RE: Improvising vs. composing

["Dani Oore" <danioore@hotmail.com>]

hi,

i struggle with this question a lot.

try to evaluate what did/didnt work about the compositions or the process 
of 
realizing the compositions.

was it your method of communicating the composition to the musicians:
-orally (ex: describing the piece before playing, yelling ideas or cues 
during performance),
-notated score (of some convention... or not),
-flash-cards (cues / descriptive..),
-conducting (tempos/grooves/or set-up some system/set of conventions where 
your movements determine certain sonic limits: frequency,timbre.. then 
dance! or just dance without any system.),
-with your instrument (ex: giving sonic/musical cues, or play a given idea 
to one group/musician, then when they have the idea they 'loop' it, 
'overdub' other ideas by selecting and playing to other musicians...)

is there is a schism between your expectations of the musicians and their 
ability/interest to meet these?  how much trust do you have in your 
musicians --at what point are you able to let-go of your creative vision 
for 
the sake of the performers' personal sense of contribution/responsibility 
to 
the music -ultimately, for a successful performance  ??

'composing' comes in all forms... what makes you want to 'compose'? 
figure-out what the bare minimum limit(s) that the composition must 
satisfy 
to fulfil your desire to compose.  then you have a composition. if what 
you 
desire is simply a return of good improv material, it might be as simple 
as 
holding up flash card when everyone is doing something you like, so that 
they make a mental note to remember exactly what they're doing, then you 
can 
keep recalling this particular event with the appropriate flash card.  
or... 
telling your musician(s)  to create an A-B-A structure where 'B' is 
distinguished by some marked change of tempo or whatever.  then practise 
this composition: by repeatedly creating A-B-A forms. maybe a simpler 
composition..

thanks for the opportunity to think about this.  (i appreciate any 
comments...)

dani oore

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~oore/dani/index.html


>From: Dan Soltzberg <d.ans@rcn.com>
>Reply-To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
>To: Loopers Delight <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
>Subject: Improvising vs. composing
>Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:30:07 -0500
>
>Hi gang,
>
>
>Would love to hear peopleıs experiences with this dilemma:
>
>Iıve been doing a project, Orange, for a couple years. Tonight, I packed 
>my
>gear out of a rehearsal space and turned in my keys after 3 months of
>struggling with trying to take this improvisational project and make it 
>more
>structured‹ i.e., take stuff weıd made up and recorded at various shows 
>and
>sessions and re-learn it and make a bunch of songs out of it. I just 
>found 
>I
>wasnıt enjoying the process of trying to do this.
>
>So it seems Iım no longer very interested in writing and playing songs‹ 
>what
>I really get inspired doing is going out on a limb and making the music up
>as I go. I canıt seem to get the kind of spiritual high I get when Iım
>improvising if Iım playing stuff thatıs pre-structured. Not that I donıt
>like structure‹ I just like creating it on the fly.
>
>Problem is, 1. Itıs kind of intense to go to every show having no idea of
>what Iım going to play, hoping the muse is on the guest list
>
>2. Itıs hard to bring other musicians in without having at least some
>structure.
>
>
>Thoughts? Similar experiences? Solutions?
>
>
>Dan
>
>
>--
>ghost 7/ Orange
>http://www.envelopeproductions.com
>d.ans@rcn.com
>

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