RE: Musicianship, live technique, etc...

[Kevin Miller <km15@cornell.edu>]

>What I meant in my original statement is that, whilst you don't 
>necessarily
>need to play _at_ an audience, if you expect to play to an audience (more
>than once!) it helps if they actually like it, rather than the performer
>hiding behind hyperbole of how it's an expression of an artist's inner
>soul. 

    Well, this is an interesting point. I think it sometimes helps, at
various points in a performance, to inject a little fun, a bit of whimsy.
This can stimulate an audience to maintain a connection to whats going on 
in
the other aspects of a performance. Going back to the origins of this
discussion, this concept could apply to the question of how to divide up a
longish presentation. My first thought was sort of obvious, and someone 
else
has discussed it- insert quieter sections that don't contain as much 
musical
information while preparing for "busier" sections. My second thought was to
insert a little fun between longer sections.

      What popped into my head, and I'm not suggesting anybody do this, was
a fairly wacky idea: in stereo, samples of two animals having a
conversation- could be two dogs barking at each other in escalating 
fashion,
or a dog and a cat, whatever, possibly over some low drones, building up to
the next long "serious" section. This is just one nutty example, possibly
amusing only to myself, but the point is that if you can get the audience 
to
at least smile, you've established a stronger connection. Obviously, if 
your
performance is a dedication to the victims of Bosnia, this won't be
appropriate, but I can see many instances where something whimsical could
serve as a break between pieces.

        After 30 years of playing, I've discovered that juvenile wackiness
is among my _better_ qualities! 

    Just a thought,
     Kevin 





>
>>I figure if I don't like what I'm doing, 
>>nobody else will, either (although I've been proven wrong on that 
>>before..).
>
>I think Allan Holdsworth regularly disproves that one!  :)
>
>Michael
>
>Dr Michael Pycraft Hughes      Bioelectronic Research Centre, Rankine 
>Bldg,
>Tel: (+44) 141 330 5979        University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, 
>U.K.
>    "Wha's like us?  Damn few, and they're a' deid!" - Scottish proverb
>
>
>
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