Re: The Effects Of Looping...Or am I loopy?

[KB305@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/7/99 6:05:28 PM Central Daylight Time, 
dennis@mdbs.com 
writes:

<< We're on the edge of looper religion here...but I'll continue even if I
 sound flaky...
 
 * I've been reading "The Power of Myth" by Bill Moyer and Joseph Campbell.
 Campbell says that there are two kinds of myth.  The function of one type 
is
 to entertain.  The other type teaches you things about the universe, helps
 you access the inifinite, etc.  It's a ritual myth.  It struck me that you
 can consider music in the same way.  Most of the music I play with other
 folks is entertainment.  Most of the looper-based stuff, the soundscaping,
 is ritualistic in Campbell's sense.  In my earlier days, I found listening
 to such bands as Pink Floyd gave me a similar experience.
 
 * Some examples of early non-technological looping can be found in 
religious
 ceremony.  I think trance dancing and shaman drumming are probably 
examples.
 In the Christian church, I think the "responsive reading" can qualify as a
 looping experience.  Here, the leader recites varying phrases and the
 congregation responds to each phrase with (usually) an unchanging phrase.
 Consider this situation as the leader "soloing" over a loop!
  >>
Yes!!!

 I don't even truly loop, as I don't have a true looping device, but this 
is 
the crux of the biscuit for me, and I am joyed to see it presented in a 
place 
where people discuss making music.    I played for over twenty years, but 
until I started therapy and men's work, and accessed parts of me I hadn't 
before, music that I played sounded empty.  It went into the head, 
perhaps, 
like bad prog (ok, flame away, but I know what I mean), but it didn't 
involve 
the body, nor, consequentially, the whole self.  And part of accessing 
parts 
ot he humans psyche does involve ritual space.  We love rituals.  If you 
don't believe that, it may be that you just aren't aware of it.  We have 
rituals around everything, from sex to drugs to rock and roll, to name the 
obvious.

Today playing ALL music, whether it is in a church (sometimes I do that, 
yes), or with my 'jazz' group, I play music best when I enter a zone.  
Sorry, 
folks, I can't describe it to you, but time does get stretched there.  As 
I 
get better at going there, the playing part becomes easier, and the 
listening 
becomes the real work.

Go ahead, think I'm loopy too... I am sure I am.

Kevin