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Humor is generally linked to absurdity or two things that don't go together.

Recently I was listening to a comedy radio station on the internet and I found that most of our comedy is based on sex or racial matters. The stuff which is meant to just shock I really don't find funny and I wish they could be more original in topic matter.

I agree with you about humor and creativity. all the most creative people i have known also have a great sense of humor.

people with no humor are also the bane of humanity.
some of them are so humorless they think their seriousness is so important its worth killing for.

siriusbliss wrote:All 'structured' music also starts out as an improvisation, so this is proof that the brain stimulates itself by seeking out various structures in frequency navigation.
Greg

You are a guitarist. A lot of electronic music such as sequenced trance and pop have little or no improvisation. I have to think about your statement more and the definition of improvisation.

braincell wrote:

siriusbliss wrote:All 'structured' music also starts out as an improvisation, so this is proof that the brain stimulates itself by seeking out various structures in frequency navigation.
Greg

You are a guitarist. A lot of electronic music such as sequenced trance and pop have little or no improvisation. I have to think about your statement more and the definition of improvisation.

But you're still 'making up' how you're putting the loops, sequences together. Even making a decision when to hold down a key to playback a sample is a sort of 'improvisation'.

The definition is relative to how deep you want to define improvisation itself, since you're always basically starting from nothing. IMO, even classical music composition has origins in improvisation to begin coming up with structures.

Just playing solo/lead lines over an underlying chord progression is not the only real definition of improvisation in my mind.

Greg

p.s. and that end, I would say that 90% of the Electro-Music New Year music 'festival' was improvised to a large degree.

Point well made.
Albeton Live IMHO is an excellent application fro Creativity for that very reason.
I worked w/ a DJ who hired me to improv live with samples and synths.
He used Live and a Kyma Capybara which is an excellent real time DSP platform in it's own right. Loops came on the fly over set BPM's, as dance was the crux of the project.
But this guy was so creative and the talkback answer type of schtick we did was very refreshing.
I believe improvization is a response to an idea in real time, and that is why recording over loops, etc. and just using your ears, memory, and basically any of your senses is fair game.
Even the smell of a foul cigar being smoked in front of you can cause a reaction, especially if you hate/love the smell. It triggers an emotion. I am becoming incredibly stale from playing covers for 6 months, no matter how good they sound. Another example of the corruption that money causes even in something as beautiful as music.

I have the best ideas when I first wake up, that's why I turn on my rig and sit at a Piano before I even make breakfast. As the day goes on I lose creativity and then try and rekindle it, but being by yourself, tends to make one run out of ideas after a while.
If you really want to expand on creativity having someone throw ideas back at you is important.
Chris Werner has the most unique appraoch using computers and improvising.
It's jamming w/ a computer at it's finest. I prefer other soloists personally, but mystery of the unkown is just exciting and can spark some really good creativity.
Being uninhibited seems to be helpful as the study suggests, but becoming uninhibited could also mean being confident which comes from knowledge or love of music.
If I was an electronic musician w/ a laptop and a small mobile rig. I would buy a small generator and play outdoors in a nice park or dark alley, etc.
Some of my fondest times are performing outdoors.
I have had my share of smoke filled rooms.
Funny thing though, I felt so uncomfotable at a club I played in Chino, CA. months back where there was no smoking. Just didn't seem right for some reason.

It's a great tool but I don't call that live playing. Not that I am against it in any way. You can do some interesting and clever stuff with Ableton. I am just more focused on playing an instrument now, not picking loops at the spur of the moment. One of the things that Ableton Live does I think is to encourage literal repetition. Even if I am repeating the exact phrase, I will play it again so there will be subtle differences or edit the sequence so that it never repeats the same thing exactly. It may sound the same to the casual listener, but I believe the subconscious mind can hear that it's not an exact clone of what went on before.

if LIVE is the intrument, then...

for a guy who always complains about luddites, you are awfully pedantic.

I don't improvise like that actually as I lack the knowledge to run the app. But it did keep my ears and eyes open as I had no more than 4 beats to listen and select a sound before I would start playing. It was a private club so members also pretended they owned the place and would often stand on stage next to you, etc.
I have had my feelers out for a while and have been looking around Vegas & Tahoe for venue where I can use my gear creatively and so far have only found the School For The Arts Live Improv Dance Classes. I did this years ago and found it to be a really great day gig. The pay is low and inconsequentail, but gives me a chance to work with a super talented percussionist from the shows in town.
This will allow me to look for a place where I can create a gig, since these gigs just aren't available. One must find the players and make it happen.
A guy in Vegas is very good at this as he went and took the Horn Section from the Bette Middler show, and made them work on their night off at the Palms in a great kick ass jazz band, which I will see Monday night.
I hope to regain some of my train of thought that I have lost while I kissed ass for cash the last 7 months.
Sure it's fun playing dance music and making good money, but it has taken a toll.
When I sit down at a Piano and subconciously start playing grooves instead of ideas, it's time to go.

I am messing w/ LBH VIII right now as a creative tool. Preset sequence storage recallable on the fly. This doesn't translate into a strict groove train of thought but it has many, many possibilities.

i have never approached a track with an "idea" or a sense of "this is what i wanna do".

i just get high and fiddle, i try as much as i can to be a passive instrument in the creation process. i just let myself create with as little concious input as possible. of course, we are all human, this doesn't always work, we always analyze, but for sure my best tracks happen when i just flow.... yes, its sequencer music, but isn't this also a form of improvisation? not sure, just a thought...

[quote="faxinadu"]i just get high and fiddle, i try as much as i can to be a passive instrument in the creation process.


That sure sounds like fun.
Hopefully I can return to that scenario this Spring.

I have to do so many technical/babysitting chores at my live gig, it becomes monotonous and kills my creativity.
It did pay for some great new gear so it wasn't a total waste.

I am so straight these days.................I have to lay down just to take a shit.............ankyu.

The Piano is a direct line of input and output for your brain.

I'm in the process of putting good things into my brain, so crap doesn't come out. hehe.

Personally, I'm don't aim for complete passiveness in creation.. I mean, it's an on and off thing right? Sometimes I let it do its own thing, but when it veers off track, I nudge it back again. Usually I have to make a very conscious effort in doing this, else if left free to wander, my detours become epic journeys and the tune (or a set of songs) becomes dispersed, transforming into something only I can make sense of. Take 1 medium sized stride and the listener looses grip on what's going on. I can usually see it in their eyes when this happens.. It's like, "what the heck is that? uhm.. your music is interesting. Let's talk about something else now", and I immediately loose credibility, labeled as something "foreign". (regardless of what country I'm in) Usually happens when I pull influences from more than 2 distant genres at the same time, or throw in more than 3 different sections within a 4 minute timeframe.

That's why I like the idea of writing to a context. Like visuals, or theater / drama. At least the context will pull on forward, while the music can be more diverse, without having to rationalize itself. When its just music only, people expect so much rational cohesion (usually translates to "homogeneous") within a song or within a group of songs. So much explaining, babysitting, hand holding, etc... Seems listening to a tune is a chore especially for people who grew up with limited cultural exposure.

Wagner demonstrated programatic music very well.
I often wanted to do a musical history of Mythological Greece, or the Epic Of Gilgamesh.
As corny as that sounds, I have to blame many of the old masters for that.
But then again, I have tried and have segments, but when I plan in such a way I never seem to finish.
One really learns respect for the masters. They had a brain and a Piano.
I would have loved to see Debussey w/ an XITE-1 and a modern computer,
Notice I refrain from saying Mac or PC.

Yeah, i find many different instruments fairly easy to grasp, but the piano (my first instrument as a kid) is difficult for me to get comfortable on. I have to practice a great deal - not a natural, i gotta say.

Piano brains are something else.

I have a close friend who is mainly a violinist/guitarist/composer, who has a hard-wired mind for music in a certain sense.

Once, when another mate needed an accompanist for an oboe piece with a fiendishly difficult piano score, John volunteered. In rehearsal, as he sight-read the chart, the oboist realised in a rest break that John had modulated the whole thing into another key - still played correctly.

Oboist says "Hey John, you're in another key."

John: "Oh yeah, right"

Dude astounds me

well, the pc keyboard is 104 keys, and it's amazing how many people master it. I guess it's a little different since learning piano is like learning how to type, and learning english at the same time. And imagine if the way you struck the keys changes the color, font, font size, etc.. hehe, that might be fun to try if there was a controller that could do it.

god, i'm retarded.
but i'm still creative like a mofo when i wants ta be....