Guided Improvisation Show

On August 7,2005, I put a guided improvisation orchestra show together. I've always thought that conducted large ensemble improvisation was something that the Bay Area did particularly well (with the Moe!Kestra! and the PornOrchestra, as well as the occasional conductions by Gino Robair, Bob Marsh, Dan Plonsey, Myles Boisen and others.

I wanted to do a show where people who weren't known for conducting ensembles would have the opportunity to show what kinds of ideas they could come up with for such a format. I invited Aurora Josephson, Phillip Greenlief and Eric Glick Rieman to share an orchestra with me. (The orchestra was made up of our peers in the improvised music community and people who answered my posting on the Experimental Music Invite List.) When Phillip had to cancel, I had the opportunity to invite Moe! Staiano, possibly the area's finest experimental music conductor, to headline the night.

Results

The night was a success, musically. The audience was on the small side - in a music scene where most of the show-goers are musicians, many of would-be spectators decided to become participants instead.

Scheduling a practice was a little difficult - I knew that we needed ideally 2 practices (so that us new conductors could address issues that come up on t heir our try), but I also knew that the more practices we required, the fewer musicians would be able to participate. I asked the musicians to arrive 3 hours before the event so that each of us would get a chance to work with them, and I bought pizza to try make up for dominating everyone's afternoon. A better solution would've been to schedule 2 practices, and require that orchestra partcipants attend at least one.

We decided to set up the orchestra into specific instrument sections so that they could be cued more easily. Winds and brass were on the left, strings on the right, percussion in two sections, and electronics and vocalists in the center.

In preparation for my own set, I came up with a series of about 20 flash cards, many with unique new instructions as seen below. Though I had specific ideas as to what each flash card should've meant, a few of them turned out to be the subject of interpretation. When the set came around, I would up ignoring most of them. I found it to be a similar phenomenon to a musician bringing too many instruments to a performance - they kind of prevent you from exploring too deeply with any particular one. I used the cue cards for VOLUME, RUMBLE, DRUMROLL, SIBILANCE, 1/2 AS MANY SOUNDS, and CREATE A PATTERN. Several blank sheets of paper and a thick magic marker wound up being a much more useful tool than anything I could build in advance. I created new cards for "1 brief sound every N seconds" (N being a different interval assigned to differnet musicians), and "Echo" (play a single brief sound shortly after the musician I indicate plays a sound) , which I used to set up large chain reactions between multiple instruments. If I conduct in the future, I will probably change the "Echo" instruction to "Domino", so the musicians know they don't necessarily have to imitate the person they're responding to - just respond briefly.

Eric and Aurora had figured out the benefits to a minimalist approach in advance. Each of them had only a few cues for when to join, volume, frequency of events and when to stop. Aurora's set involved creating micro-ensembles within the orchestra from musicians she could imagine sounding interesting together. Moe! used the opportunity to introduce some scored percussion for the folks who could read it, and some new graphical scores for us ignoramuses who can't read sheet music.

The modest proceeds from the concert went to benefit Dax Pierson, a local musician seriously injured in an auto accident while on tour last year. Thanks to all the musicians who participated, and to 21 Grand for hosting the event.

-JOIN IN: Make a “J” sign with my hand
-RESPOND TO: Make a “R” sign with my hand (Point to you and musician you're reponding to)
-HIGH NOTES or LOW NOTES: Point either HIGH or LOW + desired note (A,B, C, D, ETC.)
             Sharp and minor notes will also be included.
-PLAY FAST FROM START: Fist pounding (hold up 'FASTER' sign?)
-PLAY FASTER TO WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING: Left hand out, right hand
             circling (or hold up 'FASTER' sign)
-PLAY SLOWER: Pulsing stopping hand movement (Hold up 'SLOWER' sign)
-PLAY LOW SOUNDS: Low body movements
-CONTINUE WHAT YOU ARE DOING/PLAYING: Both hands circling/head nod
            (or single hand rotating, as in "go on", or 'ok' symbol)
-QUIET DOWN: Finger to lips/”shhhhh” gesture
-GET LOUDER: Hand to ear + thumb up
-PLAY FREELY: Wildly waving arms around like Roberto Benigni
-BEND: “Bendy” gestures with both hands, like bending a metal bar
-SCRAPE: Left hand placed out, right hand “scraping” gestures/distorted
           face.
-SUSTAINED: Make a “S” sign with both hands (hold up SUSTAIN sign)
-PIZZICATO (Pluck/pick): Left hand placed out, right hand “picking” gesture
-STACCATO (Choppy): Left hand placed out, right hand “chopping” gesture
-GLISSANDO: “Gliding” flat hand (either up or down)
-TRILL: Fingers “trilling” on thumb
-FALSETTO: Hand grab @ throat
-REMEMBER WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING: Point to my forehead
-GO BACK TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING: Make a “G” signal to my forehead
-PLAY HIGHEST NOTE POSSIBLE: I flip you off

STOP PLAYING - horizontal sweeping gesture or cutting throat gesture
BRIEF SILENCE - hand covering mouth. Resume playing when hand leaves mouth.
SOLO - index finger & pinky extended like at heavy metal concert
VOLUME CHANGE - horizontal hand rising or falling, or 1 horizontal hand rising/falling above the other
PERCUSSIVE HITS - hold up 1 to 4 fingers to indicate 1-4 hits. Each hit is on signal from other hand.
'POP' SOUND - a marble-shooting gesture - instantly play a single extremely brief sound.

'CUT TO' - Cued musicians playing next cue/notation sharply into next segment while playing musicians stop. This cue requires two separete cues.

'CUT TO & RETURN' - Same as above but only having the musicians return to playing to what they were 'cut' from, but on cue. This one is almost simular to "REMEMBER WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING" and "RETURN TO WHAT YOU WERE PLAYING".

LOOP: repeat a section of what you're currently playing:
   1) Together 'Praying' vertical hands downbeat = this is the beginning of your loop
   2) Apart 'this big' hands downbeat = this is the end of your loop. Go back to the
          beginning now and repeat indefinitely.
   3) Hitchhiking thumb gesture = exit the loop and continue what you were doing before
(This will make much more sense when I show it to you.)

FASTER = play slower
SLOWER = play faster
SLOPPIER = make timing/pitch mistakes more often, like you're a beginner
MORE ANAL = opposite of 'Sloppier' - play as rigidly as possible.
SUSTAIN - Sustained notes
DEVELOP - Add more details to what you're currently playing.
SIMPLIFY - Opposite of "Develop" remove everything but the core element of what you're playing
CREATE PATTERN = create a repeating pattern to indicated timing
RE-ORDER = change the order of events/notes your're currently playing
RANDOMIZE = take the events you're currently playing and play them randomly
HALF AS MANY SOUNDS= more sound events (not quieter)
TWICE AS MANY SOUNDS= make sound twice as much (not louder)
HARMONISE = harmonise with indicated person
PITCH SLIDE = pitch slide between all notes of what you're currently playing
DRUMROLL = for percussionists, or drumroll-like sounds if not percussionist
SIBILANCE - play sibilant/breathy sounds, like "sssssss"
RUMBLE - play low/rumbling sounds (for percussion/electronics/bass, etc)
SPUTTERING - like a dying car engine or singing with garden hose in mouth
CONTRAST - play a sound that contrasts with what you're doing now on the
signal. Resume what you were doing immediately after the downbeat.
PITCH = when holding this sign, hand signals correspond to pitch
VOLUME = when holding this sign, hand signals correspond to volume.


	08/07/05 Guided Improvisation show On August 7,2005, I put a guided improvisation orchestra show together. I've always thought that conducted large ensemble improvisation was something that the Bay Area did particularly well (with the Moe!Kestra! and the PornOrchestra, as well as the occasional conductions by Gino Robair, Bob Marsh, Dan Plonsey, Myles Boisen and others. I wanted to do a show where people who weren't known for conducting ensembles would have the opportunity to show what kinds of ideas they could come up with for such a format. I invited Aurora Josephson, Phillip Greenlief and Eric Glick Rieman to share an orchestra with me. (The orchestra was made up of our peers in the improvised music community and people who answered my posting on the Experimental Music Invite List.) When Phillip had to cancel, I had the opportunity to invite Moe! Staiano, possibly the area's finest experimental music conductor, to headline the night. Anyway, here are some photos from that event. Eric Glick Reiman Conducts Aurora Conducts Aurora Conducts Matt Conducts (Photo by Aurora Josephson) Moe! Conducts (Photo by Aurora Josephson) Moe! Conducts (Photo by Aurora Josephson) Basses and Right Percussion section Brass, Electronics and Left Percussion Section String Section Brass and Winds Results The night was a success, musically. The audience was on the small side - in a music scene where most of the show-goers are musicians, many of would-be spectators decided to become participants instead. Scheduling a practice was a little difficult - I knew that we needed ideally 2 practices (so that us new conductors could address issues that come up on t heir our try), but I also knew that the more practices we required, the fewer musicians would be able to participate. I asked the musicians to arrive 3 hours before the event so that each of us would get a chance to work with them, and I bought pizza to try make up for dominating everyone's afternoon. A better solution would've been to schedule 2 practices, and require that orchestra partcipants attend at least one. We decided to set up the orchestra into specific instrument sections so that they could be cued more easily. Winds and brass were on the left, strings on the right, percussion in two sections, and electronics and vocalists in the center. In preparation for my own set, I came up with a series of about 20 flash cards, many with unique new instructions as seen below. Though I had specific ideas as to what each flash card should've meant, a few of them turned out to be the subject of interpretation. When the set came around, I would up ignoring most of them. I found it to be a similar phenomenon to a musician bringing too many instruments to a performance - they kind of prevent you from exploring too deeply with any particular one. I used the cue cards for VOLUME, RUMBLE, DRUMROLL, SIBILANCE, 1/2 AS MANY SOUNDS, and CREATE A PATTERN. Several blank sheets of paper and a thick magic marker wound up being a much more useful tool than anything I could build in advance. I created new cards for "1 brief sound every N seconds" (N being a different interval assigned to differnet musicians), and "Echo" (play a single brief sound shortly after the musician I indicate plays a sound) , which I used to set up large chain reactions between multiple instruments. If I conduct in the future, I will probably change the "Echo" instruction to "Domino", so the musicians know they don't necessarily have to imitate the person they're responding to - just respond briefly. Eric and Aurora had figured out the benefits to a minimalist approach in advance. Each of them had only a few cues for when to join, volume, frequency of events and when to stop. Aurora's set involved creating micro-ensembles within the orchestra from musicians she could imagine sounding interesting together. Moe! used the opportunity to introduce some scored percussion for the folks who could read it, and some new graphical scores for us ignoramuses who can't read sheet music. The modest proceeds from the concert went to benefit Dax Pierson, a local musician seriously injured in an auto accident while on tour last year. Thanks to all the musicians who participated, and to 21 Grand for hosting the event. Moe's hand signals -BEGIN LAST INSTRUCTION - downbeat motion -JOIN IN: Make a “J” sign with my hand -RESPOND TO: Make a “R” sign with my hand (Point to you and musician you're reponding to) -HIGH NOTES or LOW NOTES: Point either HIGH or LOW + desired note (A,B, C, D, ETC.) Sharp and minor notes will also be included. -PLAY FAST FROM START: Fist pounding (hold up 'FASTER' sign?) -PLAY FASTER TO WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING: Left hand out, right hand circling (or hold up 'FASTER' sign) -PLAY SLOWER: Pulsing stopping hand movement (Hold up 'SLOWER' sign) -PLAY LOW SOUNDS: Low body movements -CONTINUE WHAT YOU ARE DOING/PLAYING: Both hands circling/head nod (or single hand rotating, as in "go on", or 'ok' symbol) -QUIET DOWN: Finger to lips/”shhhhh” gesture -GET LOUDER: Hand to ear + thumb up -PLAY FREELY: Wildly waving arms around like Roberto Benigni -BEND: “Bendy” gestures with both hands, like bending a metal bar -SCRAPE: Left hand placed out, right hand “scraping” gestures/distorted face. -SUSTAINED: Make a “S” sign with both hands (hold up SUSTAIN sign) -PIZZICATO (Pluck/pick): Left hand placed out, right hand “picking” gesture -STACCATO (Choppy): Left hand placed out, right hand “chopping” gesture -GLISSANDO: “Gliding” flat hand (either up or down) -TRILL: Fingers “trilling” on thumb -FALSETTO: Hand grab @ throat -REMEMBER WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING: Point to my forehead -GO BACK TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING: Make a “G” signal to my forehead -PLAY HIGHEST NOTE POSSIBLE: I flip you off Some other hand signals: STOP PLAYING - horizontal sweeping gesture or cutting throat gesture BRIEF SILENCE - hand covering mouth. Resume playing when hand leaves mouth. SOLO - index finger & pinky extended like at heavy metal concert VOLUME CHANGE - horizontal hand rising or falling, or 1 horizontal hand rising/falling above the other PERCUSSIVE HITS - hold up 1 to 4 fingers to indicate 1-4 hits. Each hit is on signal from other hand. 'POP' SOUND - a marble-shooting gesture - instantly play a single extremely brief sound. 'CUT TO' - Cued musicians playing next cue/notation sharply into next segment while playing musicians stop. This cue requires two separete cues. 'CUT TO & RETURN' - Same as above but only having the musicians return to playing to what they were 'cut' from, but on cue. This one is almost simular to "REMEMBER WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING" and "RETURN TO WHAT YOU WERE PLAYING". LOOP: repeat a section of what you're currently playing: 1) Together 'Praying' vertical hands downbeat = this is the beginning of your loop 2) Apart 'this big' hands downbeat = this is the end of your loop. Go back to the beginning now and repeat indefinitely. 3) Hitchhiking thumb gesture = exit the loop and continue what you were doing before (This will make much more sense when I show it to you.) MATT'S CUE CARDS FASTER = play slower SLOWER = play faster SLOPPIER = make timing/pitch mistakes more often, like you're a beginner MORE ANAL = opposite of 'Sloppier' - play as rigidly as possible. SUSTAIN - Sustained notes DEVELOP - Add more details to what you're currently playing. SIMPLIFY - Opposite of "Develop" remove everything but the core element of what you're playing CREATE PATTERN = create a repeating pattern to indicated timing RE-ORDER = change the order of events/notes your're currently playing RANDOMIZE = take the events you're currently playing and play them randomly HALF AS MANY SOUNDS= more sound events (not quieter) TWICE AS MANY SOUNDS= make sound twice as much (not louder) HARMONISE = harmonise with indicated person PITCH SLIDE = pitch slide between all notes of what you're currently playing DRUMROLL = for percussionists, or drumroll-like sounds if not percussionist SIBILANCE - play sibilant/breathy sounds, like "sssssss" RUMBLE - play low/rumbling sounds (for percussion/electronics/bass, etc) SPUTTERING - like a dying car engine or singing with garden hose in mouth CONTRAST - play a sound that contrasts with what you're doing now on the signal. Resume what you were doing immediately after the downbeat. PITCH = when holding this sign, hand signals correspond to pitch VOLUME = when holding this sign, hand signals correspond to volume. Conductors might make other signs on the spot. Interpret these as best you can.

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