Re: Unsettling Ambiences

[Kim Corbet <kcorbet@post.cis.smu.edu>]

>      "The listener is constantly making predictions; actual infinitesimal
> predictions as to whether the next event will be a repetition of 
>something,
> or something different...if the player never repeats anything, no matter 
>how
> tremendous an imagination he has, the listerner will decide that the 
>game is
> not worth playing, that he is not going to be able to make any 
>predictions
> right, and also stops listening. Too much difference is sameness: 
>boring. 
> Too much sameness is boring-but also different once in a while."    

.....excellent post.  I remember how my drives used to be a) give the 
audience something they've never experienced before which means, in most 
cases...b) do only what you're inspired to do, that if only one person 
can relate and is somehow changed, that's successful.  

After so many years of hearing "that's, uh, interesting, thanks, bye", 
I began to pay more attention to this business of audience experience 
and expectations.  I first started including a few flavors of styles other 
than primal inspirations (Cage mixed with equatorial rhythms and melodies).
For example, using funkier basslines with bluesy "events" let me keep my 
textures and compositional techniques while enhancing the predictability 
ratio.  Then, when I finally acknowledged we live in visual society, I 
found the use of original video or silent movies or even an edited weird
hodgepodge opened some of those soundtrack doors in their heads that I 
could walk music through as well.  

We've come a long ways since the blackbox electronic music concerts, 
for those who go back that far.  If you're famous enough to set the 
audience afire with your very presence, that's one thing, but if you find 
yourself beaten down by quizical indifference, start collaborating with a 
few sword swallowers, fire eaters and flying magicians.  

Or just show them on TV.  @)  But, seriously, you don't have to sellout 
to find a more "interesting" package to help sell your presentation.

spore kim