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Yet more evidence of the power of sound and music. I have been curious to hear the possibilities a marriage of ambient loop music and spoken word would present. A couple of months ago, my kids and I were watching a cartoon parody of a stereotypical "Beatnik" poetry reading with the accompaniment of bongos. It made me wonder what a serious modern poetry reading would be like with subtle loops in the background. It is definitely something I would love to explore and experience, especially in light of Matthias' experience. Any poets out there looking to jam?! Thanks for sharing your OT experience Matthias. ----- Original Message ----- From: Matthias Grob <matthias@grob.org> To: <Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com> Sent: Sunday, November 14, 1999 9:11 AM Subject: playing during speeches / great movie > * OT introduction > I cared for the sound of a 3 day conference about "integral sciences" - > experienced people talking about everything between Homöopathy, > Permaculture, female power and UFOs. No religions, no proofs. >Experiences, > Faith - the old "new age" conspiracy, but a lot more mature and concrete. > No one sold any truth, and mutual respect and tolerance was a strong >base. > The aim is not so much the survival of mankind (much less of certain groups > or individuals), but the humble acceptance of necessary changes in the > course of the bigger evolution. > > * The work > I played most of the time, during the speeches! Its somewhat like > improvising a sound track. For me, its rather easier to follow a >difficult > speech while playing. > The sound was mostly very low, and nobody seamed to care about what I > played, but as soon as I stopped or got lost, the difference became > obvious. Sometimes I was amazed how nicely the sound coincided with the > speech or even prepared for a change in it. It once happened that I > developped a theme while an ancient story was told and later in the speech, > when that story was mentioned again, I already was back at that same theme! > Loops helped a lot to simplify my work and the listeners reception, but I > rarely had time to build a complex loop and often just used single notes to > keep flexible. Pretty different styles were appropriate, between > nature-like noises, romantic harmonies, intergalactic conflicts, softly > animating rhythms and silence (also because I am not used to play 8 > hours/day). Since I had my "magic box" set up in the corner of the stage, I > was free to leave and come back when I felt necessity. > Two of the speakers asked me not to play, because they felt it would > distract from their subject. Others wanted me to play. Most agreed >without > comment. > > * Interpretation > At some point I felt like the "fool of the court". During the questions > phases I did not play, but made "innocent" questions from my special corner. > I understood I was doing little corrections in the energy flow. Its not >so > much about music, but about the perception of moods, a rhythm flowing > between speaker and listener and about the experience to influence an > experience. > Historical reviews and analytical subjects are much harder to support >with > sound than emotional or spiritual contents. > The flow of the speech (or the lack of it!) becomes more obvious through > the parallel music and can be improved by the music if the speaker is > receptive and speaks rather free. I would like to try to work together with > a speaker. > No chance to do this work with prerecorded music! > > Towards the end, people came to me, saying that I had helped a lot to >keep > the balance of the event and bought CDs. > > * A marvelous movie > By a nice accident, a week before the event, I had stumbled over a French > movie on TV called "the violinist" that ends with a brilliant Bach solo >in > some dirty underground, causing an old man to die in peace and poor >people > to gather around a fireplace, starting to share the little they have - this > may sound ridiculous as I tell it here, but it makes a lot of sense, >watch > this movie! > I cried of deep emotion and understood: > > WE ARE USEFULL WHEREVER WE CAN PLAY SINCERELY ! > > > > ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org > >