Re: problem w/live looping using mic - "Empty Scores"

[Zoe Keating <cello@zoekeating.com>]

let's see...i started using the "empty score" analogy as a neat way  
to describe this techie stuff to classical music people in a way they  
understand. i do think of it that way, that a sequence of midi  
commands IS a score, just in a different format.

anyway, the technique is similar to what kid beyond is doing in that  
we're both using midi clips within ableton live to control recording  
and playback.

differences:
1) in addition to ableton, i have 2 multi-track hardware loopers to  
quickly create amorphous and layered loops
2) the "empty scores" are constructed of modules. each module is a  
sequence of midi commands (anything really: record on track 2 for  
four bars then fade out track 1 over the course of 8 bars; start  
playing loopB on track 3 and stop all the other loops 4 bars later;  
etc.).
3) the structure of a piece can be a bit like a choose-your-own- 
adventure novels. each module i can trigger with my feet, or have it  
be triggered by another musical event, or string batches of them  
together in another module. i can therefore change the order of  
events quite easily.  or arrest the sequencing and move to manual  
foot control if i'm feeling like improvising the rest of the  
structure. i
4) some of the the compositions are that..."composed"...and so i have  
the computer execute batches of modules in a certain order. obviously  
every performance is still different because i am not a machine so  
the arrangements can be quite varied if i use a different bowing  
style, etc. i can always arrest the progression with my feet and  
switch into manual mode. for example, in one of my recent pieces i  
play a long, solo composition on the cello. meanwhile, i have the  
computer silently sample segments of it in the background. then, 3  
minutes in, i press a foot pedal and BANG, a whole orchestra comes in  
made up of all the sampled phrases.

i've gotten pretty fluid with the programming and the execution to  
the point that now this setup is extremely freeing. i can move  
seamlessly between structured and improvised bits and i can so do  
much more than i could do before. most importantly i don't have to be  
linear which seemed to me one of the limitations of lets-build-layers- 
on-top-of-layers-looping. i still use that technique ad nauseam of  
course, but its nice to have a bit more musical freedom.

also, i don't know if this is relevant, but i don't really make a  
distinction between improvised and composed parts.  and i don't find  
the idea of a 'score' or 'structure' to be limiting since nearly  
everything i do is about working within well defined boundaries,  
maybe this is the classical musician in me. playing exactly the same  
composition, 4 days in a row...is no different to me than  
improvisation. i mean, each day is different and i am not  
experiencing the same things the same way every day. so the music  
will mean whatever it does at that particular moment, a moment which  
can never be duplicated. don't know if that makes sense. but whether  
or not i choose to improvise in the middle of a composition, is also  
about what is happening right at that moment. i'm happy to have  
finally found a method of playing that allows me to do that.

one of my favorite "games" to play now is to take an empty score of a  
particular composition, and then play different music into it. the  
computer takes care of the arrangement and i just improvise and see  
what happens. it's kind of like back in 2000 when i first started  
playing at afterparties. i would play and my electronic music friends  
would sample and manipulate me, and then i would react to that. but  
now I AM IN CONTROL...HA HA HA (fade evil laughter)

i'm sure other people are doing this too.

On Sep 23, 2007, at 12:37 AM, J E wrote:

> Hey Zoe,
>
> Not to make you blush more, but I've got to second the
> awesomeness comment. More than just impressed, I went
> and checked out your music, and its just plain great
> :).
>
> So, I don't know how much this is about the mics now,
> but I noticed that you say you use a
>
> "empty-score" (a blank musical framework in the form
> of pre-programmed midi sequences that I then play the
> music into)
>
> I've been experimenting with this idea, and was
> wondering, do you have the midi sequences as freely
> callable tools at your disposal (i.e. non-sequentially
> individually callable) or is the form locked in, and
> it varies more by what you play each time into the
> "empty-score".
>
> I was thinking through this idea with Kid Beyond over
> the summer, as one of his songs, 'Cathedrals', is more
> or less an empty score in ableton, that takes the
> input material and midi clips it around to form the
> song. At the far extreme you could even predeterimine
> the song as one giant clip, which would require you to
> know when to play what, but after you hit start, would
> not require foot switching etc.
>
> This of course is an extreme, and would be very
> limiting to amount of improvisation involved, but its
> a neat to look all the way to the end of the spectrum.
> I could also imagine a world, where composers of
> "empty-scores" could share their scores with other
> musicians, who could learn how to play them and come
> up with entirely different music, that would still be
> bound together to the fundamentals of the empty score
> loop architecture. You could even write some stuff
> down on a piece of paper, a "real" score to help an
> artist learn your "empty" score.
>
> What seems cool about the idea is not so much the
> codifying and reductionist thinking, but the concept
> that through speaking a common language, people could
> start sharing their architectures they've developed,
> their empty scores, with eachother, allowing us to be
> simultaneously loop players, of our own scores and
> other's scores, but also loop composers, of scores to
> share with other loop musicians.
>
> So, related to that idea, I was wondering, to you, or
> anyone else who's been working with these ideas, how
> much of your empty score is predetermined, and how
> much is left flexible ussually? What types of things
> do you program into those midi sequences (midiclips?
> Do you use ableton?). Looping changes? Bringing back
> old parts? Fade outs? Effects?
>
> I'm been working on this myself, using midiclips in
> ableton, but I've been stuggleing with setting up the
> architecture in a way that encourages creativity as
> opposed to giving me either too much to think about,
> or made me feel like I was playing in a box.
>
> Cheers,
> Jesse
>
>
>
> --- Zoe Keating <cello@zoekeating.com> wrote:
>
>> *blush* thank ye!
>>
>> hey, we all start somewhere. and even if music can
>> only be "hobby",
>> it is no less valid.
>>
>> my first looping gig was at y2k2 and i was so
>> nervous i could hardly
>> hold the bow. my most recent gig was on jay leno, on
>> tuesday (but not
>> looping alas...).
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_GHbuFlya4
>>
>>
>> On Sep 22, 2007, at 9:52 AM, Chris D'Errico wrote:
>>
>>> By the way, I checked out your website & you're
>> amazing.
>>>
>>> My latest "project" is called "Sidewalk Beggar", a
>> humble
>>> undertaking considering your accomplishments.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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