Midnight Oil

[Re: [Powderworks] time signatures]

Kate kate@dnki.net
Wed, 21 May 2003 09:15:27 -0400


Food for thought here ...

I believe it was McGill University that wired up some musicians and 
monitored brain activity in various regions whilst they played their music.

When the musicians were told to play "technically" (e.g. like "typing") and 
with emphasis on precision, their brains lit up in math processing 
regions.  The music they produced was very flat and pedestrian and not much 
worth listening to.

Whey they were told to play "musically" and "with expression", the more 
emotional parts of their brain registered much higher activity than the 
mathematical processing regions.  The result was much closer to how they 
normally play and far more inviting.

While you need both precise musicianship and feeling, it is that emotional 
expression which makes the difference between executing music and 
performing music.  I suspect that is what Damien is about here - he knows 
the time signitures, but they are not so relevant as incorporating, 
interpreting and reflecting the music that is going on around him.

I was watching a video with a celtic band that incorporated 
classically-trained flute and violin players.  They stated that their 
biggest challenge in crossing over to live performance and innovative 
composition in the studio lay in learing to interact with the other 
musicians on a constantly flowing basis.

At 02:43 PM 5/21/03 +0300, ALEXEI wrote:
>Damien, what you just said is what largely makes the difference between
>Musician and a musician.  I wonder if Rob Hirst feels the same way about the
>foundation of music which is there regardless of whether we think it's boring
>or not...  I will be very surprised if he does.
>Alexei
>
>[name removed] wrote:
> >  I will make this clear that this is as boring as fuck
> >   and i personally don't count bars i just watch the
> >   singer for counterpoints and play off the rhythm
> >   section...
>
>
>
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