looping and the public and categorization

[Zoe Keating <info@zoekeating.com>]

you're right of course matthias. my work would not be at all the same  
if i hadn't stumbled onto looping. the tools have directly influenced  
my "style"!

a coda, and then i really will shut up.....

i was just thinking about all this categorization business and realize  
that a huge part of my career strategy is to never categorize myself.  
if if makes sense: i very actively avoid categorization!

i avoid appealing specifically to any one group, even if i am  
certainly connected to it: loopers, cellists, computer nerds, DIYers,  
steampunks, goths, ravers, indie rockers, public radio fans, tall  
female freckled redheads with dreadlocks, etc. i prefer to be the only  
fish in my pond. if another fish moves in i tend to move out and make  
another pond. so i think my perceived rejection of "looping" is  
related to this.  (i don't know if that's really a strategy. i've done  
this my entire life and it might just be my quirky personality)

lastly....99% of the people who license my music have NO idea that i  
even perform live. and as i don't employ live looping in my  
recordings, for those who know me only from a recording, live looping  
would just be confusing.

respect! z



On Dec 14, 2009, at 5:47 AM, Matthias Grob wrote:

> On 13 Dec 2009, at 19:51, Zoe Keating wrote:
>> if all the electricity disappeared tomorrow, i could still perform,  
>> but i'd have to hire 8+ cellists to play the music (which is  
>> actually how looping started for me, i couldn't find enough  
>> cellists).
>
> oh, sorry, Zoe, I did not know you started with the compositions and  
> then only needed a tool to execute them.
> and looping did not bring you new ideas? would your compositions  
> really be the same if you had no looper but 8+ cellists?
> If so, I suspect you are rather an exception, or does anyone know of  
> other composers who use looping tools like this?
>
>> it would sound different because its not me, but an ensemble of  
>> cellists could easily play my music.
>
> sure. which sound would you prefer?
>
>> no electricity needed. i've already heard 2 groups do it.
>>
>> i also know of two high profile cellists who perform music with pre- 
>> recorded cello tracks and them solo'ing in front. (i.e. no live  
>> looping)
>>
>> most people think that we all do the same thing (including their  
>> publicists). it irritates me, but tells me that its not the live  
>> looping that people are hearing.
>
> ...which might be a reason for you to use the label LiveLooping more  
> intensely and for me to finally bring the Livelooping.org site up to  
> date with all I wrote and joined this year so anyone can easily look  
> up what its about. And we should make a special chapter for  
> composers who use the tool to execute what they imagine without the  
> tool, as opposed to the majority who gather ideas for compositions  
> by playing with the tool and then possibly execute them with a group  
> without the tool.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Dec 13, 2009, at 11:54 AM, Matthias Grob wrote:
>>
>>> your music would not be done in any other way, would it?
>>
>