[NewMusic] one of the worst writeups i've ever seen

[Matt Davignon]

I'm with Alicia on this.

I imagine the little writeup took about 10 minutes for Hiya to do. She
was probably on deadline, and was asked to throw something in about
the festival. She's done decent writeups of our scene in the past.
Yes, writing a preview of something that pretty much says it's going
to suck is counter-productive.

On the other hand, if we don't want people to accuse us of being
hoity-toity and self-marginalizing, we're going to have to
occasionally stop being all hoity-toity and self-marginalizing.

I'm not particularly targeting SFSound here, more the attitude in
general that if people don't know who Pauline Oliveros is, then their
ignorance is "unforgivable". And that if they don't listen to our
music they are on a lower cultural level than us.

There is a descriptive blurb about "tape music" at sfsound.org/tape,
but I can see how it might be frustrating to someone with an IQ under
140 or someone who doesn't know what tape music is.

"What is Tape Music??

"It is a bit paradoxical to use the word traditionally with a practice
of the avant garde -- but, traditionally the words tape music have
referred to the target media of a new kind of music. This new kind of
music is not composed for arbitration by a pianist and the piano, so
it must not be piano music. . . not for the string quartet, not for
the orchestra, not even for the rock 'n roll band. "

If I were to describe the music happening tonight at lsg to someone
who's never heard it before, I'd probably start with more basic terms,
such as:

"These musicians spend a lot of time focusing on the basic ways that
sounds are made, and put efforts into getting unusual and uncommon
sounds from their instruments. Rather than playing something from
sheet music or memorized, what they are doing is more like telling a
story as it goes along. Each one is paying attention to their own
sense of what 'should' come next. When playing with others, it's also
necessary to pay attention to how the other person is reacting to you,
and how they might react to any changes you make. With enough
practice, it's possible for musicians to convey a sense of their own
language, and that's when it gets interesting to put people into
different groups each time."

Rather than, "Improv? Well, the european school with such luminaries
as...and current techniques defying the institutionalized zeitgeist"

Matt