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Re: New Guitar/Cello/Koto trio
you definitly have to record that. I really want to hear it!
Charlie
On 9/10/06, Krispen Hartung <khartung@cableone.net> wrote:
>
>
> I can't wait to talk about the new ambient/experimental/free improv trio
>I'm
> playing in now. It is with two women that I met, and who played at the
> Boise Experimental Music festival, both music students/graduates. The
> instrumentation is me on guitar, Gretchen on Koto (a really cool sounding
> Japanese instrument -
> http://home.san.rr.com/koto/instru.htm), and Jesse on
> cello. We had our first rehearsal last week and our first gig is on
>October
> 8.
>
> The instrumentation and contrast of the different instruments is really
> interesting, and I was wondering if anyone else on the list had played
>with
> a koto player - because I'd like to hear what has been done to leverage
>some
> ideas. I found one reference to such a trio, with Henry Kaiser (guitar),
> Miya Masaoka (koto), and Danielle DeGruttola (cello), and the CD is
>called
> Seance by Vex Records...but I can't find the thing for sale anywere. Any
> clues? Gretchen lived in Japan for 10 years and knows a fair amount
>about
> the music and instrument. At our first jam session, I didn't do any
> looping, because I wanted to just focus on the sound of my guitar and
>how it
> worked with the cello and koto. I used my nylon string, but
>surprisingly,
> both of them requested that I play my jazz electric next time, because
>they
> think the contrast of acoustic instruments with my electric will be more
> unique.
>
> Our basic approach for playing is that Gretchen can tune the Koto to any
> scale....we start with a traditional Japanese harmonic structure (D Eb G
>A
> Bb D) and play with that...and then after that point, she tunes it to
> various modes (mixolydian, lydian, pentatonic, etc), and we play modally
> over a tonal center, which is great for me with my jazz background. You
>can
> do some great things with the koto, such as scraping the plectra over the
> strings, bending the strings for other tones, etc. The fun one is where
>she
> tunes the koto to the chromatic scale and we play atonally...the three
>of us
> end up sounding like we're playing a 12 tone piece, though there are no
>rows
> or permutations involved.
>
> Next rehearsal I'll be bringing my notebook system and looping. My plan
>is
> to loop some ambient textures of basic melodic motifs based on the
>tuning of
> the koto..and then we'll improvise over that...afterwhich I'll continue
> manipulating the loops to evolve with the performance. It should be fun.
> I
> hope to record the Oct. 8 performance.
>
> Kris
>
>
>
>**************************************************************************
> Krispen Hartung / Improvisational Looping Guitar
> www.krispenhartung.com / www.myspace.com/krispenhartung
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> info@krispenhartung.com / 1.208.724.5603
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