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Re: [microsound] Performing "Live"



wait a minute -- is this *the* ed hall?

sc

On Wed, 14 Mar 2001, Ed Hall wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
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