Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Playing with this strategy in mind seems to facilitate both the energetic playing that came with letting listening slide on the list of priorities but it also allows for a much greater amount of ensemble interaction.
Everything gelled. The playing was slick.
Listening to Han, Veronica and Jesse perform at the October Stet Lab showcased (as Han pointed out) a huge difference in approaches to improvising. This strategy (does it have a name?) allows for ensemble interaction on the scale of large gestures, but whatever Jesse Ronneau was doing seemed to eschew interaction on this “scale” in favour of a much smaller one. At one point he set up a “canon” of sorts, quoting Veronica’s phrasing, rhythm etc… Veronica’s method seemed somewhere between these two.
Just a speculation, but, (to generalise and polarise) Han’s approach to improvisation caught me as being more typically instrumental, whereas Jesse’s seemed to come from the same place that (I imagine) vocal improvisation comes from. Maybe that is way off like crazy but it’s something I’ve been mulling over.
It seems funny that something so tricky to get your head around works out so simple in practice. I feel a little sluggish when it comes to making those jump-cuts so that is something I will work on.
Looking forward to week five.
