Tag: improvisation

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From the Archives: Floating Point

This video is an eight minute excerpt of a 12 minute improvisation (I think Sarah ran out of tape). As students in an M.F.A. program (it looks like their site went downhill after Fish went to RISD), the four of us had been playing together for a few months. We recorded some really interesting sessions, learning the soundscape of each instrument. The masks were donned as last-minute inspiration, but it was the first time we’d played with them:

This is the one and only public performance from the group we called Floating Point: Andrew Lynn on cello, Stephan Moore on laptop, Naomi Ture on violin, and myself on guitar.

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From the Archives: Live Improvisation on Piano and Electronics

One of the most important lessons artists need to learn is one that is never taught: document everything. It’s gotten so much easier in recent years and people still forget to point a camera at their projects. Good documentation keeps your ideas alive.

After recently getting my video groove back on, I pulled out some video archives. The perspective in this video adds an extra layer to it — a live improvised composition of its own. Video artist Sarah Smiley documented this for me in May of 2002.

I had been doing a series of piano experiments, with the main goal of playing back reversed piano. There’s something magical about the slow build of blended notes played backward. Looking back, I’m proud of what I was able to do with the technology. I have my critiques of the performance itself, but overall I’m happy with it. I miss having access to a piano, and both the technical and creative support that school provides.