1. Is ‘success’ (however that’s defined) a meaningful idea in approaching (as listener or performer) improvisation?

I’ve tried to address this issue from the other side before, so let me paraphrase that here:

What is the status of ‘success’ in improvisative performance? Is the notion of success relevant to improvised music? If relevant, is it important in the ongoing practice (evolution, mutation or adaptation) of improvisation?

And does that success or failure depend on a more-or-less autonomous criteria (whether or not you call that criteria ‘musical’)? Furthermore:

Not withstanding the desirability of both, is it better to fail as a piece of music, yet leap into the unknown, or is it better to craft a listenable piece of music, but remain in a safe space?

2a. If yes to question 1, what might success mean in an improvisative practice?

I’ve circled around this issue without necessarily addressing it.

It wasn’t going to be great every time. It can’t be. We aim for greatness (however you define that) perhaps (I know I do), but we often fail.

…[The right attitude for improvisation is one] that encompasses a personal (or shared) understanding that some outcomes are more desirable (however you gauge that) than others. Add to that a sense of how to improve (evolve, mutate and adapt)—a creative intelligence—that makes the next one likely better than the last, and you have the model improviser. Aren’t we, to borrow a term from Mark Dresser, involved in a personal pedagogy?

That logic seems a little circular to me—I’ve failed to define many of these elements—and I fear that I’ve sketched out a practice that is defined largely by reflexive criteria (“I did that because I felt like it”). Certainly that does not tally with my professed skepticism of wishful, transcendental musicality.

Aside: I find it interesting that Dominic Marcella points up the YouTubified duo with Bruce Coates as an example of unsuccessful music. Bruce and I would probably agree that it was not our best moment by a long shot (I’ve referred to this performance as our “first crash and burn”), but I wonder if Marcella’s invocation of a holistic ideal music helps or hinders ongoing practice?

I think there are broader social, cultural and ideological forces here that make this question answerable (or at least addressable), but I want to know what you think.

2b. If no to question 1, how does the next day’s performance build upon the previous day’s?

There appears to me, at least in theory, possible ways of approaching evolution (at least in the Darwinian or Braxtonian senses) without the explicit mandate of ‘success’.

Sometimes the less than satisfactory improvisations bring into relief approaches or contexts that you are not able (yet) to deal with… or a performer highlights your relative lack of inventiveness or skill…. Even if these are musically less than successful (whatever that means), all these are valuable and are worth participating in as a performer and as a listener. [Read the rest…]

I still haven’t really defined the criteria for this here. I have my own ideas (primarily to do with politics and the sociality of performance) which I may write about at a later date, but what do you think?

3. Do prepared means (plans, schemes, compositions) define the criteria by which an improvisation is successful?

I was curious about the game plan that Paul and Nick Williams has for their duos at the March Stet Lab. By their reckoning, it didn’t quite work… but is that relevant either as performer or as listener? Similarly, the game of tag that opened the March Lab; was the game important or was it peripheral? It certainly affects the dynamic of real-time music-making, but in what way (if at all) is it important to the gauging of success?

In other words, if you have a plan, is success dependent on how closely you follow it? Is the criteria for judging success based upon the shape, form or effect of the plan? or can it be something else?

How much baggage do we bring to (improvisative) play? I’d argue that, as improvisers, our activities and engagement with real-time play might be more… constructive if we step-off this line between Cagian denial of agency and authorial determination. As improvisers, I value your (and my) identity and history (maybe even our prejudices), but I hope that there’s a possibility of their mutation through playful engagement.

I’m asking: what do you think?

Nick Williams and Paul Stapleton (photo: © 2010 Julia Healy)

Thanks to Paul Stapleton and Nick Williams for an exciting and eclectic set, to everyone else that played (Juniper Hill, Ruti Lachs, Tony O’Connor, Han-earl Park, Veronica Tadman and Kevin Terry), and to photographer Julia Healy [see the photographs (new window)…].

Last but not least, special thanks to all who came to listen and witness musical mutations in motion!

As with all the recordings since December 2008, this month’s recordings are covered under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. [More info…]

It will be an evening of exciting and unexpected musical interactions. We hope to see you there, participating as audience, performer or helper, and thank you for your support.

Stet Lab featuring Paul Stapleton and Nick Williams

Monday, 8 March 2010

9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)

Upstairs @ The Roundy [map…]
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

Stet Lab, Cork’s monthly improvised music event, returns on Monday, 8th March 2010. Taking place upstairs at The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork, Stet Lab presents Belfast-based sound-sculptor, guitarist and electronic musician Paul Stapleton and Newcastle-based electronic musician and guitarist Nick Williams.

Originally from California, Stapleton is currently based at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast. He is an active improviser, instrument builder, ensemble director and installation artist who has shown work in a variety of locations across Ireland, Great Britain and North America. Improvisation is a key element in his work, especially in its intersection with environmental and social forces.

Joining Stapleton on the night will be sonic improviser and guitarist Nick Williams. Currently based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Williams’ work takes the form of cross-disciplinary performances enrolling new instruments and new electro-acoustic resources.

Collaboratively, Stapleton and Williams are, with dancer Mona McCarthy (from Cork, based in Newcastle), the interdisciplinary performance group theybreakinpieces. Through this group they have performed with artists such as Ben Evans, Jon Aveyard and Dan Reynolds.

The event will begin at 9:00 pm (doors open at 8:45 pm) and entry is €10 (€5).

Next month’s Stet Lab will take place on Monday, 12th April 2010, featuring the composer, improviser and guitarist John Godfrey.

the performers

Paul Stapleton is an artist-researcher originally from Southern California, currently based at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) at Queen’s University Belfast. Prior to joining SARC in 2007, Paul worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Central Lancashire where he taught, researched and curated events on sonic art, mediatised performance, live art and practice as research. Paul is an active improviser, instrument designer, ensemble director and installation artist who has shown work in a variety of locations across Ireland, Great Britain and North America. Paul is also a co-director of the interdisciplinary performance group theybreakinpieces.

Nick Williams is an artist, performer, and researcher based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. He is currently in the final year of his PhD in post-vernacular music at Newcastle University. Nick’s practice is realised through many forms of improvisation and cross-disciplinary performance including sonic improvisation using instruments authored in Max/MSP, and site-specific collaboration with the performance group theybreakinpieces of which Nick has been a co-director since 2004. For his latest performance Nick has collaborated with Mona McCarthy (dancer) to create a site specific work based in an interactive procedural-audio environment.

To be informed of future events, please join the Stet Lab – announce, or subscribe to the web feed (news only or all blog posts). [More info…]

Stet Lab featuring Evan Dorrian

Monday, 8 February 2010

9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)

Upstairs @ The Roundy [map…]
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

This month’s Stet Lab takes place upstairs at The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork, Ireland, on Monday, 8th February. 2010. Following the success of January’s real-time fusion of Turkish, Irish and American improvisative practices, this month Stet Lab is set to travel farther and presents, from Canberra Australia, the exciting percussionist and sound artist: Evan Dorrian.

Evan Dorrian is currently based in London and has two main projects: Spartak and Pollen Trio. They are contrasting in style, Spartak creates an ambience through 60’s fire music and post-punk drift, whilst Polen Trio is an exploratory outfit that is founded on melodic song-form and textural improvisation. According to Dorrian, he likes to pull apart the traditional notions of his acoustic instruments and reconstruct them as “pure sound matter and busted anti-rhythms”. According to Ron Schepper (textura.org):

Dorrian’s an explosive player whose inventive fills and cymbal colourations hold one’s interest whether the setting’s free jazz, electronic exploration, or guitar-heavy raver….

Dorrian’s approach has attracted international interest, and his ever-expanding list of collaborators include the jazz musicians Adam Simmons, Abel Cross, electronic sound sculptors Seaworthy and Adrian Klumpes, and improvisers Dave Brown and Mike Cooper.

Also performing on the night will be Stet Lab’s resident band: The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) Of…. This month’s lineup is the Cork-based trio of Marian Murray (violin), Paul Dowling (bass guitar) and Owen Sutton (drums).

The event will begin at 9:00 pm (doors open at 8:45 pm) and entry is €10 (€5).

Stet Lab will return on Monday, 8th March with an event featuring the Belfast-based sound sculptor Paul Stapleton and the Newcastle-based electronic musician Nick Williams.

the performers

Evan Dorrian is an Australian improvising musician and sound artist, currently based in London. Using the drum kit, percussion and field recordings as sound sources, he pulls apart the traditional notions of his acoustic instruments and reconstructs them as pure sound matter and busted anti-rhythm.

His main projects are Spartak, an electro-acoustic duo that sees 60’s fire music and post-punk drift in dub ambience while Pollen Trio is an exploratory outfit that is founded on melodic song-form and textural improvisation. Pollen Trio recently released ‘230509’, a loose collection of post-processed jazz works on hellosQuare recordings while Spartak will be releasing their album ‘Verona’ in February 2010 on the English label Low Point. In October 2009, Evan released a self-titled suite of solo improvisations, also on hellosQuare.

Alongside this work, Evan has also collaborated with Australian jazz figures such as Adam Simmons, Cameron Deyell and Abel Cross, tireless improvisers like Dave Brown (Pateras/Baxter/Brown) and Mike Cooper as well as electronic sound sculptors including Seaworthy (12k), Andrew Pekler (Kranky, Staubgold) and Adrian Klumpes (Leaf Label).