Re: is using pre-recorded loops Cheating

[Teddy Kumpel <teddybut@mac.com>]

contrast is the active ingredient in art, after all...

Teddy

--
PS.
--
http://teddyjam.com
new live recordings
--
http://myspace.com/mistershifty
friend me
--
Teddy K and Mister Shifty shows
May 15th at Nightingale Lounge, NYC 9-12
May 30th at Il Piatto, Oyster Bay, Long Island

On May 15, 2008, at 3:39 PM, Rick Walker wrote:

>
> Ted wrote:
>
>
> "It is sooooooooo boring to hear the same loop going and going and  
> going
> (like the Energizer Bunny).
>
> There was a time (about 15-20 years ago) that I thought it was really
> cool and "minimalistic" - hey look at me I'm Phillip Glass (or Robert
> Fripp, or whomever).  It does have a rather seductive navel-gazing  
> trancelike
> appeal"
>
> As with so many topics and ascertations on this list,  I agree with  
> you, Ted,
> but I actually use quite a few static loops in my own music.
>
> As a drummer and a song writer,  I learned early on that there is a  
> place for
> what I call  "framing parts" in music;
>
> Just as in a strong minimalist rock or r&b tune,  sometimes it is very
> appropriate to play the same drum beat over and over without any  
> variation.
> George Clinton's drummers are famous for doing this and I always  
> try to take
> my latest funk oriented drum students to see him play any time he  
> is in
> town.....just to see how minimalistically a drummer can play in  
> service of a
> fantastic funky groove.    Frequently, his drummer will play 8th  
> notes on the
> high hat,  two and four on snare drum and one and three on kick  
> drum with
> very, very little variation in the groove.
>
> This, of course,  sets up all the funk lines in the bass, guitar,  
> clavinet,
> horn sections and vocals.
>
> In this way,  I will frequently layer a series of non syncopated  
> percussion
> or melodic parts to serve merely as a framing contrast to what I  
> will put
> over the top that is more interesting.
>
> I think of it as the 'diamond'  that is the focus of our attention  
> against
> the all black velvet dress' that is the contrast that sets it off.
>
> ********
>
> In much the same way that purely static loops can be boring,  I  
> sometimes
> find that parts that continually morph and never settle into a  
> strong groove
> or a strong thematic melody can also be equally boring.
>
> Of course,  we are different musicians from one another and no one  
> is correct
> and has the answer in this discourse,  but I for one,
> want to go on record to claim that one can use static loops (and,  
> indeed,
> lots of them) in a very , very interesting piece of  
> music..........especially
> if they are not a slave to using them and if they are in service,
> aesthetically to the piece of music.
>
> I'm really with Zoe on this one:   I'm not at all opposed to using
> prerecorded loops in service to one's aesthetic and more than I'm  
> opposed to
> reproducing pre composed pieces live on stage (a symphony  
> orchestra,  Kid
> Beyond or Imogen Heap)  but every time I have flirted with it,  
> myself, I have
> found my own self not quite so engaged, emotionally, as a performer.
>
> I just saw a beautiful youtube performance that my brother did at  
> Gavilan
> college where he used a drum machine and then I saw him play live  
> again where
> he used only his guitar (and extremely creatively) to make his own  
> 'drum
> tracks'.    Both performances were excellent but I related  
> emotionally more
> to the one where he made his own tracks.
>
> Of course,  he just layered several really neutral and perfectly  
> repeated
> layers of 'framing rhythms' to create a drum groove that was  
> neutral enough
> so that his own playing stood out against it in contrast.
>
> In the fantastic book, 'the making of Kind of Blue' by Ashley  
> Khan,  he talks
> about the fact that Miles experimented with modalism precisely  
> because it's
> harmonic simplicity and openess gave the soloist far more freedom  
> to determ
> the harmony of a piece of music.
>
> On, 'In a Silent Way' and *Bitches Brew',  Miles continued on with  
> this them
> with the first use of tape looped percussion parts which freed the
> instrumentalists and drummers to be able to create a more open and  
> fluid form
> of percussive playing.
>
> It was the statis of the loops that allowed for more freedom and  
> diversity.
>
> I dig that, personally
> --
>