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Re: Creating Space

On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, mike@michaelplishka.com wrote:

  We all know that music is as much about the silence as it is about the
notes.  However, when doing live shows, I often struggle with finding ways
of stripping down the performance (I use an EDP or Boomerang when I loop).
What do the members of this esteemed group do to help give silence her due?


This is a subject that is dear to may heart as both a writer and a 
producer:
To me, it's important to have a sense of arrangement and the consciousness that we have the ability to 
overfill any piece in four distinct ways:
1) Timbrally (this means overloading the frequency spectrums, or *"Timbre Masking"*.........a boomy TR 808 kick drum sound and a subsonic 
bass synth or bass guitar sound ---  you are going to have a muddy mix)
2) Rhythmically (and this is a much more complex answer that I address in my Rhythm Intensive course which I'll starting teaching on Skype some time this coming year) Essentially, this means playing several syncopated rhythms who are not subsets of each other 
           or merely playing so many notes that there is no space.
           This I call *"Rhythmic Masking"
*
3) *"Melodic and Harmonic Over Complexity"* creating so much density in Harmony (or Melody) that we overfill the piece
4) *"Dynamic Overfilling"*: essentially, if you have four very loud elements, then nothing is loud. Dynamics 
              are only effective if there is some contrast.
As a rule of thumb, it's good idea not to have great complexity in more than one of these areas: Timbre, Rhythm, Melody/Harmony, Dynamics, and frequently, great music doesn't have complexity an any of these elements.
I'd say, have the courage to play simply.............truly listen to what you are playing and see if YOU can here 
the beauty in a simple idea you have created.
I think we sometimes forget that a single note on an instrument can be beautiful. Think of some of the beautiful motion picture scores you've heard where the melody is a single piano note at a time.
Think about Lionel Ritchie's 'Whistle Test'...........he says when you are contemplating the melody of a song you are writing, whistle it without accompaniement. It should be beautiful on it's own without it's backing.