Re: new composition influenced by looping and some ramblings

["Raul Bonell" <raul.bonell@gmail.com>]

Lovely as others stated.

Hi Kevin,

How about aesthetics?
I know some contemporary composers refused
the use of the theremin as a "tempered" instrument,
triying to emulate, regular stringed instruments or so...
Which are your opinions about?

Never listened a theremin player live,
but it seems to me that it's much more difficult o play
"in tune" with a beast like that, than just making "glissandi" sounds...

I supose it's just the melody on top what you played with it.. isn't?

Interesting instrument & great player so far!

Thx,
R.

2007/11/1, Chuck Silva < any1particular@mac.com>:

Kevin!

What a lovely composition "The Sad Little Ghost" is!

Did you compose all of it?

  If so I'd b very interested to know some details.

For example:

What DAW do you use?

What soft synths if any are you using?

Apparently you are a trained musician?

Do you compose the bulk of your music on a Keyboard-Theremin?

Who are you and what planet are you from?

From Jazz to classical and in between, I'd say it's safe to say that
most all modern music is being influenced by technology-looped typed
music being at the heart of it.

After all art is a reflection of who we are as a culture-where ever
one may dwell.

As hard as I try to be forward thinking and open to new and
progressive music, it's refreshing to hear something inspired in the
more conventional manner.

Indeed it seems to me it is best to be trained in convention. Then
one can take that power and push the envelope.

Thank you for sharing that 'oh my god soooooo awesome music'! :-)

Peace.

  http://www.myspace.com/chucksilva

Chuck Silva




On Oct 29, 2007, at 5:40 PM, kkissinger@kevinkissinger.com wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'd like to share my latest composition with you entitled "The Sad
> Little Ghost".
>
> http://kevinkissinger.com/sadlittleghost.shtml
>
> This is the first non-looping work I've composed for nearly a year
> however I think my work with live looping has influenced my non-
> looped work in a few ways, namely:
>
> 1) the orchestral tracks are minimal and utilize repetition --
> similar to looped material
>
> 2) the lead (theremin) part is economical -- eschewing "fireworks"
> and focusing on expressive sustained notes.
>
> I am grateful to the folks on the LD list for MANY ideas that have
> become part of my musical vocabularly.  A few recent examples:
>
> . in my organ improvisations I am much more inclined to play in a
> "looped" style... while I am not looping via hardware I often build
> a motive and then just keep it going in my left (or right) hand and
> then weave melodies around it with my spare hand or feet.  (I don't
> know if the church I play at is ready for hardware looping...
> however I may try it sometime  **grins** )
>
> . last Sunday, at the end of one improv, I played a single note
> melody alone on a plantive stop... this was an idea suggested on
> the LD list.  And, why not?  With loop devices we can turn one-note-
> a-time instruments into ensembles.  Why not do the opposite and
> play a polyphonic instrument as if it is a mono instrument?
>
> Folks commented that my set at the Y2K7 Loopfest sounded
> "orchestral" -- and I think that my interest in ensemble texture
> influenced that.  I have found over the last year that my looped
> and non-looped work influence each other.
>
> The Y2K7 Loopfest was like a massive recharge to my musical
> batteries.  It was a chance to just sit back and soak up music from
> everyone.  I think the word "unique" is overused in the music biz
> however each set WAS unique and each was high-quality.
>
> In particular, one of the challenges with looped music and with
> music in general is to create effective endings.  To see the
> different approaches to this aspect of looping was enlightening, to
> say the least.   Incidentally, the ending to "The Sad Little Ghost"
> just flew into my DAW ... no struggle.
>
> Forgive my rambling here.  Though it has been a week since the
> loopfest, I am still on a real "high" from it and look forward to
> creating a lot of new looped and non-looped music as a result.
>
> -- Kevin
>

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