Thoughts I've thunk while sippin' at a cup of tea and reading something provoking, often get dropped here for the benefit of humanity and my own hubris.
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I was invited to go to a concert in an outdoor amphitheater to see the Indigo Girls. I have kind of mixed feelings about the concert. While their fans thought they did a wonderful job, I felt somewhat bored. I realize that some are fans, so before you flame me, allow me to explain ...
I only endure the throngs of people, the exuberant ticket prices and entire hassle of parking and go to a concert for an experience. That means, if the group simply plays a CD, then why bother ... I might as well stay home and play the CD on the ol' stereo.
To make an experience, a concert should have:
- Jams. That is some sort of improvisational section
where a standard song becomes completely different than any other.
- Solos. Most "rock" songs have a section for a solo ... however,
this solo has to be less than one minute in order to have the
entire song fit within the 3 minute sound-bite. I believe
that if a song is going to have a solo and the solo is going well,
then follow it as long as the artist would like. (Granted, I am
coming from the jazz world where solos that could last hours
">.
- Experimental Arrangements. Why have the same arrangement that was done on the CD? Why not experiment with different textures of sound?
Before going to the Indigo Girls concert, I had heard that they did jams and solos and stuff in concert. I wouldn't really agree now. I mean, their jam (as they called it afterwards) lasted almost 2 minutes and I actually think they stopped it as their audience was getting bored. They know their audience, and it seemed like the people wanted a sing-a-long.
To their credit they were "using a boy" from another band who played mandolin, bass clarinet, violin, shakers, etc. He certainly added some interesting textures to otherwise pretty typical music. Another interesting thing is that the best solo was done by the warm-up artist, Michele Monroe when she showed up on-stage near the end of the show.
Anyway, this whole rant was due to reading the following article on a Usenet group. He is trying to explain why people like improvisation in general and the dynamics of "ad-lib" arranging. Thought you might find it interesting ...
BTW: moe is a really good group, so take a listen to one of their concerts at: http://eyes.jeffde ll.com/real.html
© 1997-2006, Howard Abrams • Except where otherwise noted, all original content is licensed under a Creative Commons License (see details).
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