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Re: creative ennui question/Oblique Strategies




>>> ...any methods out there to re-kindle the spark?

>Check out:
>Oblique Strategies - a set of problem-solving cards for artists.

One thing I enjoy about mixing non-synchronous loops is that occasionally
two or more completely unrelated events will match up perfectly...

Just the other day, I was looping with some folks and the topic arose that
while the music we were making was certainly interesting and didn't sound
half bad, it might be in our better interest to write some "songs" as
points of reference to better anchor the set and provide a firmer
foundation for the improvised material. One comment was made to the effect
that "we're turning into a jam band. An ELECTRONIC jam band, but still a
jam band." While I didn't necessarily agree with this view, nor see
improvising as inherently evil, it got me thinking about unconventional
writing methods, and I recalled having many years ago read a description of
Oblique Strategies. I have never seen a deck of these cards, and have only
heard paraphrased a couple of the "aphorisms" found on them, and had not
even thought about them in years until last week. 
Not having access to Oblique Strategies cards, I decided to make my own. I
divided one side of a sheet of paper into a large grid, then turned it over
and repeated the grid on the other side so that it would line up when I cut
the "cards" apart. On one side of the paper, I wrote phrases describing
moods and textures, or intentionally vague instructions; "quietly
aggressive", "slowly falling slowly", "simple", "vibrating like an angry
swarm of bees", "spaghetti Eastern", "building", "kelp forest", "funkier
than James Brown", "wooden pandemonium ritual", "electro-Rasta Dub plate"
and so forth, all designed to be as non-specific and open to interpretation
as possible. On the other side I wrote, at random, a key signature or
something such as "D Modal" or a gamelan scale or raga, or "no pitched
sound, highly rhythmic". (You could also write a color on there, and use
them for visual arts). Then all the little slips of paper go into a hat, or
a box or some such suitable container, and are drawn in pairs (one
instruction from the front matched up with the key or scale from the back
of the other card) to serve as guidelines to organise an improvisation.
Interpretation of the instructions may be discussed by the musicians at the
time the cards are drawn, OR you can agree to NOT discuss them and just
play. Record the whole mess, then go back and listen to it with an open ear
to extracting the best parts as the basis for actual "songwriting", or
sample the tastiest bits. Or not, it's up to you. The cards are just a
tool, a game which can spur creativity, but to overuse would be to abuse
the muse...
The cards I came up with are probably nothing at all like Peter Schmidt's
actual Oblique Strategies, but that doesn't really matter, since they're
just an exercise in creative thought, and a lot of fun to boot. The results
obtained by making your own cards are probably also quite different than
what would come from using an actual set too, although now that the link
has been posted with all that great Oblique Strategies info (Thanks to Bob
Campbell!
http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/~gtaylor/ObliqueStrategies/index.html ) I think
I'll have to look into the real Schmidt and Eno thing! I'm going to keep
(and add to) the ones I made, though; they're as much fun to make as they
are to use, although Dan Bartell's Big
Hat/clogs/bathrobe/bicycle/strawberries approach is probably a bit more
original.

Later, 

Tim

P.S.: I'm looking for an inexpensive single-space rack mount unit for pitch
shifting. Any of you have any suggestions re the ones you like or the ones
you hate (and why)?