RE: Crisis!!!!!!

["Liebig, Steuart A." <LiebigSA@Maritz.com>]

Tom W.,

If all you eat is bread, it gets boring/unsatisfying after awhile. Try
herring (sorry, poor joke).

Looping is just a tool (sorry), it's not the end -all-maybe it's
learning to incorporate it into your overall musical vocabulary.

SUGGESTIONS/COMMENTARY

Solo Practice at Home: 

Try playing pieces/doing improvisations that have nothing to do with
looping. Or just sit down for a 45-minute period of time and do whatever
comes to mind . . . maybe you'll find that the next step in the flow IS
looping. 


Growth Process:

Haven't you ever felt the "RUT" show up before? It means you're ready to
go to your next phase-whatever that may be. It's all part of the growth
process. How do you deal with this normally? 

Usually, when I get in this sort of situation, I try to analyze what it
is that's bugging me about what I'm doing-or try to figure out what's
lacking/where I want to go or be. (Once, when I hated my soloing, I
realized that I wanted to sound like Lester Bowie playing bass, so I
tried imagining what that meant-and I tried to figure out how to achieve
that.)


Sometimes, I decide to pull back from writing and concentrate on
writing.

Lately, I've felt like I wanted to pull a Sonny Rollins or Gary
Peacock-just hole up and practice and forget about gigs, etc. for a good
long time.

If all you're doing is practicing, get out and play.

A friend of mine had that deck of cards that Brian Eno made (Oblique
Strategies?), that seemed to have a lot of interesting possibilites . .
.


Fatigue:

If you're schedule's been super-busy, maybe you're just tired.


stig


> ----------
> From:         Woehni
> Reply To:     Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
> Sent:         Wednesday, April 1, 1998 4:19 AM
> To:   LiebigSA@maritz.com
> Subject:      Crisis!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
>    Hi friends , I`ve got a major crisis on my hands. I`m gonna come
> right out
> and say it:
> 
> I`ve begun to get doubts about looping.................and I need some
> reassuring.
> 
> The thing is , when I loop it doesn`t seem to go anywhere. I always
> get stuck in
> the same tracks and the music sounds  like.........looping. Sometimes
> my Jamman
> can feel like a limitation , rather than a new colour on my (somewhat
> limited) canvas.
> 
> At this point I feel like taking a break from the whole looping world
> and just plug straight
> in. There is nothing wrong with this , of course , a clean sound is
> often the bast way to
> go. This is proven over and over again by players who doesnt care
> about effects. So this
> doesnt worry me; I dont see it as a problem to want to plug straight
> in the amp.
> 
> BUT:  It worries me that what started out like a dream with endless
> posibilities ended
> SO QUICKLY.  I had a ball with it ,  played in different musical
> situations and HAD FUN.
> And now it suddenly feels so alien. Like a third arm or something.
> 
> Have any of you gone through something similar??  If so , how did u
> get through it??
> 
> I must add that I`m not the type of person that jump on everything and
> get bored with it after
> a short while. I`m usually quite patient and persistent.
> 
> I`ve had a very busy schedule for the last couple of months and worked
> very hard. Now I`m starting to feel tired and I`m looking forward to
> the Easter Holiday.  Maybe this is the answer?
> Maybe It`s just  fatigue  and my looping energy will return after the
> holiday???
> 
> I hope so.
> 
> Yours , Thomas w
> 
> Oslo , norway
> 
>