Chaos and Order

As we found out in class it is quite difficult to have chaos without some order. When Vince, Ben, and I had the topic Chaos and Order to try to work with we found that it is quite easy to order chaos, but it is difficult to try to keep order out of it. We had decided to be chaotic with order as to when we changed volumes and pitches. I would not try to say that chaos is equal to disorder, although some people might think they go hand in hand. Using chaos in improvised music can be very interesting and ordered. Many new and creative sounds can come from chaos. It is easy to perform, because when you are trying to create chaos you don’t feel like you have to be fully conscious on what your fellow musicians are playing, although you should be. I found it quite helpful to try to create chaos in music since I hadn’t had much experience with improv. It forced me to stop being shy and just play something, anything, and feel free with it. I think it had a large influence on why I feel more free to improvise without hesitation now.

In Sync or Swarm Ralph Abraham is quoted stating that, “chaos does not mean disorder…It represents an abstract cosmic principle referring to the source of creation” (p 85) I agree with his interpretation of chaos. Even though one might not approach chaos with any set order in mind, it has the tendency to just happen anyway. Just because the notes are totally random, usually differing greatly from those being played by fellow musicians at once, does not mean that order is not present. It can almost always be found in the way the piece is being presented. Crescendos and decrescendos timed together during chaos would be very little changes, but they add a definite presence of order. A lot of the time it can be the things that we don’t think about, since we tend to be doing these things in our subconscious from having played music for years.

I also found a quote by Bob Dylan that I liked: “I accept chaos. I’m not sure whether it accepts me.” (p 85)

Sync or Swarm

I was reading more of Sync or Swarm over vacation and found an interesting quote. “This kind of thing happens in improvisation. Two things running concurrently in haphazard fashion suddenly synchronize autonomously and sling you forcibly into a new phase.” (p 69) This was a quote taken from Cornelius Cardew, and I think couldn’t be more right.

When starting off group improvisation can seem to be nothing more than nonsensical noises, a whirlwind of sounds. There may or may not be a set tempo, just as there may or may not be a common melody, harmony, or rhythm present. Somewhere along the line while in the middle of this sound storm something tends to happen. That something is that all the performers have a realization, usually around the same time, and everything flows into this new phase of logical sound. This is done through intuitive listening, eye contact, and body language. It is sometimes amazing how much of a positive influence real listening can have. Communication does not always require words, as musicians are aware of, sometimes it can be as simple as eye contact and body language. If one person hits an off note (without intention) it could spark some silent communication between that person and those around them. The same could happen having to do with tempos and rhythms. Eye contact is quite important in free improvisation. When trying to close a piece all players must try to be together and eye contact makes this possible. Communication is key.

commenting on another blog

I was reading Phineas’s blog about finding improvisation in unlikely places, or at least those that we may not have noticed before entering this class. He mentioned William Burroughs and his style of writing being improvised. How he used to just piece random things together, but somehow they made sense. He also mentioned that he was finding his basketball team had a very loose style, incorporating improvisation. I would totally agree that improvisation can be found in many unlikely places. Being a cook in a high stress kitchen I learned quickly that sometimes you just need to improvise. Even if it’s something as simple a situation as being busy enough to not have the proper dish to plate a meal on or not having the right size pan to cook the food in improvisation is all around me. Making things “on the fly” as we say throws some improvisation in the mix as well, making it so one person has to drop all the other things they’re trying to do and make something else in a hurry.

I think if all of us musical improvisers look around us, each one of us could find a prime example of improvisation in everyday life.

Criticizing Improvised Music

Sync or Swarm addresses a good point about how both performers and listeners perceive and criticize improvised music depends on their prior knowledge of music. Borgo stated on page 26 that an open mind and ear are necessary for the musicians and audience in order to fully enjoy the experience. “Since, on hearing the initial sound in a free improvisation, neither the performers nor the audience know exactly what direction the music will take…” This is a very valid point. Borgo stated that the musicians and audience “are forced to rely on the accumulate knowledge of prior musical experience and the assimilation of underlying codes embedded within it, to attempt to evaluate and derive meaning from such performance.” Those listeners and performers who approach improvisation with willingness to take in all aspects of the music, the timbre, texture, pitch, timing, silent spaces, etc are the people who truly enjoy the experience and would be willing to make criticisms to help the performers explore their music more. An environment that encourages constructive criticisms given by those who truly understand the underlying concepts of music can inspire a musician to fully explore the realms of improvisation.

Improvisation in Klezmer

For those who don’t know, Klezmer is a traditional style of Jewish music which involves improvisation. Clarinets and Violins are often a part of Klezmer. They hold the sound quality that is quite similar to a human voice and can be manipulated to have quite a free range of sound. Cantor singing, lyrics sung from Jewish scripture, is usually a part of Klezmer. Cantor singing gives the vocalist much opportunity to improvise notes, starting on a specific one and ending on a specific one, but hitting any note in between. I really don’t know a whole lot about Klezmer but learned about it in class with Steve last semester. It is interesting and I will be researching it more thoroughly. I’m in the process of searching you tube for a proper video to link here that is a good example of Klezmer. Often a musician will take a melody and improvise around it, much as the Cantor vocalist does, starting and stopping on specific notes but hitting any that fit in between. I found a video which gives a decent idea as to what Klezmer sounds like, but maybe Steve could help me out in finding a more fitting one. http://youtube.com/watch?v=PVFQJMNfyw8 This video is of a man playing an old Jewish Lyre, improvising around a traditional Jewish song.

Improv and Traditional Listeners

So I was reading Sync or Swarm and came across a quote that got me thinking.

pg 28- “Pulse, texture, use of the instrument’s full frequency-range, dynamics, density, timbre, interplay between performers when there is more than one. That’s too much to keep in your conscious mind all at once, but after a while one learns how to recognize these elements intuitively and from then on listening attentively becomes easier. I think that’s one reason why it is so hard for some listeners to appreciate free improv music–they are used to listening for melody, and not used to listening for density or texture so they don’t know how to decode freely improvised music and as a result it ends up sounding like random noise to them.” (quote#80)

This really had me thinking of what it must be like for people who have never performed a musical piece and who have never tried to improvise music to listen to truly on-the-spot improvisation. Is it just a bunch of random noise to them or does it sound like music that’s missing a melody? From a personal standpoint I had really never tried to improvise music on my own, but I have a strong background in music (free and formal) that I can pick out the different levels of texture, even when a true melody is missing. Sometimes you can pick out your own melody even when some would say there is a lack thereof. This got me to also think about what the dancers are going to think Tuesday morning when we perform with them. Will they be able to find a rhythm, melody, beat, or anything from the music we play them? Will they find a rhythm they can dance freely to? Or will they find the music we have created in their presence to just be a sequence of random noises? I’m very curious to see the results.

To the traditional listener who is accustomed to a set melody, and quite possibly very used to teleology, improvised music could very well be random noise, or even unpleasant. If someone is not used to listening to the texture in music they would likely be unimpressed with music very rich in texture if it is lacking in traditional form simply because they don’t know how to open their minds and ears to hear the complexities.