Safety First

update 26–Nov–08: change “pass (40+ grade)” to “3rd (45-49)”.

Here’s my take on our marking criteria for the forthcoming performance. Please leave comments.

• 40% continuous assessment
• 60% exam/performance

Of this, I’ll deal only with the latter in this article. This exam/performance breaks down as follows:

• 70% tactics and interaction
  • of which 10% (10/70) is specifically dealing with volume/dynamics
• 30% stage craft

some hypothetical examples

1st (70+ grade)

• tactics and interaction: the performer…
  • deploys a variety of strategies,
  • imaginatively selected (generally avoids obvious responses),
  • each creating a complex group sound, and
  • dynamically tests/interacts with the group.
• stage craft: the performer…
  • exudes confidence and
  • there are few, if any, moments of uncertainty.
• volume/dynamics: the performer…
  • demonstrates the full dynamic spectrum of their instrument, but
  • is mindful of the capabilities of the others (though not hampered by them).

2.1 (60+)

• tactics and interaction:
  • a few strategies,
  • generally avoids obvious responses,
  • contributing intelligently to a group sound, but
  • often does not drive the group.
• stage craft:
  • mostly confident, but
  • there are moments of uncertainty.
• volume/dynamics:
  • mindful of the capabilities of the other, and
  • partially explores the dynamic range.

You get the idea, so I’ll skip down to…

3rd (45-49) pass (40+ grade)

• tactics and interaction:
  • one consistent strategy, which is
  • obvious, and
  • follows the group rather than driving it.
• stage craft:
  • appears largely uncertain or apologetic.
• volume/dynamics: the performer…
  • does not drown anyone out, but
  • plays mp/mf all the time.

fail (40- grade)

• tactics and interaction:
  • …strategy… er, what am I doing here?
  • where’s the rest of the group?
• stage craft:
  • really does not belong on stage.
• volume/dynamics: the performer…
  • drowns people out and/or plays at one dynamic level consistently…

For your reference, here is the marking criteria that the Safety First class used in 2006. This is for reference only: we are not using this criteria.

• 40% continuous assessment
• 60% exam/performance

this latter divides into

1. stage presence, presentation, etiquette, theatre
   • whether the student has convincing stage presence
   • is audience aware
   • can manipulate the audience
2. overall quality of the group improvisation (and demonstration of a sophisticated take on social structures)
   • was it good?
   • was it entertaining?
   • was it interesting?
   • was it crafty?
   • was it weird?
   • was it waaaaaaay out there?
   • can I get a recording of that?
3. individual musicianship
   • [musical responsibility]
     • [demonstrate an awareness of the consequences of actions]
     • able to adapt to unexpected stimuli
   • listening (stimulus and response)
     • student thinks outside the box (experimental)
     • their responses to stimuli is well judged, but is not-mannered
4. participation
   • amount of playing vs the quality of the contributions. in other words, you can play very little, as long as that little kicks butt

70-80 1st
60-69 2.1
50-59 2.2
45-49 3rd
40-44 pass
35-39 fail (near)
0-34 fail (abject)

I’m a little snowed under with another project and will unfortunately have to bow out of doing a full-scale teaching diary for the time being (you are, of course, welcome to write about the class in any form you want). I will leave you with a few links though.

• If you haven’t already, as discussed in today’s class and pointed to in my last post, have a listen to the two magicians.
• More on Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell, Gerry Hemingway and Evan Parker.
• The musician who said improvisation was about finding an ending was Charles Hayward.
• The duet that Kevin mentioned by Marian Murray and myself was from the May 2008 Stet Lab (you’ll find this under the title ‘don’t eat the red acid!’).

Finally, if you’re looking for further listening material, I highly recommend destination OUT which posts rare and/or obscure recordings of improvised music(s). (They have, among other things, recently completed a Braxton blogathon.) Subscribe to their feed, download their mp3s, listen, study and learn… and have fun.

There’s a lot we can learn from this:

two magicians (Criss Angel and Penn Jillette) talk magic

Improvised music can be magical, but are we sometimes reluctant to examine the mechanism(s) under the hood for fear of reducing everything down to tricks and sleight of hand?

the opening piece of The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of Kevin and myself at october 2008 Stet Lab in O’ Riada Hall

commentary of the first minute and a half..

the track link is this:

know these guys?

i decide to open using the teaspoon.. it’s one of my favorite tools, much lighter than a steel tone bar enables me to do fast slides across the strings or across the length of the string/s..its great for mallet-ke bouncing ((might use it to try to get that deep low resonant sound i found last week while playing with Kevin– possibly the lowest frequencies i can get with this guitar and they were hiding right where i usually find the highest ones: above the bridge pickup)) and of course like scratching the side of the spoon across the strings, this another thing that can be done extremely fast.. at the first hit (0.00) it sounds like the wah is halfway down, better push it all the way because i want all the highest waileyslidey sounds to be available.. don’t really worry too much about where Kevin’s at, think i want to use the very high frequencies.. i tap the strings quite fast (0.08) and move into sliding mode just after that and alternate between flat slides and side scratches.. K seems to be on a similar territory of fast swooshes so i think this will work.. might be a mixture of the politeness of the situation/context and the stormy rain around us that s me into upping the acidic content of the atmosphere.. need some distortion (0.33) .. will it work? let’s see.. scratching fast on the first few seconds gives certainly a loudness boost, some kind of break from the previous mood, at first it doesn’t seem to generate a reaction in K, but here he is.. getting louder and slightly more percussive (0.43).. i continue on the fast scratching and percussive mode for a while, then decide for a more sustained sound (0.52) to leave some space to K and focus a bit more on what he is doing.. after 5 seconds feel i can’t sustain that any longer and move into a percussive space (0.57) then need to dull the sound with the wah (1.01) and then start the bouncy percussive thing close to the bridge (1.03), alternated with more fast slides (1.09) seems like i tried the low frequency trick but not sure the pick up setting is the right one, then scratching hell ( 1.11-1.16) and things seem to get a little out of control, and that’s not a bad thing because normally it’s when i lose control than the interesting things start to happen..drop the spoon and pick up the wooden mallet with the felt tip.. a little hardcore break for a few seconds and then rotate the mallet and let it bounce on the strings.. distortion is on, the tone gets a little more dramatic…

Is improvisation the pursuit of the novel or the unknown? Possibly the shedding of boundaries?

I’m attracted to improvisation because of something I value. That is a freshness, a certain quality which can only be obtained by improvisation, something you cannot possibly get from writing. It is something to do with the leap. And when you go out there you have all your years of preparation and all your sensibilities and your prepared means but it is a leap into the unknown. If through that leap you find something then it has a value which I don’t think can be found in any other way. I place higher value on that than on what you can prepare. But I am also hooked into what you can prepare, especially in the way that it can take you to the edge. What I write is to take you to the edge safely so that you can go on out there and find this other stuff. But really it is this other stuff that interests me and I think it forms the basic stuff of jazz.

Steve Lacy quoted in Derek Bailey (1992), Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music (London: British Library National Sound Archive), pp. 57–58.

Or is improvisation about finding possibilities within the set of resources that surround you—your context, your environment? Is it an engagement with the musical eco-system?

What happens is what happens; is what you have created; is what you have to work with. What matters is to listen, to watch, to add to what is happening rather that subtract from it—and avoid the reflex of trying to make it into something you think it ought to be, rather than letting it become what it can be.

Anthony Frost and Ralph Yarrow (1990), Improvisation in Drama (London: MacMillan), pp. 2–3.

Or are these ideas not quite as disparate as they might seem? or are they both unsatisfactory?