Re: [microsound] Performing "Live"

[Ed Hall <edhall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think the reason this discussion doesn't seem to go anywhere is
that the participants differ so sharply in what they feel makes a
musical event worthwhile that they're simply talking past each other.

I think that there can be a difference of opinion as to just how
vital "performance" is to a shared musical experience.  Some would
claim that it is, while others would say that the important thing
is what happens within (and perhaps between) listeners and that
performance is a secondary issue.

Similarly, some folks might claim that improvisation is a pinnacle
of musical performance, while others would say that effective
interpretation of composed material is the highest goal, while
still others feel that a good spectacle is what makes live music
special even if the music itself is rendered unremarkable.

And so on.  The fact that I feel improvised music is generally
second-rate (much like improvised poetry) certainly doesn't stop
you from feeling that improvisation is the most noble and true path
to musical realization.  But it does gives us little common ground
for discussion in that area, and that we should agree to disagree
and leave it at that.

Frankly, the original discussion was pretty interesting until we
got bogged down in matters of taste and aesthetics.  There is quite
a long history of attempts to make electronic and computer music
"performable," and a free exchange of knowledge and ideas on the
subject would seem pretty high on the list of appropriate subjects
for this list.  Providing the level of real-time control over
computer-generated or -manipulated sound that a violinist (say) has
over his/her instrument is a tremendous challenge that is largely
unmet by any MIDI-based controller, but even the latter can add
a lot to the music creating/performing process, especially given
the potential of the computer to be "smart" about the interpretation
of its inputs.

But from where I sit, the most important space for musical
performance is between the listener's ears, and there are all
kinds of ways of reaching that space; it is foolish to place
value judgments on them...

		-Ed