Re: looper vs storyteller. if there even is

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 12:54 AM, Anders Bergdahl
<anders_e_bergdahl@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I would say that my attempts at looping tells a story but soloing over
> backings does not.

I agree.

> And there where not that much storytelling in playing
> "Sweet home alabama" in a cover band :-)

In music with vocals the lyrics also weighs in to bring over "the
story", hopefully the same story as the music is about. And a story
doesn't have to be long and evolving. It can as well be just about
delivering a sudden impact of a mode or attitude.

<nevynnowhere@gmail.com> wrote:
> pre think their story?

Composition are of course always "pre thinked". When doing improvised
music my "pre thinking" exists as decided attitudes, strategies and
modes. I think everyone knows what I mean with attitude and mode, but
strategy may need some explanation. One important strategic aspect in
improvisation is the use of time. Before starting to play, or before
making a change to the music, I center myself into a time strategy;
making the decision whether I will start a process to be going on for
a long or short time, the exact time it will stop and the goal it
arrive at. Another often used strategy is the number of "embryos" you
set off in the music. With "embryo" I mean something that has an
identity of its own; a theme, a sound or an emotional entity. These
embryos has also to be given their unique character as a way to
interact between each other; themes may go close together (as the
multi part guitar solo in Hotel California, to take a bold example) or
they can stay apart by counterpoint and merely imply the main theme
without it ever being explicitly played - but a listener will even so
hear the un-played main theme in his/her mind. I call this "a
psychedelic technique" and use it as much as I can. A third strategy
that is important is how to start and end a musical improvisation.
Especially when playing together with one or two other musicians I
find this an important storytelling tool. Music is not the sound you
produce but the reactions it evokes in the listener.

There is a lot more of "pre thinking" than this to improvisation, but
the above is fine as an example. A common misunderstanding is that
improvising music means just doing anything out of nowhere.

Regarding composition I think of it as "synthesized improvisation".
The composer puts time and effort into "re-creating" and
improvisational situation in order to optimize the expression. One can
also compose extremely intricate music that the real-time performer
needs looping devices to come up with during improvisation.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com