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Re: Practice, rehearse, perform
--- ArsOcarina@aol.com wrote:
> That is precisely what is so compelling about folks who are truly
> "great" at their art/craft -- as it is often said, "They make it
> look so damn easy." Alas, that apparent "ease" is not achieved
> without a lot of hard work and preparation -- unless you are one
> of those rare, benighted souls born with a superfluity of natural
> talent. For the rest of us though, it is a long, hard slog . . .
While it's nice if your playing is effortless, but along the lines of the
other
thread I was just writing on, it can make for a more interesting
performance if
your looping appears LESS effortless. If it looks like you're working
doing the
music, I think people will understand what's going on easier.
Stewart said many people think he's playing to backing tracks. That's
obviously a
statement that says his looping technique is very seamless and effortless.
But
perhaps it would be more apparent to his audience what was actually
happening if
he could incorporate a more visual element into the creating of the loop.
I'm not
sure how you'd do that with what you do. Some music lends itself to a more
visual
performance. For example, Rick Walker's. It may not be obvious to an
audience
member HOW Rick makes the sounds keep going, but it is abundantly clear
that he's
working his butt off on the stage creating those facinating sounds and you
can
hear how things change when he (for example) leans over and twists the
knob on
his pitch shifter to play a harmony from a looping whistle sound. This
makes for
a provocative performance.
The other side of the coin is that if you're totally seamless, making the
tech
stuff invisible, that it could be considered more musically pure. I don't
know
that I adhere to that particular point of view, but I've heard people
state it
before. And for someone who can pick up on the fact that you are playing
all
those parts yourself and manipulating your loopers and other efx at the
same
time, it can be incredibly impressive. But...who are you trying to
impress? Your
fellow musicians who can't do what you do? Or the general man off the
street who
just wants to enjoy a performance?
Greg
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