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[microsound] Re: on working methods for live performance
On May 11, 2004, at 5:23 PM, Matt Davignon wrote:
For me as an audience member, the turnoff behind laptop performance
isn't the lack of showiness. It's the gradual loss of faith that what
you're hearing is being created "live". Watching a laptop performer,
you don't really know to what degree he's creating the music in real
time.
This is an interesting take. Do you mean that you prefer improvisation
over composition? (I'm not trying to be insulting) One could extend
this line of thought and get to "I don't like going to the symphony
because the players are just precisely replicating the notes on the
pages in front of them". Now I understand the subtle distinction that
you mean re: computers. Are people interested in hearing a performer
present a composition or are they interested in hearing him process
sounds? (warning, gross oversimplification ahead) The former could be
seen as art while the latter is craft. There was a Fennesz piece in the
Wire a year or so ago (why does it always come back to Fennesz?) where
he compared people and their Max/MSP patches to the guitar shredders of
the 1980s. Both seem more about the complex mechanics and less about
the artistic creation. Someone mentioned the idea that more people
should process sounds live from an open mic. This is clearly about
hearing someone work their programs & patches. Obviously there's a lot
of skill and aesthetic choice that happens in that process. But is it
just about being able to make one thing sound like another thing? For
me, as listener but especially as composer, the source material is
crucial. Sometimes I want a guitar to sound like a guitar. Obviously a
lot of people feel this way cause they surely went apeshit when Fennesz
strummed some chords on Endless Summer.
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