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Poetry, Essays, & other Writing

Philosophy of Music Mixing

I've been an audio engineer doing mixing for a long time and as an educator I have always tried to communicate the reasoning and logic behind certain mixing choices, so as to try to teach an intelligent understanding of how to approach the task. This is a piece I wrote that attempts to encapsulate those ideas.

http://lowendr.webs.com/Philosophy of Music Mixing.rtf

Bass & Improvisational Music

Here's an essay I wrote on the Bass as an Improvisational Instrument.

PaperBag's Rules of Improvisation

Many have asked about this, and so I wrote a very condensed paper on the "rules" we developed to help us create our particular brand of improvised music. This is only one way to do this, of course, not necessarily the only or even the best way. It just worked for us. https://webzoom.freewebs.com/lowendr/PaperBagÂ’s Rules of Improvisation.pdf

THEORY OF BAG ADJUNCTS (a theory of musical improvisation)

http://www.paperbagtheory.com/paperbag/theorybagadjuncts.htm

Notes on the Roles of Players in an Improvisational Ensemble

In the PaperBag style of improvisation, you get to be the leader or "conductor" part of the time, and the rest of the time you are a support player. This is an essay on the responsibilities of these roles in an improvisational ensemble.

Strategies for Improvisation

Strategies for Improvisation is an essay I wrote that discusses possible ways a musician or ensemble may approach or execute an improvised musical piece, without resorting to complete randomness. In PaperBag, many strategies were used in order to try to spontaneously generate some structure on which one could then improvise. Read it here: https://webzoom.freewebs.com/lowendr/Strategies for Improvisation.pdf

On Staying Original

Even in the context of improvising one must sometimes be cautious about repetitive ideas or motions--how does one guard against running out of new ideas and falling back on old ones? Here's some ideas on that topic: https://webzoom.freewebs.com/lowendr/ON STAYING ORIGINAL G.pdf

Leading & Following

In Paperbag's style of improvisation, each member of the band took turns acting as the "Conductor" of the piece. This came with some responsibilities for both the Conductor and the remaining band members that were following along. Here's some thoughts on ways to understand the roles: https://webzoom.freewebs.com/lowendr/leading+following.pdf

Sometimes my scurrilous views even get published online:

http://www.democraticwings.com/democraticwings/archives/civil_liberties/000427.php

...& now here's the Poetry and other stuff...

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