Re: density

["Per Boysen" <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Feb 1, 2008 7:47 PM, Raul Bonell <raul.bonell@gmail.com> wrote:
> since i'm trying to figure out how to build a live looping
> setup as a solo project, some questions arises:
>
> "what would you like to listen to when you attend
> a realtime-looping performance?"
>
>  .. or the asking could be aproximatted like this...
>
> "what an interesting realtime-looping performance must have
> to please you?"


My personal take on that:
Same as with all music - looping or not! First there has to be a
personal touch to the music and the attitude it's performed with.
Second it has to be performed with a good sense of "story-telling".
This means the performer has something to say and is spelling it out
at a good pace; not too fast and not too slowly, as well as with a
good sense of style/taste. The music that's pleasing me is just like
the books that fascinate me; the most important points are not made
explicit but kept in the dark, as powerful undercurrents that serve as
a foundation to whatever is performed in sound or written in text.

It's difficult to know if you actually perform as you want to, because
when playing you don't experience the music as the listeners do. This
is because you are not only listening the the sounds you are creating
but also relate to your own thoughts and ambitions with what you are
doing. You are not presented your own music as a first time experience
because you always know a bit in advance what you are going to play.
That's true even for improvised music.

A trick to get around this limitation is to record your performances
and listen back to them after some time has passed. Mostly you will
find that you were much better than you thought when on stage and that
parts that you though had been too long and boring are actually not,
when experienced as a listener.

Another trick is to listen to what people say they like and not like
with your music.

A final trick is "to kill your darlings". Stop doing things that you
often do because you are good at them.

What have this to do with your looping setup? Everything, because your
looping setup is the instrument you use to perform. You should set it
up in a way that it allows you to meet the above mentioned criteria as
much as possible.

-- 
Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)