Ok, first, sorry to everyone or anyone who might have wondered why I hadn’t blogged at the site here! My visit to Muenster and participation in Werktage came after two weeks of gigs in Italy and Germany, exhausting but of course great! After almost 10 years of visiting Muenster I’ve developed some great friendships and my days were generally filled with great lunches and appointments with friends etc. so getting to the blog site was a bit difficult for sure!
Day one: With the help of the Werktage staff we basically spent the first evening arranging the furniture! Figuring out how to set the room, lighting and stage for the final event that would eventually happen on Friday evening November 5. Earlier in the afternoon I began filming my video footage for the projections that would be used, shot from around Muenster, favorite places etc. which I thought would just add another dimension to the musical performance, this seemed like a good idea at the time but suffice to say, I’m no film maker!
Day two: Ok, I must admit, the idea of sitting in a large gallery space and being creative was a bit overwhelming at first, simply to have five hours each day to focus completely on the construction of the musical pieces was not something I’m used to, to say the least! In general, in my normal life, the writing down of musical ideas mostly takes place at the end of the day or whenever else I might have time to sketch something out that’s been on my mind, and usually is the result of an upcoming gig or new band concept. The idea of “having adequate time” is just not something I’m familiar with in my normal day and musical life. I feel that the pressure of finding time, trying to get the concepts out of my head and on the paper is always the challenge and also part of the overall process of each musical piece in the end.
Day three: Again during the day more video filming around town, riding a bicycle in the cold rain! This evening in the gallery seemed a bit more productive in terms of actually being able to focus on the music. I had originally sketched out four pieces of music earlier in the day, basic concepts for improvisation. The idea here is to try and provide a foundation for musical manipulation. I’m certainly not making any claims to being the first person to have this idea but I really love this challenge and it’s basically how I work in most of my groups in the States and in Europe. Trying to provide a simple musical motif that can be improvised off of by each musician in the group and hopefully develop into an interesting and spontaneous performance is the ultimate challenge. Sometimes the ideas work easily and the outcome can be totally satisfying, other times the attempt can completely fall short. This is the challenge, the rubics cube for me!
Day four: After arriving at the gallery space I began to view the video footage. Again, after I actually began the filming I realized that the concept was cool for sure but really not my thing in the end! I must say though, I was glad to have something to actually work with during my five hour visits to the gallery! Without having a band each night to rehearse with the siting in front of the computer with the guitar idea would have gotten old fast. My feeling is that watching someone create anything emotional is not easy and certainly not natural. In my opinion creating art, visual, musical whatever, is a highly personal act, putting the process on display is an interesting concept for perhaps a short time but unless one can actually view the progress from night to night, see something physically developing, I don’t think its really possible to capture the process. I am glad that I had sketched out ideas earlier each day to work on because if I had waited to work exclusively on the music in the evenings I’m sure they would have either been to busy in their content and probably uninteresting to listen to for sure!
Day five: Finally the easy day! Nice attendance for the final night, the performance of the music with the video footage etc. The group was myself on guitar, Meinrad Kneer on bass and Billy Elgart on drums. We basically had one hour to talk about the concepts and a brief run through of the music. I asked the players to keep an eye on the video while we played, to consider what they were seeing and react to it however they thought appropriate. At the same time the music was to be considered as well but neither the music or the videos were to be the main focus, I also didn’t want to disregard the influence of the room, the audience and the overall energy of the group. I think it was successful for the most part. The group musicians seemed to be relaxed and enjoyed the outcome as did the audience from what I could tell. In the end the challenge of successful improvised music for me always seems to be about the dynamics that were created in the moment, the ability for each player to listen and react and to feel good during the process, not irritated by the surrounding or impaired by the vibe of the people in the room, be they the musicians their playing with or an unresponsive audience! In the end it was a nice night of music and I did feel that things went well.
