Re: [Harp-L] AFTER YOU'VE GONE-- shtreim & making improvisation succeed



The boundary between what works in music and what doesn't work is quite fine. Too much 'human' on the drum machine becomes annoying, too little is boring and sterile. Many performers, even those who improvise, play in a comfort zone where what they are doing will always 'work' for the audience because they are nowhere near the boundary. In the old days the really challenging stuff was kept for after hours 'cutting' sessions. Others play right up to the boundary a lot of the time. For instance, it sounds as if Herbie Hancock and chums (accidentally reviewed by Brendan Power on this list) were over it into unlistenability on the night. Another night they are probably fantastic because the improvisations worked better somehow. Keeping in the comfort zone risks being dull on a bad night, rather than difficult to listen to. It is hard to keep the edge all the time.

Digital multitracking is quite interesting as a learning tool here (I use Garageband nowadays) because you can play 'live' stuff then adjust it as you like - put it into time, tune it properly, speed it up etc etc. Except for very gentle tweaking, these improvements usually make things sound worse when I am trying to make ordinary music.

Richard



Richard Hammersley
Grantshouse, Scottish Borders
http://www.last.fm/music/Richard+Hammersley
http://www.myspace.com/rhammersley
http://www.myspace.com/magpiesittingdown







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