RE: Musicians Wanted

["samba -" <sambacomet@hotmail.com>]

       How ,and on what the audience members focus attention is the 
crucial 
variable here.The difference is between direct and diffuse attention.Those 
who come for music direct attetnion to the stage more often ,those who 
came 
to eat ,drink socialize ,see and be seen less often.I've certainky been to 
music events where the audinece was very focused on the stage ,but not 
necessarily the music. So much of this has to do with where the eyes are 
directed,but one can hear without seeing.
   But what of the performer's attention.The standard show biz tricks 
HELLO 
CLEVELAND ,LET ME HERE YOU SAY,make the audience feel attended to.What do 
you do when the audience is applauding ?Do you fiddle with gear,or noodle 
on 
the notes of the next song,do you listen to the applause/Do you open 
yourself to it as you would a truly great piece of music and let it move 
you?
An interesting approcach  esp for improvisational music is for the 
performer(s) to pay very keen attention to the audience-but in a diffuse 
way.The idea is to really hear and feel the physical and emotional energy 
present in the room,or space the performer and audience share.,I think to 
the extent that one can feel the vibe and express music into that energy 
field in a way that moves with it the audience finds the music,true 
irresistable .like steering out of a fishtail when driving.If we really 
are 
attuned to these spectrums ,treating the visual as secondary,the audience 
will experience the music wether they pay attention or not.
  I opened for Fishbone once and they'd mastered this approach in a 
perverse 
way. Rock music that's meant to be annoying to parents( I know that's 
redundant ,but it is  how certain styles work,now that I'm old enough to 
have teenagers maybe I could get rich by creating music that I hate)) 
becomes predictable and you can start to partially screen i out ,but 
Fishbone was so attuned that as soon as you would start to screen they 
would 
change and become more annoying.If they applied those skills to music 
designed to make you feel high they would be totally amazing.Anyway it's 
not 
the subjective aesthetic qualities that make this approach work.Perhaps it 
could be called Ambient Attention,yet another oxymoron.