Re: [microsound] Re: laptop ethics

[Gregory Taylor <gtaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>and jhno wrote: >>>>i think the main difference is the distancing
>between physical interaction and sonic output. the violinist has her
>hands on the physical objects that are directly creating the sound
>heard through physical resonance. her movements are understood by the
>audience - e.g. attacking quickly with the bow produces a louder or
>more quickly attacking sound... and the emotional quality of these
>sonic characteristics match the visual character of the
>instrumentalist's gesture, according to some lexicon of universal human
>experience...<<<<

I'm not sure you need a "lexicon of universal human experience" for
this, although my belief system might find it congenial. However, I
did want to mention that it seems to me that one side-effect of the
proliferation of music in its recorded form (and a corresponding
diminution of experience with live performance, perhaps) has been
that I think those experiential "games of virtuousity" are far less
clear to the average listener - except for those who've actually
been close enough to the physical interfaces themselves to have some
prior knowledge of it. This might figure in in some ways to our 
discussions here about our expectation frameworks for laptop performance
(or lack of 'em).

In situations like this, I find myself turning again to the simple and
marvellously transparent structure of the performance of a raag, which
derives its strength and pleasure for me from the fact that the structure
of the thing itself is explicitly focused toward building familiarity and
the ability to make sense of things on the part of an audience:

I have no wish to oversimpify a tremendously subtle tradition, but I'll
do a quick rundown of the alap/jor/jhala for those of you less familiar:

1. sketch basic melodic/phrase materials, no set tempo
2. add pulse, extend
3. add rhythmic structure, everyone starts to play off each other, generally
showboat, and impress the beejeepers outta the slack-jawed audience, who've
by now heard the whole edifice erected before their ears.

What might such a form look like in the laptop performance world?

your inquisitive friend,
Gregory

_
knowledge is not enough/science is not enough/love is dreaming/this equation
Gregory Taylor/WORT-FM 89.9/ http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/~gtaylor