Shadow behind the iron sounds
I recorded a CD titled Shadow behind the Iron Sun in 2004 and some of you will have noticed the short music clips heard on my website are from the CD. The recording was totally improvised which gave me the freedom to create onto a blank canvas.
Improvisation can be liberating and exciting but it can also be frightening at the same time because I am never sure where the inspiration is directly coming from. For me improvisation is about spontaneity and mood which can be triggered in many ways. The daunting aspect comes when there is an expectation of improvisation.
Last year I joined a group of musicians at Kings Place in London to perform improvised music to an audience who were watching old black and white silent movies. The event was titled Not so Silent Movies and it turned out to be enormous fun. The audience triggered the music for each set which ran through the films in all directions. We, the musicians, could see the films and the idea was to just play! The audience were invited to choose an instrument they wanted to begin each set, which was extremely nerve racking as each of us wondered who they would chose next!
There is also a shadow that occurs before an improvised performance. it can drape like a cloak of anxiousness and concern about what will happen if I cannot think of something to play. As soon as the performance begins it evaporates and the creativity and music takes over.
It would be almost true of most musicians to say there is a nervousness prior to a performance - we are human after all! but for improvisation it can be different because there are no notes on the score spinning around in the head we will not have practised the pieces in advance and all we have to go on is the' ideas' that may come to us as the curtain goes up! I can tell you the' ideas' can be very elusive at that point!
I often tell an audience they are the inspiration, they provide the impetus to begin the process and the applause provides the energy to continue. The excitement builds in different ways depending on the audience. Some audiences are slow to respond but when they do it feels like a burst of sunlight. Others are exuberant from the outset and they keep the tempo buoyant throughout.
Another source of creativity comes from the instruments themselves as well as the collaborators. In the clip attached the set up was magical, the colours and sights of so many instruments positioned in front of me turned into a colour palette to create a supernova of music and sounds. Together with Trilok Gurtu and Fred Frith we created the spirit of Shadow Behind the Iron Sun - I hope you enjoy it and look forward to your comments.
Where have all the emails gone......or the Art of queueing
Once again I am standing in airport queue waiting for hours to be 'processed' and assessed for security risks. As I stand slightly shifting from leg to leg to avoid getting too stiff from inactivity, all kinds of thoughts begin to go through my mind. Is there an Art of Queueing? are certain nations better at queueing than others? is this a British thing?
I wonder if we can train ourselves to constructively use our 'mental time'. Can we go into 'a queue mental zone' and use the opportunity to let our minds rest or wander loosely around the brain in thought. Perhaps you already do this.
Some thoughts that instantly pop into my head are about emails. I find myself reminded of emails, ones I have not responded to or forgotten, emails that I have not received a response from and emails I need to write. Instantly my head goes down to the examine the tiny screen of my mobile phone and I begin scrutinising each entry to see what news is contained in the plethora of emails squashed into my inbox. The new ones have been vibrating constantly since I began queueing, eagerly jostling for me to address them
As I do the luggage shuffle, I am such an expert I don't even look up when I edge my cases forward with a deft shove of my foot! I exercise my thumbs by typing essay emails whilst struggling to check for spelling errors. I am one of those people who type the full email, almost without abbreviation, I wonder what that says about my personality.
Three hours of queueing has resulted in 25 emails, I think I will begin keeping a tally of how many emails I can type per hour.
I ritually look up briefly to check my place in the queue. I assure myself I am in the correct queue, feel in my pocket for my passports and tickets before turning back to the icon of communication staring back up at me, urging me to do just one more email or perhaps a text or even a tweet or maybe not.
I don't find queueing very inspiring, for me it is rather a process of reflection. Mentally checking and double checking and for wondering what to cook when I get home. I have started cooking meals relevant to the place I am visiting. This weekend it will be goulash because I am on my way to a percussion festival in
Gyor, Hungary. Ah I can make a note of some of the
Facebook tips I have received about making this traditional dish, best cuts of beef, plump peppers, sweet onions only one problem it is making me feel hungry now and I have only moved a few feet in the queue! Bon apetite and have a lovely weekend..