[NewMusic] New groupings more better no wait old groupings

[Matt Davignon]

I see it work either way in groups. New groupings can sometimes be
overly cautious, or sometimes not. Existing groupings may develop
their own languages and roles, but they may get stuck in familiar
areas.

I've personally made it a point to not play too often in groupings
that I like, because I don't want to get to a point where it's not new
anymore. In my playing experience the second or third try of any
particular grouping is most often the best.

One thing that I do find to work is verbal discussion before a set -
things like, "Let's try to keep songs under 3 minutes long." "Let's do
at least one really quiet song tonight." "If I stop playing that
doesn't mean you have to stop playing." Fairly often in groupings
often is that sometimes I like to sink to a barely audible level, and
I don't want the other musicians to feel they have to adjust their
volumes accordingly. Without these sorts of discussions the standard
rules of engagement tend to take hold.

On 8/21/07, Matt J. Ingalls <ingalls at mills.edu> was all that weasel was like: :
>
>
> >> well me too. but. (ok i'm going to say it) i am finding more and
> >> more the one-nighters are CONSERVATIVE musically -- too much "small
> > talk"(**)
> >
> > i find exactly the opposite most of the time. a lot of the time my
>

To which Matt Ingalls responded all:

> well i was talking about my observations (as an audience member) of groups
> in general. perhaps yours are different than the norm. :)
>
> -m