Truth via Doubt

[bryan.helm@dinosaur.com]

The subtle beauty and grace of good ambient music or the 
power,exactitude and textural wizardry of great avante garde
compositions, is for the most part lost on the masses of folks
who constitute the available audience for such work. This has
always been the case and always will. To redefine the needs
of your marketplace to fit your product is your only hope and 
it's non-existant, much like the emperor's clothes. In his book
"The Frontiers of Meaning"  Canadian composer/author Charles
Rosen says that "understanding" music is really a question of
the listener being "comfortable" with it. Any artist who wrestles
with an "alternative" material,style, or media does so first and 
foremost as a personal crusade. The need to bring this work to
a public forum as a measure of it's congruency with commerce,
is the chief bastardization of all artisitc intent related to the honest
evolution of an art form. The availability and functionality of the
electronic devices we use to loop are defined by activities and
motives,that favor the corporate rational over the artistic whim in
the long run (with all due respect to the industry brains,cogs &
moguls who populate this list). So the tools of the trade are few
and far between, widely varied in capabilities, and mostly not
in current production....the listening public doesn't know the 
difference between a constantly triggered sample or a closed
loop, unless you lip synch poorly to it...and you have to figure
out how much personal sacrifice (economical,emotional,etc.)
you can really stand to make in the pursuit of some esoteric,
ethereal, and estranging art form. Whether it's 100,000 plus
CD's sold or gig proceeds(tips) for gas, the current public
measure of your work is the least of the clues you'll ever
get towards it's true validity. Think of what a gratifying
experience it'll be for your decendants when you're finally
recognized as a pioneer of late 20th century music, your
compositions studied, period effects ensembles formed to
perorm your works galaxy wide. Meanwhile even the greats
"can't give it away", sometimes...is it any wonder why?

                  Bryan(now deflating my shoes & ego)Helm