[Fmpro] going loopy

[Chris Alpiar]

So when John Cage "wrote" 4'33" (which in case any of you don't know it's a
4 minute 33 second 3 movement piece of silence, no notes, just rests, the
only instruction is "tacet" written between each movement), did he write
something? Was it art? Was it music? To me its like visiting the MOMA in New
York where half of the works there are absolutely dumbfounding and the other
half have no business being in an art gallery, except that you cant define
art as anything other then an individual perspective.

To me 4'33" is crap, a joke, a funny FU to the bourgeoisie who accepted it
as art, nothing more. 

Now as to your piece I have written many Jazz and avant-garde compositions
where I have had musicians improvise, and any time ever that a musician
improvises they are credited as a soloist, even if they improvise as a
group. When improvising it is not the melody however. If they are
improvising the melody then it is no longer a composition but an
improvisation, and if you have no melody at all then it is more sound design
then music, or in the least in the nether between avant-garde and sound. 

None of this is the same as using pre fabricated loops, by any means. You
are still giving direction (a choice of notes, tempo, some verbal discussion
about your goal when you prep the musicians, etc). As for that whipped dog
that is the conga player: if you gave him no direction at all and he creates
a sound and a direction for your ensemble and comes up with some kicks and
hits that define the piece, shame on you if you don't acknowledge it. 

-----Original Message-----
From: fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com
[mailto:fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com] On Behalf Of
sean at shunkydave.com
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 11:30 AM
To: fmpro at nxport.com
Subject: Re: [Fmpro] going loopy

I'm going to chime in here.  When I was in college, writing 20th century
alietory music, I wrote a piece where I gave violins a set of notes,
violas no directions, cellos another set of notes, and bass a written
line.  The instruction was for the violin and cello to play in time with
the bass part (it was constantly changing) choosing whatever notes they
wanted from the set.  The viola was to play a melody around the violin and
cello line, improvised.  The bass played what was written.  It was more of
a brainteaser than an enjoyable piece, but it fit the assignment.

According to what you're saying here, I should share the writing credit
with the viola player.  Nope.  It was my piece, not theirs.  They didn't
come to me and say "I've got a great idea...I could do something like this
or this" and we wrote it together.  I had the idea, even though I had no
idea what they would play, and I got them to come do it.

If I put together a combo and I had the rhythm section playing a groove (I
wrote the bass line and keys), and I asked a conga player to join in, and
just asked him to fit in the groove, I'm going to expect him to have the
chops to play an appropriate style and tasteful fills where appropriate. 
If I want something special somewhere I'll ask for it.  If in his
experience he has an idea that would work well, I'll be open to it.  But
I'm not going to credit him with writing props.  It's not his piece.

--Sean