In this project I don’t want to be a singer
Reflections after workshop November 2018
So far, in this project, I have worked mostly on strategies of accommodating the machine (KA). So I have drastically adjusted my inputs. Initially that meant moving away from melodic singing and from dense and energetic and varied inputs to more strict and sparse sonic frameworks. These choices were based on what I fairly rapidly experienced to work best with KA.
Worked best with KA?
Well, so far according to my value system and aesthetics which are always influencing my wish to make the music work somehow. Another reason for avoiding melodic singing-qualities is that KA’s mirroring and reformulations have often resulted in unwanted parodic and/or cartoon-like outputs.
These are currently challenged and thus hopefully improved in the recent alterations of the machine.
I have often wanted to have f.i. Andrea’s instrumentarium. To get away from the vocal filter. And thus to escape from these problems. And because, in my ears, f.i. Andrea’s instrument is more in the same «family» as KA.
In my work with my voice: I have mostly sought to neutralise the overly expressive and emotional aspects of singing. Thus I have focused on purely musical parametres such as time, dynamics, sound-character and register. And on density/sparsity - and different energy levels. I believe that the moment you open your mouth and make a sound - you have already defined an expression and an identity. So I avoid the thought of further strengthening/focusing on this. My credo is to trust the material. And to dampen the sense of my own importance.
In the first sound-example my input is a song. Or at least a semblance of one. It was exciting for me to see how this could work with KA. I was quite pleased with the outcome and with KA’s outputs.
I could do without all the backwards functions in KA, because this is an overused effect. But KA’s sparce and contrasting output nevertheless had the effect of eliminating and abstracting the emotional aspects of my poetics - and through this juxtaposing, in my ears, actually made the «song» stronger and gave it a different meaning and content.
In the second sound-example I am «all noise». Grinding a piece of plastic merged with frontal, through-the-teeth air-pressure. Wanting to merge these two sound-sources into one. KA engages with its reformulations of my input, we are both kind of chewing the same sounds - and there is some good condensation and domino-interplay around 02:00.
Reflection text #1, June 2018
Improvising with humans and improvising with machines
Reflections seven months into the project
I sometimes suffer from what I can best describe as intuition fatigue, or maybe just a faltering trust in the concept of creating music intuitively altogether: Seeing that my intuition is so heavily informed by my experience, the range or limitations of my abilities, my references, my repertoire of solutions, the familiarity of many long-term collaborations, the term intuition becomes at times almost meaningless.
I do believe that our musical intuition needs to be continuously fed by our intellect and experience («intelligent intuition») - and that our musical intellect needs to be fed by our intuitive, spontaneous musical self («intuitive intelligence») - but sometimes these ideal concepts remain just that: ideal.
Therefore I welcome any outside decision-makers and habit-breakers, like KimAuto.
Read the full text here.
