with the 96 hour improvisation, shifts were important, people signed up for certain periods and it was constantly evolving; sometimes people would come in on their own off-shift, so there was an organicism to it. i was ill at the time (i've been feeling ill a lot, but nothing serious) and so i didn't stay into the evenings, which i would have liked to. i think at night the more jazz-oriented musicians played for some reason, and perhaps louder; they had the building to themselves, whereas in the day there were other people around as well. i would have been drowned out; playing acoustic instruments these days might cut it musically, but not in terms of amplitude. we're still waiting to hear the board recordings; there were difficulties when a hard-drive gave out, but the data has been saved. so we'll have a 96-hour recording which seems wonderful to me, maybe more so if names aren't assigned to sounds. i'd like to explore more of these things - not as conceptual/duration events, but as dwelling (was it Heidegger who made the distinction between dwelling and building - forget the text, what it means to deeply inhabit a space? - i think of this in terms of the instruments and books here where i live - we're surrounded by these, as well as technology of all sorts from 1915-era radios to gaming laptops) - which carries a sense of the indefinite with it. Foofwa did long duration pieces, not in time but in space, with the Danceruns that went maybe 15 kilometers of dance/motion at a time, through cities such as New York, Cairo, Geneve, Paris etc. - and for me there's also William Kemp's "Kemp's Nine Days' Wonder Performed in a Dance from London to Norwich Written by Himself to Satisfy His Friends" - this from 1600! - he danced the "famous morrisse unto Norwich" stopping overnights, accompanied by pipe and tabor - certainly the first long-duration piece i know of and it did indeed create a sense of communality along the route; he was entertained by town mayors and various people would join him along the way. fantastic! the title is from a pamphlet he wrote describing the experience.
sustaining such experiences, except for Foofwa's which was continuous, usually does involve stopping and garnering energy at times; i know - think i wrote about this - that i have to switch between bowed and plucked instruments before my muscles freeze up... i was thinking in fact about the Asian performances you mention, and their often days-long lengths - if you remember there was also Michael Oppitz' Shamans of the Blind Country, with the 15-year-old woman on the pole undergoing trance/initiation - I wish I had that film now! - it might be just the opposite, maybe these longer forms were common early on, maybe we're almost literally stepping on time now, as if there were new lines to cross, new cleverness and salvations just around the corner, Google Glasses - - Alan On Fri, 22 Feb 2013, Johannes Birringer wrote: > > I wonder whether there is such a process as collective improvisation > in a musical or movement/performative sense, and how long one indeed > could sustain it. > > It seems, Alan, you were experiencing the 96 hour concert as such a strong > continuum, where musicians would arrive, at any given time of that day, those > days, > and start playing with others, and this went on and around, and I imagine it > to > have been an amazing experience if one could dedicate time > and enjoyment of time into it. Did performers play right into the small hours > of > the morning, and then the morning 'shift" arrived? did some play > continuously? > would it make sense to play so long? in dance terms (raves notwithstanding), > it > is not possible of course, nor desirable, to dance continuously, not even > the whirling dervishes do it that long (within the sama ritual) even if, > thinking of the Indian traditions > of sanskrit drama, kutiyattam, and Kathakali, some of those performance lasted > for a week or more, audience were participating, eating, sleeping, listening. > > The communal affect of music (and dance) is powerful and we know this - > i was reminded also of a need for concentration, last night, and I gave it my > very > best, trying to listen to each instrument of the 'notes in?gales" ensemble, > performing last night at London's Club In?gales, conducted by Peter Wiegold > (instruments were: violin, clarinet, piano, electric guitar, santur & > accordion, > bass, percussion and electric piano) - and also to the words, and the > historical resonances of the music which was taking off from and returning > to Jewish Klezmer. > > The words came from a recital, by writer Will Self, of Kafka's short story > "A Country Doctor," which was intertwined with the music in a breath-taking > manner i had not imagined possible. It seemed the concert was > improvised almost completely, at least with the writer ? the musicians > had a structure and some of the "scores" available (composed by Wiegold) > as they had already recorded a suite of these Klezmer variations (on CD now) > for the KAFKA'S WOUND project I mentioned here a few months ago > (http://thespace.lrb.co.uk/ ) > > it was mesmerizing to listen to the santur, touched lightly with two brushes, > the softness and disappearance of melodic fragments, the faint trickle of > bass and piano, while the voice > told a story of the doctor's journey into wintry landscape and distant village > where the young man, suffering on his wound, awaits him, then the > more dissonant outbreaks of violin, clarinet, percussion, that started with > Klezmer and then drifted into a foreboding, sometimes surreal tonal > scape, not sure, a film/soundtrack of one's imagination, as we huddled, > about 5o people, in a tiny underground bar, connected through > whatever that music or these words evoked, 'community' I do not know > but a sharedness hard to define, then we break up immediately and walk > to the subway and our way. > > so what binds what? > > is it, as the music and Kafka imply, the troubled > side, the trauma, in our lives, our near hysteria, which can be contained > if possible for some time? pacified-agitated, transcended? > This is Klezmer detuned, if i were to use > Alan's phrase, and yet returning, at the end, to something also > ecstatic, gypsy dance-like, & we broke out into wild clapping, no that is > not true, most everyone clapped in good control of seated body undisturbing > of the neighbor, > and then the hands clapping stopped, with the last > beat of music. Then the vigorous applause. Peter sold some CDs later > that evening, cold winds outside, and slow train. > > regards > Johannes Birringer > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > == email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ web http://www.alansondheim.org / cell 347-383-8552 music: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ current text http://www.alansondheim.org/rt.txt == _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
