From: skip Heller <velaires@earthlink.net>
That's such an awkward semantic to throw out there that it begs a re-think.
The instruments have changed enough that being able to play means something different than it used to, although it really should boil down to the same thing -- being able to play means being able to project your ideas on you instrument, and having enough tecvhnique to do it cleanly and consistently.
Yeah I was thinking of Sachiko M and John Wall when I wrote that stuff before. How can one say that Sachiko M has great technique and is a "fine" player of the sine wave generator? Or how do you account for the assemblages of Wall when he puts together snippets of Ryoji Ikeda and John Zorn into a new composition. The phrase "playing well" or "having technique" becomes a bit problematic in these areas. You end up saying something like "boy, that Sachiko M sure knows how to play that sine wave generator well." Somehow, misses the point. You need a new vocabulary. In Wall's case, you talk about the assemblage. In the case of Sachiko, you talk about her sensibility. Or some such vocabulary. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
on 7/6/02 4:46 PM, Bill Ashline at bashline@hotmail.com wrote:
Yeah I was thinking of Sachiko M and John Wall when I wrote that stuff before. How can one say that Sachiko M has great technique and is a "fine" player of the sine wave generator?
I think if you're figuring out where to stick that kind of sound, you're either doing it real good or not. It's more like arranging, and there's a lot of technique involved in arranging.
Or how do you account for the assemblages of Wall when he puts together snippets of Ryoji Ikeda and John Zorn into a new composition.
Assembling music is not easy. Doesn't matter if you're playing the phrases yourself or if you're using pre-existing material as your raw material. You've gotta make it happen a certain way -- with regard to time, space, and propulsion -- or it falls flat. You need precision. Constant precision -- regardless of media -- is chops.
The phrase "playing well" or "having technique" becomes a bit problematic in these areas. You end up saying something like "boy, that Sachiko M sure knows how to play that sine wave generator well." Somehow, misses the point. You need a new vocabulary. In Wall's case, you talk about the assemblage. In the case of Sachiko, you talk about her sensibility. Or some such vocabulary.
Anyone can assemble or project a sensibility. Putting it together well -- THAT is technique. I think the people who naysay the need for technique don't understand what technique is. They think it's speed on the instrument in the conventional sense. It's not. It's about hitting your mark reliably, and nobody ever had a better batting average for this than the Ramones, who I think had the perfect technique for all time. skip h NP: Li'l Kim mp3s
participants (2)
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Bill Ashline -
skip Heller