RE: Re: [microsound] laptop as a performance device.

[chthonic <chthonic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>So I think arguing that it isn't a problem is a bit like preaching to
>the converted. Is the approach to persist with the obvious 
functionality
>of the laptop and wait for audiences to latch on to the idea that it
>doesn't matter, or is the approach to layer an artificial 
performance
>over the top. I prefer the former, because the latter seems 
dishonest.
>Or does that matter?

i think it does.  i say whatever is your natural performing inclination 
is what you should do.  if that's not enough for the audience, it's 
either their perception or the environment of presentation.  

i posted once before (probably on the idm list) that bare-bones 
rock clubs are not the places for this kind of music and 
performance.  putting someone with a laptop on the same stage 
as other kinds of bands and performers invites comparisons that 
shouldn't be made.  i bet if classical or chamber music was a new 
form, audiences would be arguing how bad these musicians 
sound in rock clubs too, while the champions of the style would be 
defending the unique aspects of the players and instruments.  it 
would be up to someone to create environments such as 
acoustically sympathetic rooms made for playing and enjoying 
music like that.  this is where we stand right now with laptops.

i find myself enjoying laptop music much more in a gallery, lounge, 
or even an apartment.  in those spaces the expectation is entirely 
different.   but i'm sure it can go even further if new spaces were 
conceived for the purpose of getting across the unique 
characteristics of a live laptop performance.


d.

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