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Looper's Delight
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When working with my Aries synth, I'm quite comfortable with improvised content. However since the theremin is a gestural-controlled instrument, one has difficulty to play in tune while manipulating foot pedals or other controls. I have felt that my most effective looped-theremin works have been the composed works. Since I play from memory, the listeners don't often realize that the entire set is written-out. I use vst control to control the loops' parameters -- once I begin a composition I must maintain a constant tempo so that the loop paramenters change at the correct time. One of the advantages to composing is the ability to tighten-up sections that are overly-repetitive and the ability to move from one section to another quickly. I can work out complex modulations and harmonies that may be impractical to do in an improvised context. My vst automation gets very busy at times -- to do the same thing live would require quite a few pairs of hands and feet all working in sync. If a composition is challenging enough to play and tends to move, inspire, and/or engage the listeners, then I never feel burnt out about playing it. *** begin rant For example, I no longer book weddings because I'm sick of playing cliched music that no one cares about -- I feel as if I am killing brain cells by playing ditties such as the Pachelbel Canon. (It is really better in the original Klingon, however I digress...) Thus, I am quite sensitive the the notion that dull, uninteresting music is no fun to play or to listen to whether it is composed or improvised. *** end rant The challenge, then, with composed music is to keep it interesting and fresh. This is as true when playing classical music as it is playing looped music or anything else. With great compositions one can return to them and find new aspects, etc. When I go into a situation where I must improvise, I always have more ideas than I need. That way, if something just doesn't "click" I can move on. In my (paid) work as an organist, my job demands that I improvise all the time -- so the opportunity to play prepared compositions is really a pleasure for me. Sometimes I burn out on my own improvisation. :) -- Kevin Quoting Mark Hamburg <mark@grubmah.com>: > > Interesting. I keep thinking I should go in with more material > "prepared". I usually have at least some ideas to explore, but I've had > times where I then can't get the loop going the way I wanted and I get > frustrated restarting a few times. Then there's Y2K8 where I was just > totally beat by the time I went on and I should probably be glad I > managed to do anything coherent. I think I got one good piece out of > three, but I need to go back and listen again. > > Mark