Stories from the experimental underground in San Diego 

Meyer Hirsch is an exceptional influence on my sense of what it means to dive into the experimental field and attempt "to swim".  The experimental milieu,  as other experimenters have experienced, is a "terror" (but an interesting if not fun one).  Hirsch has a knack for turning the entire experience of choosing a gig location, setting up, rehearsing, into an experimental adventure... to wit: 

Hirsch scheduled a gig for us, 'yea, I have it all set up' he explains.  I show up at this small bar in town.  Me,…

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Ripping them a new one with electricity 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 AT 9:07PM 
 I really enjoyed playing the material with electric guitar and effects at Brick by Brick last Sunday. I think it got out to the audience.   When I played with the league of Crafty Guitarists, all 13 of us would focus quietly on having a great performance about 5 minutes before curtain call.  But, right as that ended and we were about to go on, Robert Fripp would say something to the effect, 'now let's rip them a new one'.  I finally sense some real version of that.  I…

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You are the instrument 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012 AT 9:24PM 
Trey Gunn posted this video of a great Jazz pianist describing how your instrument is an illusion.  How your internal process is the thing that is really happening.  I have experienced where the notes I am playing "fit" with the texture of the music around me because of my perspective on them, not necessarily because of their technical place in the music (i.e. playing a major scale because a certain kind of chord is playing in the background).  An example of the notes…

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Possible approaches to improvisation 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2011 AT 1:22PM 
-Throw a rock through the window of your: 

expectations 

likes, dislikes 

understandings 

philopohies 

ideas 

concepts 

memories 

mind set 

mind field 

mindfeild 

thought parents 

thought children 

practiced patterns 

pitter patterns 

ponder patterns 

pain pots 

pill poisins 

THEN 

let yourself understand chaos if you see it

It's about whirring though space 

 30, 2011 AT 8:33PM 
Jonathan Piper's picture on "The Garage Gig" page of me whirring in a semi-here/semi not-here moment inspired this reflection.  The image gets at what it is like to be behind the controls of the 'sound suit'.  In one sense, I am very clear on what I am going to do (I am "here"), but I am also in between knowing what I am going to do, and not knowing (the "not-here").  The image also gets at what it is like to hear what is going on while gesturing: the sound picture is aslo whirring;…

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I become the suit man 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2011 AT 12:47PM 


Paul Moeller from Technomania circus shot this great example of a suit composition.  This one is called, "wired". Watching this video shows an interesting compositional approach that the "suit idea" is best suited for (questionable puns notwithstanding).  It is the following cyclical relationship as composition generator: 

 The movement of the player causes the sound, then the sound influences the movement of the player, the movement of the player causes the sound,…

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Watching musicians with great listening ability 

THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2012 AT 9:17PM 

I went to hear the jazz group Road Work Ahead.  Bill Mays- Piano, Bob Plank- Drums, Peter Sprague- Guitar, Bob Magnusson- Bass.  They played Jazz arrangements of some popular stuff and mostly originals.  The players made "IT" happen: separate instruments semlessly blend and create hybrid sounds coming from hybrid instruments... if you closed your eyes you might imagine that you were hearing the "Guitariano", the "Guitbass", or the "Drugitarbassiano".   I left so highly…

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The sound suit as spontaneous soundtrack generator for performer 

TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2011 AT 9:27PM 

As I watch footage of sound suit performances I have noticed that the sounds that come out work as a soundtrack to the movements that are necessary to create them.  So far, I have been purely motivated by wanting to make interesting sound compositions: To get an impulse to make a sound, then move. 

 I wonder what would result if I am motivated to make an interesting movement sequence first: move, then see what sound results.  From this perspective it is a movement piece…

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Creating a guitar suit 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 AT 4:26PM 

 

I am working on the guitar suit that I will be using next Saturday, 1/22/2011 at the second annual San Diego Experimental guitar show.  I will create multi-timbral sound clusters (sound clouds if you will), by moving an amplified guitar over the various string-exciting objects adhered to the suit. The most important construction tip came from my brother.  He suggested that I use velcro to affix the components.  As I began using velcro I realized why it is the most…

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Randy Chiurazzi 

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