Re: Ninjam techbabble (was: Chinapainting article)

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On 12 nov 2007, at 14.34, Warren Sirota wrote:

> What I've always wondered about Ninjam is how the concept of  
> "measure" is
> handled - when I Ninjammed at Kyberfest 06, I just trusted the  
> Force (as
> dapperly personified by Rainer). But there was no metronome click,  
> and *I*
> certainly didn't provide or receive any indication of what the  
> tempo or
> measure was.

I love it that way, but prefer real-time jamming (trying to stay as  
long as possible inside that sacred zone where tempo an bar length  
have not yet become defined).

> So is what's going on that an arbitrary measure length subtly  
> influences the
> way that everyone plays so that they end up conforming, in one way or
> another, to the "hidden tempo" without actually realizing it? Kind  
> of like
> having a fixed-length loop recording your playing and looping it,  
> only you
> have no idea when it starts or ends before you start playing?

Yes. But also that you play to what was happening in the previous bar.

> (Of course,
> the music that we were playing during our set didn't have such a fixed
> pulse, and didn't rely on any more traditional notions of  
> "tightness", so it
> was fine for me to play in a way that made my view of the music  
> sound good,
> and trust that it also worked on the other end(s).)


I think that sound like a marvelous concept for structured group  
improvisation! Each individual musician hears the other group members  
playing ONE BAR LATE! Wow, that's so inspiring, as for experimental  
strategy!

It would be fun to hear all version of such a jam. Like if a quartet  
jams and afterwards each musician posts an mp3 of what was coming out  
of his personal speakers.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
http://www.youtube.com/pellibox (gritty)