Re: Question of the Week -- when do you NOT loop?

[Tim Nelson <tcn62@ici.net>]

Excellent question, David! I'm not sure I know the answer, but one way
around it is the "stealth loop", where you get a loop going but keep it
turned down. Then when an opportunity presents itself for the collective
improvisation to change directions, up comes the fader, whoomp, there's the
"new" loop, and off you go. This works well if rather than trading "solos",
the musicians are passing the baton, so to speak, and taking turns leading
the improvisation.

But I agree, in an ensemble setting, unless the tunes are rehearsed and the
band is fairly tight (not too often), I usually find it more natural to
keep my loops more atmospheric and textural and much less synch-dependent,
leaving the parts requiring spontaneous school-of-fish agility and nimble
lane-changing unlooped (or grabbed in one of them thar "stealth loops" for
a surprise reprise). Not always, mind you, but generally...

And David, I hope you'll keep us updated regarding the Boston-area show
you're putting together; it could be a great get-together for a bunch of us
Northeastern hermit loopers who don't get out much.

Tim

At 06:02 PM 9/29/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Maybe an interesting question to reveal more about what we do when we 
>loop,
>would be to answer the question: 
>
>"When do you make a choice NOT to loop?"
>
>For myself, I specifically don't loop much when I'm in an ensemble 
>playing.
>I find it too hard to synchronize loops in a non midi world. Also, it can 
>be
>really hard to "change directions" with other players once I have a 10
>second loop going on.
>
>David Kirkdorffer
>
>
>