Re: The Effects Of Looping...Or am I loopy?

[ld thomson <heatshrink@hotmail.com>]

funny how we all timidly talk about "the zone" or whatever..All afraid to 
even admit what occures when we enter it in case the other kids in the 
class 
will laugh at us and call us nerds.  At least I'm guiltly of that.

Lorne Thomson
Toronto, Canada


>From: KB305@aol.com
>Reply-To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
>To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
>Subject: Re: The Effects Of Looping...Or am I loopy?
>Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 19:50:56 EDT
>
>In a message dated 6/7/99 6:05:28 PM Central Daylight Time, 
>dennis@mdbs.com
>writes:
>
><< We're on the edge of looper religion here...but I'll continue even if I
>  sound flaky...
>
>  * I've been reading "The Power of Myth" by Bill Moyer and Joseph 
>Campbell.
>  Campbell says that there are two kinds of myth.  The function of one 
>type 
>is
>  to entertain.  The other type teaches you things about the universe, 
>helps
>  you access the inifinite, etc.  It's a ritual myth.  It struck me that 
>you
>  can consider music in the same way.  Most of the music I play with other
>  folks is entertainment.  Most of the looper-based stuff, the 
>soundscaping,
>  is ritualistic in Campbell's sense.  In my earlier days, I found 
>listening
>  to such bands as Pink Floyd gave me a similar experience.
>
>  * Some examples of early non-technological looping can be found in 
>religious
>  ceremony.  I think trance dancing and shaman drumming are probably 
>examples.
>  In the Christian church, I think the "responsive reading" can qualify 
>as 
>a
>  looping experience.  Here, the leader recites varying phrases and the
>  congregation responds to each phrase with (usually) an unchanging 
>phrase.
>  Consider this situation as the leader "soloing" over a loop!
>   >>
>Yes!!!
>
>  I don't even truly loop, as I don't have a true looping device, but 
>this 
>is
>the crux of the biscuit for me, and I am joyed to see it presented in a 
>place
>where people discuss making music.    I played for over twenty years, but
>until I started therapy and men's work, and accessed parts of me I hadn't
>before, music that I played sounded empty.  It went into the head, 
>perhaps,
>like bad prog (ok, flame away, but I know what I mean), but it didn't 
>involve
>the body, nor, consequentially, the whole self.  And part of accessing 
>parts
>ot he humans psyche does involve ritual space.  We love rituals.  If you
>don't believe that, it may be that you just aren't aware of it.  We have
>rituals around everything, from sex to drugs to rock and roll, to name the
>obvious.
>
>Today playing ALL music, whether it is in a church (sometimes I do that,
>yes), or with my 'jazz' group, I play music best when I enter a zone.  
>Sorry,
>folks, I can't describe it to you, but time does get stretched there.  As 
>I
>get better at going there, the playing part becomes easier, and the 
>listening
>becomes the real work.
>
>Go ahead, think I'm loopy too... I am sure I am.
>
>Kevin
>


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