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Looper's Delight
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A common misconception that is still prevalent in music education. It is something that I feel should be flagged as a problem in academia. This segregation of composer and performer and how deeply frustrating it can be to hear a 'traditional' musician speak of the performer as merely a medium for a composer (a seperate, unrelated entity to their mind) to have their work realised. It's bullshit. Something or someone miscontrued this somewhere along the way, and the ignornant followed suit. Thankfully, some are calling for a redefinition of composer and performer. Ultimately, inextricably linked but somewhat far apart in eyes of those of a parochial nature. It comes down to nothing more that absolute arrogance. But then who I am to question the composer who wants his piece performed in a certain manner? :) Lazy (insert-insult-here), perform it yourself. I jest and digress but might add that for a composer who composes music for someone to perform and not identify with on a unique or personal level as a performer is an idiot and worthy of paddling. It misses the point of live performance and they might as well record it and play it back on their iHome for all eternity, as is. I think improvisation is the barrier breaker in this instance, which is why it is so special, but unfortunately its definition already carries substantial baggage. But I think this is changing for the better..(famous last words) presenting the idea of a composer and performer as one, at one time, in one musical instance. Brilliant. Ricky ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zoe Keating" <info@zoekeating.com> To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 8:02 PM Subject: Re: PrePrepared vs. Improvisational Live Looping Performances > This will be totally OT.... > > It always bugs me that some people in the classical establishment > insist on compositions being played exactly as they are "supposed" to > be....when it is only in our modern day age of recording that it is > even possible to have concrete examples of what that "supposed" way > is. its actually even worse recently because some young classical > students i've met think that a cello piece can only be played the way > that yo yo ma plays it in a certain recording. > > obviously i'm not talking about whole scale departures from a score, > but phrasing, certain embelishments, tempo, etc. > > my 1st cello teacher in the US (i started in public school in the UK) > was an early music specialist from yale who also played viola da > gamba. as soon as all his students could vaguely play, we would meet > on saturdays and play for half the day as a cello ensemble. he would > have us play renaissance ensemble pieces by lassus and others. > however, he would encourage us to embelish the parts and would teach > us what kind of ornaments were appropriate in what situations. because > that is what was done... all those interesting little ornaments that > people love about baroque and renaissance music were not written in. > as students got more advanced we would improvise more within those old > pieces...as long as we got the chords right. ;-) and then those solo > cadenzas in the middle of concertos, like haydn's C major cello > concerto...they were MADE UP entirely by the soloist! kind of like a > jazz solo. > > i'm not connected to the classical world anymore. i play a looped > version of the 2nd mvt of beethoven's 7th symphony and it gets some > classical people REALLY upset (just read the comments on a youtube > recording of it) like they are personally offended by it. i tell them > its a COVER of beethoven, and i can do as i damn well please ;-) > > as you can see i've got my toes in two different worlds.... > > rant over. > > On Jul 8, 2009, at 5:03 AM, Steve Bingham wrote: > >> >> On 8 Jul 2009, at 12:18, Ricky Graham wrote: >> >>> Just on the note of Classical music being precomposed and Bach's >>> name creeping up, let us not forget that while that may be >>> predominantly the case that classical music is from the score, >>> Bach's fugues, to my knowledge, and correct me if I am wrong but >>> I'm pretty sure that I am correct on this, were exercises to >>> improvise with. (check that out for a run on) >> >> >> Absolutely: Bach was the great improviser. Personally I feel that a >> successful performance of 'written' music is most often one where >> the performer(s) allow spontaneous musical interpretation to be as >> important as purely technical accuracy, thus bringing some elements >> of improvisation to the piece. >> >> Steve >> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.375 / Virus Database: 270.13.8/2224 - Release Date: 07/08/09 05:53:00