RE: [microsound] herbs&spice and everything nice

[Christopher Sorg <csorg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: anechoic [mailto:kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>
> any for anyone who doesn't believe that the "tool is the message": please
> don't come up to me and ask me what software I'm using or ask to
> see my Max
> patch after I perform...the need to know this is a clear indication that
> the software was very much part of my performance...

I'm curious about this comment, because even when performers are playing
traditional instruments, for example, Taku Sugimoto or Milford Graves, but
have an incredible diversity of sound, I feel compelled to ask them how they
are doing it.  In essence, "how are they using the tools they are using?".
Sometimes it is physically and visually obvious how people are creating
sounds on stage, and sometimes not.  When you watch a painter use a brush
and paint, you don't automatically "get" everything the painter is doing to
utilize his or her tools.  Is it really any different with a computer?  Or
is just more likely that someone walks up and asks you about software
because you're essentially staring at the back of a piece of formed plastic
for the entire performance?  And if that is true, then what kind of message
is a guitarist delivering, considering his tool?  Is the important, relevant
message that is being delivered the message that the tool indicates?  It
would be difficult to hear the same message in Spanish flamenco guitar
compared to Mississippi Delta blues.  Or does this theory only apply to
computer-generated music?

"Tool is the message" seems to be a very broad statement.  "Oh, he's a
painter.  He's using paint."  That doesn't really tell anyone much about
what meaning any painter is trying to convey, really.  Jackson Pollock could
be a house painter with that kind of information.  He used house paint and
large brushes.  It isn't that I disagree with the concept.  On a fundamental
level, people write (books, letters) because it has an aura of authority.
Letters have a personally authoritative aura, books an academic aura.
Delivering a bank note is different from a "Dear John" letter, although they
maintain that aura of ownership and can be constructed in the same manner.
So isn't the content relevant?  What about the text?

"Algorhythmic".  Never rely on the computer to do a thorough spelling check.

__________________________________________
Christopher Sorg
Multimedia Artist
Adjunct Professor
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
http://csorg.cjb.net
csorg@xxxxxxxxx
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