Well, so, I went after something a little different today, in response to what Jesse wrote about yesterday. I wanted to try it out. But I couldn't let go, so completely, of form. I also didn't do exactly what I thought Jesse was suggesting... from talking with him, and hearing what he has to say, I gather that he means to let the brainwaves go, and allow the physical memory/training to kick in. That the subconscious will come through regardless, and hence prove a purer honesty. (Jesse, if I'm off the mark, feel free to chime in and correct me.) Look back to the "Dreams." post, and you'll see that I actually believe this in some sense, as well.
Here's the difference, though, for why that wouldn't work the same way for Jesse and for me. Jesse is primarily a jazz musician. He has gone through extensive training in improvisation. I have not. Not ever. This is a point that I discussed tonight with McIntyre, who knows. It is true that I have a quarry of classical language that I can fall back onto, but it is a very different skill set. It is so very difficult to adapt to this alternate way of creating music, and I think that the expectations set by my educational background has skewed my goals.
But anyway, success for this project, as it is judged solely on the process and what I learn, has already been achieved. The rest is noise.
Here we go, Day 109: https://ia600805.us.archive.org/21/items/Improv12111/12_1_113_14Pm.mp3
(Oooh, I could've made a great reference to Beethoven Opus 109. Darn!! Missed opportunity.)
Mary,
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the letting the brainwaves go, sort of... I think it isn't really turning them off, but allowing them to be free. Imagination running wild. And it's true about letting the physical memory/training to come in to a degree. There is some of that going on, although I don't like the sound of that statement. That sounds like it would just be technique, and I don't think that's it, and I hope not to sound like that. I like the idea of letting the ear kick in. I think that lately I'm listening to the piano a lot for inspiration - reacting to the overtones, etc. I think Keith Jarrett would say, or he used to say anyway, that the music was already in the air and he was just allowing it to channel through him. I think we're both doing that, whether we believe it to be in the air or not. It's coming to our ear and we're editing in real time - choosing to what to allow through. Maybe the difference between us at this time, is that you're editing much more heavily than me. I've been going through the process of opening up to dissonance. It's been going on for my whole life and I felt like during my daily improvisations I finally fully opened to it. I hear the dissonance, and I'm ready and willing to go there, and be with it and even present it to people, even though 2 or 3 years ago I might not have wanted to experience it as a listener. Now it's pretty hard to offend me with instrumental music.