Composition / Improvisation - What is your approach to playing your music?

[JakobTK]

I'm researching the way electronic musicians approach playing their own music. It would be inspiring for me (and everybody else, I guess) to know how and why people go about playing their compositions live.
Regardless of whether you record/program everything, or you leave some or all parts live-controlled through some interface, the work we put into making our music is huge, so I'm interested in your reasons for doing what you do.

Some inspirational questions:
Do you improvise everything/parts/nothing? Why?
Why do you use a particular interface (keyboard/grid/microphone/whatever)?
Do you think a live performance needs "live"/partly improvised/fully improvised elements, or do you prefer to just press play? Why?
Last time you performed your tracks/songs/compositions, did they sound different than before?
(EDIT: feel free to ignore these questions, just discuss freely)

Looking forward to reading you responses! I hope this will be an enlightening discussion

[Doug1978]

TBH, it's a good thread idea but probably too many questions!


Do you improvise everything/parts/nothing? Why?
Sometimes, depends on what's in my head at the time.

Why do you use a particular interface (keyboard/grid/microphone/whatever)?
I use a keyboard because it feels natural to me, and I'm also shit at the guitar.

Do you think a live performance needs "live"/partly improvised/fully improvised elements, or do you prefer to just press play? Why?
I like it when my friend and I record live for about 30 minutes, but accepting that there will be occasional f**kups which potentially make the performance more amateurish.
Additionally, I like to make dub reggae and treat the mixer as a live instrument etc once the other tracks have been recorded.


Last time you performed your tracks/songs/compositions, did they sound different than before?
Yes, always.

[JakobTK]

TBH, it's a good thread idea but probably too many questions!

Thanks for replying. I think you're quite right about the too many questions

Anyway, I actually didn't expect answers for every question, I was just trying to point out some points of interest. So if I should answer my own questions it would be something like:

I'm currently working on some interactive compositions where I have to press keys and/or turn knobs to play the music. All incoming MIDI information is processed by the "composition" so that the resulting pitch or timing is related to the input, but in a very exact way not exactly the same as the input. This means that I can improvise the performance of the composition, but it will still sound roughly similar through different performances. It also means that anyone else can play my composition simply by using the interface. I do this because I find that limitations and obstructions are creatively inspiring when playing music, and I like the music and sounds that results from this project.

[foosnark]

We've had similar threads before, but here goes.

Do you improvise everything/parts/nothing? Why?

I've improvised stuff all my life, and trained in it as well in a school jazz ensemble and a semi-professional taiko group. To me, composing is about half "frozen improv" that then gets built on, with more improv and/or piano roll editing and audio file editing. I also spend a lot of time just jamming for fun.

Why do you use a particular interface (keyboard/grid/microphone/whatever)?

I mostly use Maschine drum pads and a keyboard. Most of my improvisation has been done on a keyboard or percussion instruments so it just makes sense.

Do you think a live performance needs "live"/partly improvised/fully improvised elements, or do you prefer to just press play? Why?

It depends on the nature and context of the music and venue, honestly. Live elements can add a lot of energy to a show and can adapt to the audience's mood, but that's not to say a completely recorded performance doesn't work sometimes.

Last time you performed your tracks/songs/compositions, did they sound different than before?

I don't perform my electronic work. Inspired by some of my new gear, I am just starting to occasionally record music with "live" tweaks though rather than 100% sequencing everything, and making more use of recording knob tweaks of VST parameters / MIDI CCs in a semi-improvised way rather than drawing it in.

I've performed in jazz and taiko where many songs have designated solo time; I don't memorize my solos and they do come out differently each time (though I have an overall unwritten plan for each song). I've also done some drum circle stuff, either 100% improvised or improvisations around a central beat.

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

I usually have almost everything pre-written, but I do occasionally improvise a random riff (or any solos the song I'm working on may call for).

[jancivil]

Do you improvise everything/parts/nothing? Why?
Why do you use a particular interface (keyboard/grid/microphone/whatever)?
Do you think a live performance needs "live"/partly improvised/fully improvised elements, or do you prefer to just press play? Why?
Last time you performed your tracks/songs/compositions, did they sound different than before?

I don't know how "live performance" and "just press play" got to be the same here, I mean if <hitting the on switch> = <a performance>, I dunno...
To me live means live in a sense that's more than merely showing up .

I don't present live today, if I did it would be very different than what I do create. I can imagine a little live laptop presentation that would basically be a prepared track or bed as a form and live action ensues. What I do w. teh DAW would be pretty much impossible to mount live.
That live plan would be an 'electronic music' gig, but my business card for my extant oeuvre doesn't read "electronic music".

There are a couple ways I may work where improvisation on an instrument is not the impetus or foundation: I have some lyrics and/or a solid tune first which I did away from the machines; or I have such a defined drums basis that I can write it w. the pencil tool in the Drum Editor; or it was my Satie adaptations, where I retained Satie's original piano specifically in some form.

I don't much enjoy that step entry M.O. and I wouldn't advocate for it. I would rather perform the drum part as I'm thinking it up, typically with other crucial parts up. This doesn't tend to be very long 'performances' but a phrase, maybe one bar, maybe just a lick or gesture. I never quantize, pure death to music afaic. I understand 'drum parts' well, and from a certain experience my gauge of a part such as the 'written' one above should be astute.

So I record onto the piano roll conforming to no grid and use Cubase Time Warp Tool to determine bars/tempi later (by dragging bar lines in the timeline to match the recording). I must have gone at least 2 yrs ignoring the grid utterly, but I'm more specifically interested in the fabric of my rhythm today.

[JakobTK]

Thanks for sharing your methods jancivil. Making the computer follow the rhythm of the human performance instead of the other way around certainly makes sense. I used to do the same thing before I switched to Ableton Live, which unfortunately doesn't handle a live tempo very well. But the advantages of Live outweighs this to me.

I don't know how "live performance" and "just press play" got to be the same here, I mean if <hitting the on switch> = <a performance>, I dunno...
To me live means live in a sense that's more than merely showing up .

I agree with you. I think I was trying accomodate other views.

There is quite a difference between using the computer as a production tool and using it as a musical instrument (of course you can do both). If you're a solo act using it as a production tool and people want you to "play" a concert, it can very challenging to make it "live", just like if Beethoven wanted to perform his symphonies alone.

Anyway, I mainly use the computer as a musical instrument and enjoy improvising, so it's not a problem for me personally

[aMUSEd]

Mostly improvised but within specific 'frames' which create discipline, structure and a space to explore (all music is for me about exploration of aural landscapes). Frames may be temporal such as restricting performance to a specific time frame or tempo boundaries (I rarely keep rigidly to a single tempo but aim more to work within tempo limits), tonal frames where I just use a selection of notes, but my favourite recently is using timbral frames where I have a set of timbres setup in advance (usually in Kore 2) and explore the timbral spaces between those. Overall I am more interested in timbral rather than tonal exploration, I tend to improvise more with timbres than notes and keep tonal changes to the minimum, with lots of repetition. Where I do explore tone it tends to be more in the form of tone clusters and exploring the resonances and interplay between tones with close micro intervals. Generally I just work with single instruments and tracks and don't like to create over complicated structures, less is more. I prefer to record in one take to keep things fresh and don't try to fix mistakes too much if at all, as with Raku pottery mistakes are seen as a big part of the beauty of the composition.

Overall although some have suggested that some of my work sounds ambient I see it as the opposite of ambient in that I want to focus mindful attention on the music and in particular the very small timbral changes as much as the larger gestures if not more.

[cryophonik]

My initial ideas pretty much always come from improvising on my keys or bass or, occasionally, from ideas in my head (if I can keep them there long enough to figure them out on an instrument). This usually results in one main chord progression and melodic idea, typically the main hook, but sometimes a verse idea. The rest of it (e.g., breakdowns, verses, bridge) comes from further improvisation/experimentation and sorta listening to the initial idea repeatedly and envisioning how it should naturally progress.

On a related note, I just recently purchased a Push 2 and have been experimenting with Live much more (not my main DAW), particularly by creating and triggering loops, and I'm finding it very useful for getting those "happy accidents", which I would probably never create on my own. I haven't completed a track this way yet, but I'm sorta on a mission to create something outside of my comfort zone using this approach.