Re: making a spectacle of yourself

[Carsten Wegener <carsten@tyfoo.de>]

am 18.10.2002 9:21 Uhr schrieb Victor Nicholls unter 
victornicholls@mac.com:

> Carsten Wegener <carsten@tyfoo.de> said:
> 
>> After five years of  playing the same 60, simple folktunes/songs with 
>just
>> my good, old doublebass (and still finding new approach in a  very 
>detailed
>> way of looking),I now come the point to have the freedom to really work 
>on
>> my performance. What i want to sayis this: The more complex the music 
>your
>> playing and the techniques you are using, the longer it will take to 
>become
>> a good musician and performer in the same time. For me the consequence 
>will
>> be trying to simplify my setup, my music. I believe this way Iīll 
>naturally
>> find an more audience-friendly way to perform my looping.
> 
> 
> I think this is interesting. I only really started to tour reasonable 
>sized
> venues around Europe with a seven-piece jazz-folk band playing 
>complicated
> stuff in odd time signatures (5/4, 7/8 etc). It was where I had to learn
> about stagecraft at the next level from pubs/college clubs. I dont 
>remember
> having to concentrate on getting the music right being a problem, ; all 
>down
> to being rehearsed properly.
> 
> I do agree that having a complex set up can get in the way. One reason 
>why
> i'm reluctant to take out my rack is the fact that it can look cluttered,
> and because I haven't found my own way to make this interesting visually.
> Therefore, the DL4 gets more use than the JamMan/RDS. I'd love to know 
>how
> other people have found a way to incorporate their gear into their
> performance in a way that looks interesting to the audience.
> 
> v
> 
I think that one of the important things about live-music is, that the
audience has to have a chance to follow the action on stage. This is not 
too
complicated with most music-styles. You can hear the direct result of what
the musicianīs doing. With elektronica or loopmusic itīs almost impossible
for the technically uninvolved audience to see/hear a connection between 
the
action and the sound. I think the looper has to develope something(for
example some stupid lightbulbs with a different color for each button) to
involve the listener, because a real great performance can only happen, 
when
the audience is (or at least has the feeling of being) part of whatīs
happening. 
CW