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Re: PrePrepared vs. Improvisational Live Looping Performances



I connect both live-looping/improvisation and kinda structured rehearsing:
I did 2 CD-recordings recently with improvisational stuff,
looping on the fly. Now I try to re-produce/rehearse these tracks which is
quite exciting. Sometimes it sounds very similar to the existing tracks
,sometimes it sounds completely different.
Still donīt know how Iīm gonna do it live. Maybe a mix of  new
improvisations and re-productions of the existing material.
Have a nice day!
Christo
www.christojota.de
www.myspace.com/christojota
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Walker" <looppool@cruzio.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:29 AM
Subject: PrePrepared vs. Improvisational Live Looping Performances


> In another thread,
> Matt Davignon wrote:
> "On the other hand, many of the acts I've seen left me feeling like the
> performers are locked
> into a scripted grid, with fewer opportunities to take the material in a
> direction other than a
> previously-drawn, forward-pointing arrow from start to finish."
>
>
> Honestly,  I have had the same reaction.    Granted,  there are artists
> who pull it off
> with panache and a sense of spontaneity's (I think , specifically,  of
> Zoe Keating, Imogen Heap, Juana Molina and
> Kid Beyond)  but in general,  pre-rehearsed and already thought out
> pieces of music
> using live looping feel as sterile to me as people push playing on DATs,
> I-pods, CDs, DVDS
> or computers.
>
> I actually really and truly loved sculptured recordings but to me, the
> live sphere is a different thing.
>
> And maybe this is just because I lack the discipline to go to all the
> work of pre arranging
> pieces of music when I play, but the last ten years or so of my life
> have been all improvisational.
>
> Of course,  one (and specifically, me)  run the risk of not having a
> cogent enough performance
> or ,  worst yet in live looping,  taking too long to create a piece of
> music and letting it go
> on for longer than it is musically interesting for the audience.  It's a
> constant worry for me and
> I frequently blow it live.
>
> I've noticed that a lot of loopers in our community seem to fail to
> realize that the what feels good
> to play;   what seems like a certain length of time in developing a
> piece of music is completely
> different for the audience.
>
> Personally, just because I teach a lot of live looping in my hometown,
> I tell newbies to set
> up a clock and to force themselves to start, develop and cogentally end
> a piece of music
> every five minutes so that they have six pieces of music in a festival
> set of thirty minutes.
>
> It's a tough discipline to do that.   I purposefully write set lists
> with 6 to 7 tableaus in it.
> I don't know what I'm going to play, but I do take 6 or 8 'sets' of
> instruments to each gig
> so that I can keep a found sound performance intriguing.
>
> I've discovered is someone has the discipline to play 6 five minute
> songs in order five times a week
> that after a month, they are ready to perform a pretty interesting set
> as a newbie at the festival.
>
> ******
> Also, and pardon this rambling post, but I"m in a 'waxing philosophic'
> mode today:
>
> I'm writing some new material that is more song oriented and even (damn
> this is scary to admit in public)
> singer/songwriter oriented,  so I know that I need to figure out a way
> that I can compromise my
> desire for spontaneity and improvisation with composed (if not
> arranged)  material.
>
> It's a really challenging thing for me.  Frankly,  it really scares me
> because it's so different from the freedom
> I've had for ten years,  but I also am really hearing some new things
> with my new foray into stringed
> instruments.
>
>
> SOOOOO,     pros and cons..................what do y'all like and/or
> dislike about pre arranged live looping shows
> and what do you like or dislike about pure improvisational shows.
>