Re: KC; Lawson's Missive and Originality...

["Steve Lawson" <steve@steve-lawson.co.uk>]

> >The subject of originality sometimes seems so completely focused on
> >creating, seemingly from scratch with no references to other people's 
>work,
> >etc. The folk tradition otoh, focuses on taking given forms and 
>breathing
> >new life into them.
>
> Thanks for these thoughts, Miko.  I would venture to say (could be
> wrong) that we are all folk musicians in a loopy sense.  hasn't a lot
> of what we do been done before?  why are we still fascinated with it
> as a methodology and technique?  possibly because it's a portal
> through which we can express 'ourselves'?

I think this ties in with the one peice of Fripp's advice (I think I saw 
it credited to a Guitar Craft essay or something)
that has ever really clicked with me, which was about practice not being 
practice without limitations... that led me on to
thinking about the creativity of limitations, and boundaries, and stopped 
my then insane Gear Aquisition Momentum. I realised
that I needed something quantifiable to push up against and to stretch. 
You've never going to expand the limits of the
universe (not meant as a metaphysical statement, more one of relative 
magnitude) but you may well find something worthwhile
in knocking down the walls between your kitchen and living room to create 
a larger utility room - the methodologies and
techniques are spaces that we occupy, canvasses on which we paint (or 
scrawl or defaecate) and Bixing ring ropes against
which we push to spring us back into the center of what we're supposed to 
be doing. And also, I would guess that for many of
us who are somewhat interested in the gadgetry of all this stuff (er, that 
would be just about everyone one on a list such as
this, I presume) the method and process are in some sense 'artful' in and 
of themselves, and our little spin on it is like a
Graffiti tag.

I know when I came up with a new way of wiring my gear, with my JamMan in 
parallel, I felt very creative! :o) Then the output
on my DL4 knackered, and I'm back to a straight line series thingie...

cheers

Steve
www.steve-lawson.co.uk