public can recognize 
helps them to find a name for what they like and look for.

I see your point, Kim, you want to welcome everyone and not split the 
LD comuntiy into categories. A nice wish, but probably unrealistic on 
a long run. But I dont see a problem: Nobody ever claimed that 
looping music is a name for anyone using a loop tool, nor should we 
be afraid that musicians turn away from the tool, thinking that it 
only serves for certain styles. The richness of what has been shown 
to the public so far grants for that. (What we do here in Sweden is 
not ambient at all :-).
Creative minds will always hear their way of using a tool and not 
care whether its within some boundaries or not.

The wave that may arise from a common effort to make the spirit of 
Live Looping Music known to public will bring the knowledge and basic 
possibilities with those tools also to musicians that dont want to 
play Live Looping music.
We also observe that sometimes a musician buys a looping tool in 
order to create some music he has in mind, or simply to economize 
another player in the band, but once he goes into playing, he feels 
the magic and breaks his boundaries of what he thought to be 
necessary for good music.
Thats what I call: "the spirit has reached him..." :-)

I really hope not to cause another wave of disagreement with this...
Matthias
-- 


          ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org