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NEWMUSING9


                                   Oct 01, 2001

    "What I've been thinking is that some of the values       
    that are implied by the act - or the end - of             
    improvisation are no longer as relevant to needs          
    of the world as they once were.  Individuality,           
    spontaneity, a sort of American Transcendentalist         
    process over product...  These are still great            
    ideals, and the world needs them, but perhaps not         
    as much as art which is more communal, less anarchic,     
    and less specialist.                                      
                                                              
    "Improvisation teaches us the skills of how to make       
    beauty in any circumstances - it's sort of a survivalist  
    spirituality - which is great.  But these skills          
    are not as well suited for dealing with the big issues    
    in the world today.  And one thing I've realized          
    post-9/11 is that I'd prefer not to see the world         
    fall entirely to pieces.  I'd rather try to address       
    the big problems that our country has attempted           
    to avoid dealing with, in the name of capitalism,         
    or rugged individualism.  These are compositional         
    problems, as I see it."                                   

                     Dan Plonsey
                     on the ba-newmus@ella.mills.edu 
                     mailing list, Oct 01, 2001


Some accumulated random thoughts:

The guys who run the corner
store below my apartment do
not seem to be plagued by a
sense that their lives                More people died
have no relevance after               last month in the
9/11.  They crank out the             US in traffic
sandwiches, sell the beer             accidents than in
and the milk, and pretty              the World Trade
much fufill whatever function         Center collapse.
they've always fufilled.
                                             Kill your
They probably spend a little                 television?
more time talking about
politics and a little less
time talking about sports.
(But then, it's not football
season yet.)

     But I, also, would be
     interested in an art
     with concrete,                   This has some horrible
     denotative meaning.              implications though: if
                                      you're going to stand up
        To me, this                   and say something coherent,
        means working   Someone       you actually have to have
        with words.     else          a coherent philosophy.
                        might  
  Words don't           think                And you need to be
  necessarily           of                   willing to risk
  preclude              working              being wrong.  Or
  improvisation.        with                 worse, trite and
                        images.              inane.
(Though                 
my claim   CONCRETE_MUSIC         A third           (The bay area style
remains                           approach:         often seems to revolve
that            There are         work with         around hiding behind
improvised      also hybrid       one of the        a mask of dada/kitsch.)
words           approaches,       established
are             of course.        languages of           And it's not only
difficult       Use improvised    music.                 the newmusers
to use          sound to                                 who are "guilty"
well.)          accompany a                              of this: consider
                composed                                 the squids.
                element:

          poetry?          slide show?
          singing?         film?

                ((fashion??)

                                            I'm not much of a purist
                                            in any direction, but
                                            I would suggest that
                                            individualism is not yet
   Audience sizes:                          dead, John Ashcroft not
   small audiences don't                    withstanding.
   bother me at all
   when I'm in the                          Further, I don't think
   audience (which is                       communal art and improvisation
   almost always).                          are necessarily opposed.
         
      There was one occasion                Bring a bucket of kazoos to
      when Raven and I showed up            you're next show: instant
      and found the only other              audience participation group
      person in the audience was            improv.
      Buzz, and he had given the
      band a ride that night.                        You can sometimes
      Things like this seem                          find cheap bamboo
      really funny to me.                            flutes in chinatown
                                                     for a buck a shot.
                              Though it's
                              too bad if
                              the musicians               Put the lines
                              feel psyched                of a poem on
                              out by this.                numbered cards.
                                                          Deal them out
                                                          to the audience,
  Here's some thoughts                                    to get a different
  on small audience sizes.                                voice doing each
  (Warning: if any of these                               line.
  thoughts seem depressing,
  remember that I'm a negative-
  kind-of-guy, there's probably
  a more constructive way to
  put it.)


       A music where the artist is                                  
       free to choose any set of                    (I wrote this paragraph, 
       rules at any moment, is a                    while listening to       
       music that's inherently                      Oliveros, Hikage & Tomita
       limited to one function:                     at the Meridian.  Someone
       it demands focused attention...              wanted to know if I was  
       It cannot be backgrounded,                   "writing to the music":  
       it cannot be an accompaniment                Yes and no.)             
       for popular dance, it cannot                                          
       be a vehicle for words or                              
       for worship.                        PURPOSES_OF_MUSIC  
                                             
                       At least not in  
                       any ordinary way.


       Most people are not really interested
       in music: but they need music to go 
       with their other interests.  
                                    
                                    
            I suspect (though am not certain)
            that with some effort I could
            attract a larger audience to some
            improv/newmus/creative events.
            But I'm not sure that most people       Consider the
            here would like the approach.           possbility that
                                                    if you *did*
                                                    get a large
                 One idea: partner with             audience, you
                 some of the local sex              wouldn't be
                 worker/performance                 happy with the
                 artists to develop a               quality of it.
                 new art form:      
                 improvised fashion.                   Ref: 
                 An inverse strip-tease,               Dr. Chadbourne's
                 accompanied by an                     remarks in
                 appropriately unpredictable           "I Hate the Man
                 music.                                Who Owns This Bar"
                                    
                                                       As a KZSU DJ I know
  A possible problem:                                  puts it, there are
  music that requires both                             "buzz addicts" out
  the energy and enthusiasm                            there who just follow
  of youth, and also an                                the buzz around
  experienced, educated ear.                           without any under-
                                                       standing of what
     I find it's not at all                            they're hearing.
     unusual to talk to someone             
     with a fairly noisy                                        (Me, I just 
     approach to their own                                      follow Buzz 
     music, who admits to                                       around.) 
     having a preference for                                    
     listening at home to                                                   
     more conventional, less     (E.g. in the mid-nineties, I               
     challenging music.          knew two different industrial              
                                 noise artists that were Tori       
                                 Amos fans.)                  
                                                                
                                    
                                    
As for me, I haven't seen           
any live music in the last                   With any luck, I'll make it    
several weeks, but it's not                  to the luggage store.  Maybe   
because of WTC-mania.                        I'm weird, but I still like    
                                             week night events, and making  
   This last weekend I road in               it to the East Bay is rough.   
   Critical Mass and attended                                               
   the Folsom Street fair. The                  (I travel almost exclusively
   week before I had deadlines                  by bike and public transit  
   at work... and I'm still                     these days, and Bart is kind
   cleaning up my gear after                    of lame on Sunday nights.)  
   my Burning Man trip.                                                     
                                    
        Life in the Bay Area:       

        More culture per capita     
        than any place in the country.      
        
        It's rough on the hipsters: 
        you get worn out running    
        about trying to keep things 
        moving.                     

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