Blog 2

The reason I missed class on Tuesday was because I went to a Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood concert in NYC Monday night and couldn't make it back in time. It was an amazing concert and the music was great but I would have rather not seen it in Madison Square Garden. I think with an arena that big it is hard for the artists to establish any kind of connection with the fans, it is just one great big horde of people (close to 20,000 I think). It was obvious that the two of them (and the rest of the band) had practiced extensively, every song was really tight and there was little deviation from what seemed to be the plan. This was nice because the songs sounded great but I also would have liked to see them screw around a little more. I think because there was so much money involved in a concert like this though, they stuck to the plan and executed it perfectly. The highlight for me was without a doubt Voodoo Chile because it seemed that they cut lose more so than on the other songs. It sounded almost exactly like the 15 minute version that Hendrix did with Winwood in the 60's but Clapton still managed to add his own style to it. For me, this felt like the most improvised because with the drawn out jams and long solos from Winwood's organ and Clapton's guitar the crowd really had time to get into it and react, as opposed to the other songs which were shorter. I think that the reactions from the crowd probably affected the way that they played on this song more so than the others. It was a good concert but I would have liked to see it in a smaller venue where there wasn't so much pressure on them to be perfect and where more interaction with the crowd could be had.

Blog 1

Coming into this class I wasn't quite sure what to expect and where I wanted to go with it, I just wanted to play some music and have fun. I also didn't exactly know what "Improvisational Music" was but now I realize that its nearly impossible to describe. There are so many variables involved with "improv music" that its hard to describe, except that it is flexible and reacts to different inputs. When I think of improvisational music, the first thing I think of is jam bands like Phish/Grateful Dead but my views have widened since I came to the class. I now think that any kind of music can be improv as long as it is reacting or being being affected by some kind of input/output. Playing a cd through a radio I don't think is improv music because it will not react to anything or change; the music was created and therefore improvised at some point but it is no longer changing. I think listening to live music, no matter what kind, is witnessing some degree of improvisation. A jam band like the Grateful Dead is obviously reacting to a number of factors, namely eachother and the crowd when they are playing. But even if you are listening to someone play Beethoven note for note with no variation, there are still variations because nothing can be played exactly the same twice unless it is a cd on repeat. The musician is still reacting to the piano, the music and the audience and some kind of relationship is existing in some way and so I think it is still improvisational although maybe not so much as other forms of music.