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Re: AW: musicianship for solo loopers?
I played a show with Jonathan Segel and John Hanes this summer. Segel
plays violin, and while Hanes normally is a drummer, for this show he
used a bent Gameboy and a mini Kaos. Watching their set, I enjoyed the
music very much, but I realized as a watcher what different reactions I
had to their playing style. Segel sat low in front of a laptop,
controlling it with a mouse. His M.O. was to play a single phrase on his
violin, then set it down and mess around with the now-unrecognizable
recorded phrase with the mouse for a couple minutes before picking it up
again to play another few notes, watching the screen the whole time. It
was boring to the point of frustration.
While Hanes had the tiniest setup imaginable, and his range of motion
was only a few inches, he was much more interesting to watch as there
was an immediate correlation between his physical actions and the sounds
coming out, with him tapping the screens and working the controls in a
constant, very involved way.
For myself, I find myself most interested in a performance when there is
visible physical interaction, whether with an instrument or the
processing equipment. Mouse clicks don't seem to count..! More than
anything, a sense of real involvement in reacting to the music in some
way is important.
Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com
www.chinapaintingmusic.com