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Re: Tactics for Circumventing Musical Ruts
I guess I've always been aware of my tendency to seek out level ground,
and
a large amount of the musical decisions I make are to thwart that. Some
strategies:
-Changing instruments and setups often. I have 4 different standard
instrument 'setups' I use at solo shows (turntable/cd, drum machine, found
objects, field recordings). I rarely use the same one twice in a row.
So...even though I get invited to play fairly often, I only wind up doing
my
most common - the "turntable/cd" set - a couple times per year. If I start
getting too comfortable with my choices, I'll start learning something
new.
(That's why I picked up drum machine this year.)
-Working with new musicians often, and changing my setup and performance
strategy to best compliment what they'll be doing.
-Choosing instruments & setups that have a fairly large amount of
non-determinacy. For example, I consider guitar to be a pretty determinate
instrument since once you learn how to play a tune on it, it's fairly easy
to play that tune again. Non-determinant instruments require you to work
with the sound you get, rather than get the exact sound you want. (And
this
is where looping comes in, being a useful tool for making unorganized
sounds
have some coherency.)
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