Re: public response to looping

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 5:04 PM, Chris Sewell <lunamusic@mac.com> wrote:
> But I think you guys are talking more about the ambient improvised 
>genre's
> more then looping itself. Right?

Seems so. Ambient music originally meant music that can be played in
the background without needing people to pay attention and listen
actively. Music as part of an environment. I believe that definition
has been around since the twenties (Eric Satie)? If you accept that
definition just a it stands, it means any noise that doesn't change
character too rapidly could qualify as "ambient" music. You could as
well tune a guitar as "ambient music performance". Or a harp for a
longer gig ;-) No matter how cool that might be from a philosophical
angle, but does everyone like the sound of it?

IMHO the missing link in this logic is a factor called "musical
qualities". The option, in both cultural and technical regards, to
create soothing sound changes over time without any particular musical
qualities is pretty new. In fact some modern "ambient" music is just a
synthesized laboratory version of the classic sound of a sea, the
sound of wind blowing in a forest or the sound of a manufacturing
multi process machine hall. Nothing bad in that. However, what  most
people regard "musical qualities" is when the musician makes the
effort to step outside his/her own exploratory (or therapy) process
and starts to present the music as an act of communication. Since
there is no common words or genres to describe these two aspects of
music many people simply just miss the point and think they "don't
understand the music" or that it is "bad music".

Bottom line here is that any talking in public about "looping" needs
an additional description that addresses the above. If a "looping
festival" is arranged in public the fact that many performers use
looping devices is just one side of the coin. Another very important
point is that it indeed is a musical genre crossing event! So that
should be emphasized in the promotional work. If the intention is not
to offer a genre crossing event, then a proper musical genre
description is needed to attract an audience that has a fair chance to
enjoy the program.

Greetings from Sweden

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